What do we want to achieve?

The aims and objectives of the project

The project is designed to explore how and why people get involved and stay involved in different forms of participation in their communities. All too often, studies on participation look at a particular form of participation at a particular time and in a particular place.

This project seeks to develop a more holistic understanding of participation and address a gap in knowledge on how people’s motivations and patterns of participation emerge and develop over time. It also aims to influence policy and practice, and particularly the development of opportunities for participation that are better suited to people’s needs and aspirations.

It will look at participation in a very broad sense and consider the act of taking part in a wide range of social or civic activities, including:

• fundraising
• boycotting a product
• voting
• being a school governor
• campaigning
• volunteering for a charity
• signing a petition
• helping out in a local fete
• responding to a local council consultation
• joining a community group

The key research questions

• How and why does participation begin and continue?
• Can trends and patterns of participation (in terms of activity and intensity) be identified over time?
• What connections, if any, are there between different forms of participation and what triggers movement between them?
• How can public service providers, policy-makers and voluntary and community organisations enable and encourage different individuals and communities to participate?