PB key metrics research instruments

A guide that explains 15 indicators that capture important elements of PB processes. It also includes tools and research instruments to support evaluation and collection of data.

In this toolkit, we describe 15 indicators (“metrics”) that capture important elements of each PB process and the PB movement in North America overall.

These metrics were developed with the goal of encouraging and supporting some common research goals across PB sites and, in turn, meaningfully informing local and national discussions about PB in the U.S. and Canada. The North American Research Board, Public Agenda (PA) and the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) drew on previous evaluations of PB in the U.S. and around the world, the academic literature on PB as a democratic innovation and the experience of local evaluators in the U.S. and Canada to develop these metrics.

This toolkit also includes a set of Key PB Metrics Research Instruments to support local evaluations and to facilitate the collection of data that address the key PB metrics. To create these instruments, Public Agenda and PBP adapted surveys originally developed and used by local evaluators in various PB sites across North America.

Source: North American Participatory Budgeting Research Board

Year of publication: 2015