# Measuring Impact



There are two key approaches to measuring impact - quantitative and qualitative approaches.  Qualitative impact assessments often take the form of case studies of one or more publishing initatives. Relevant stakeholders are interviewed to tell the story of how and why the published data has changed the situation. The focus of the case study can be on any aspect, but is often social.&#x20;

Economic impact is often measured quantitatively. Within an organisation quantitative impacts might be relatively easy to measure, for instance, looking at the time to access data, a reduction in cost of servicing data requests, or a reduction in the time spent on repetitive data queries. Looking externally requires more creativity.&#x20;

The following diagram demonstrates a method for identifying desired impacts then converting these into measurable attributes. In this case, the publisher is a municipality, but it can be any kind of organisation.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://2677491958-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F4tiWPkv75at4eCXxyJ7O%2Fuploads%2F0PQpE4Lt1PoSD62fi8eB%2Fimpact%20measurement%20process.png?alt=media&#x26;token=62f9b2ac-e38b-4c11-8893-d78643dc7bca" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Read: [Developing indicators to assess open data impact.](https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/sustainability-data-portal-infrastructure_2_developing-indicators.pdf)

[Data.europa.eu,](https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/Indicators%20for%20an%20open%20data%20impact%20assessment.pdf) the data portal of the European Union, has published a document describing multiple types of impact indicators and measurements, how and when to use them, and their pros and cons.&#x20;

Read: [Indicators for an open data impact assessment.](https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/Indicators%20for%20an%20open%20data%20impact%20assessment.pdf)
