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Dimensions are standardised statements that respondents can agree or disagree with by ranking their response on a sliding scale.

Culture Counts has carried out extensive research with the multiple sectors to identify the key outcomes that result from the experience of an activity, event, program or place. Each of these metrics or ‘dimensions’ are based around a statement that describes the perceived qualities or impact for the individual experiencing the activity.

Examples of these are below:

Captivation – “It held my interest and attention”
Challenge – “It challenged me to think in a different way”
Connection – “It helped me to feel connected to people in the community”
Distinctiveness – “It was different from things I’ve experienced before”
Opportunity – “It opened up new opportunities for me”

Dimensions are assessed using a Likert scale, in which respondents move a slider to indicate whether they agree or disagree with the dimension statement. An example of this question format as used in the Culture Counts survey tool is displayed below.

One of the many advantages of using these preset dimensions to assess the quality of activities or places is the ability to standardise measurements across the sector. This allows your performance to be measured over time, and benchmarked against other organisations both nationally and internationally. It helps organisations to better communicate value with recognised measurements of quality and the data as supporting evidence.

Adding dimensions to your Culture Counts survey

Tip: You can also create your own dimension list using our Dimension Selector feature. This enables you to easily insert dimensions into your survey from your list, rather than search through the different domains. Read more about the Dimension Selector here.

There is a special selector for adding dimensions to the survey. When you click to add a dimension, you will be presented with a list of dimension categories relevant to your organisation or survey type. Some of these include ‘Qualities’, ‘Cultural Outcomes’, ‘Economic Outcomes’.

To add a dimension question to your Culture Counts survey:

Click the outcome domain you wish to use
Select the dimension you want to add
Click Use selected dimension.

After the dimension has been added to the survey, click the dropdown next to Question text and select variants of that dimension statement that best suit your survey. This is where you can change the tense of the statement.

We recommend using around six (no more than eight) of our standard dimensions to enable benchmarking and ensure your survey remains speedy for audiences to complete. These should be chosen based on the objectives of your evaluation, but feel free to use whichever mix of questions suit your needs.

If you want to learn more about best practice for making surveys in Culture Counts, visit our resources section for more information.

Editing dimension statements

You won’t be able to edit the dimension statements in the platform as they are pre-loaded into the system. Using the dimensions as they are written from the Culture Counts framework is beneficial in a number of ways, including the ability to benchmark with other organisations that use the same metrics, and how the data is analysed and presented in the Culture Counts Analytics Dashboard.

However, if you can’t find a dimension statement in the framework that is suitable for your intended outcomes, you can create a new custom statement using the Slider question type.