Generic impact questionnaire

This short questionnaire acts as a standard way of obtaining impact data from customers after they have used a library resource, or a service.

To ensure comparability across library and knowledge services we request that you do not change the core questions when using the survey locally.   

Additional questions can be added to the core questions. 

The questionnaire may be used in 2 ways.

1. As a general survey which might be sent to all customers/a subgroup of customers regularly.
2. As a targeted survey of the impact of a specific service (for example, a literature search or information skills training).

The questionnaire has been kept generic to be applicable to different situations and uses and has been validated for this purpose.

The validation demonstrated that the questionnaire was reliable. Any local changes to core questions (sections 2 to 4) could reduce the reliability of the questionnaire. Any changes would also mean that we cannot combine data across knowledge and library services. Additional questions can be added to these core questions for local use.

For example, you may also wish to request name and e-mail address if you plan to follow up with case studies or interview requests.

The validation highlighted confusion in terminology of library services offered (Section 1). The most common services have been offered first.

Services not provided by a particular Knowledge and Library Service (KLS) could be removed from this section.

If KLS are seeking feedback for a specific instance, a covering e-mail specifying the incident about which feedback is sought is recommended (for exampe, we recently provided you with a literature search on XXX. We would be interested to know how you used the resulting evidence).

The questionnaire was developed by the Value and Impact Task and Finish Group, part of the Quality Workstream of the Knowledge for Healthcare programme. It was piloted on a range of library services and validated by the University of Salford

See below ways of obtaining different versions of the generic questionnaire.

• Printed copy of the survey (see the right hand side to download).
• If you are using JISC Online Surveys, request a copy to import from the Knowledge for Healthcare team on [email protected]. 

We would be interested to know how you used the resulting evidence.

Further information 

Measuring the impact of information skills training: a survey of health libraries in England by Ayre and others (2015).

Contact the Knowledge for Healthcare team for documents in an accessible format, or if you have any comments.