Audience Research: Audience Impact Model (AIM) evaluation framework

The Audience Impact Model (AIM) is an evaluation framework developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

It was created out of a desire to look past typical “vanity metrics” like simple door counts or page views, and find a more meaningful way to measure how an institution's exhibitions, programming, and digital experiences actually affect people.

AIM is structured around a spectrum of impact level, from simplest (Attention), to most impactful, Group or National Impact:

Five high level steps, Attention, Reaction, Connection, Insight, Action, are further broken down to nine steps for further clarity and tangible scoring.

The nine AIM steps

Attention	1	Attention caught	The core number of initial interactions you will have with your audience. This is the minimum requirement for entering the spectrum, and is the core measurement you will base your next levels on, so is fundamental to planning for and understanding later stages. Examples include: Attendance numbers, page views, link clicks.
Reaction	2	Immediate reaction	The immediate, simple reaction of the audience. May convey sentiment or emotion, but not really demonstrate “meaning”, understanding or interpretation. While this level may appear shallow, it is the part of the path to learning, and is a good measure of those who may not want to/be able to engage in a more active way. Examples include: Likes, Retweets, Favourites, votes, emoji reactions, simple comments such as “this is great!”, “love your work!”, responses like “I felt energised”, “I was scared”, “I found it intriguing”
Connection	3	Personal connection	Audience feels a connection between the content / experience and themselves. Evidence (comments, observed reactions etc) include how the experience is relevant. Examples include: “I remember when...”, “My parents had…”, “That’s like when…”, “I was looking for info on my interest on…”, “This is one of my favourite...” or even “ I love cats so…”
Insight	4	Simple learning	The learning of new, simple, facts. Evidence should include more than remembering something learnt, but actually describing the new understanding. Examples include: “I learnt a caldera is a type of volcano that forms a lake rather than a cone”, “I found out what kind of spider was in my bath”, “I learnt there is acid in most paper, and oil and salt on our fingers, that can be damaging to…”, “I didn’t know that bees relied so much on this plant”, “I see how this artist was affected by the war”
	5	Applied personal Insight	Audience is able to apply the learning from the experience to make small future changes in their daily lives or decision making, or aid in existing research or creativity. These actions are more likely to affect existing actions, rather than create new actions. Compare to (7), Personal action. Examples include: “I will consider local language and customs in my work email greetings”, “I feel more confident in my voting about issue x because...”, “I think about how I my bias affected my thoughts on x, i can see a bit more now” “I’m using this in my university research”, “I’m going to check my the fish I buy from now on for sustainable fishing methods”
	6	Applied empathic Insight	Audience is able to apply new learning to how they think about others. Audience feels more understanding/empathy when considering others, and is able to confidently discuss new ideas and opposing views. Examples include: “I will consider how group x is portrayed in the media from now on”, “I will think about how my actions at work impact …”, “I now considers these factors when buying x”, “I had a constructive conversation with x about the subject”
Action	7	Personal action	New or newly informed, real actions undertaken as a result of the new learning or experience. Creating something new, or undertaking a new action that has impact on them personally, or to their friends or family, with the experience or service having significant influence on the new action. These actions are deliberate, considered (not reactive) and show new time investment. They are generally after the experience, possibly even some days, weeks or months. The action could be one-off, or on going. Compare to (5), Applied personal learning. Examples include: “I brought and installed a pest trap to help protect native birds around my garden”, “I went home and made my own self portrait in the artists style”, “After the programme on gender equality I gained the confidence to ask for a promotion at my job”, “visiting the art gallery was a big influence on my decision to study art”
	8	Group/ community action	New or newly informed actions that affect a group or community as a result of the learning or experience. It might be one person who has started an action that affects a community, or a community working together. The group or community could be in any country, dispersed, or virtual. The action could be one-off, or ongoing. Examples include: A wikipedia editing group formed around a particular project, a local museum is trained in digitisation that increases access to local collections, a teacher creating a teaching resource using the collections, weaver sets up a regular workshop for locals, a tramping club includes plant identification tools in their regular kit.
	9	National impact	New or newly action informed that is applied at a national level, or affect change that has national reach. The action could be one-off, or ongoing. The nation in question could the “home” nation, or another. Examples include: Research that informs national policy, the increased awareness and celebration of Matariki (Māori new year) as a national event, changes/additions made to the national education curriculum.

Resources

More information is available in this document:

aim-introduction.pdf (1.93 MB)

Download the template

The AIM template is free to download and use:

audience-impact-model-aim-blank-template.docx (28.92 KB)