Research team measuring positive impact

Playback Memphis is proud to have assembled a dynamic cross-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of Memphis to measure and report on the impact of our programming. The team is being led by Dr. Idia Thurston, Dept of Psychology, and also includes Dr. Michael Duke, Dept of Anthropology, and Dr. Angela Madden, Public Safety Institute.

Students from each department have been engaged in the development and/or implementation of various quantitative and qualitative measurements over the past year. For example, throughout this past semester, a team of thirteen (13) students from the Anthropology department conducted interviews among students, faculty and administrators at our Be the Peace schools in Frayser, to get a better understanding of their experiences with Playback Memphis and the impact of the programming on their lives and schools.

At the end of each year, our research team will analyze and report out the findings from our evaluations. We will spend time reviewing the results among staff, board and program partners, discussing any lessons learned that can help us improve the program from year to year in order to increase its positive impact.

Evaluation, reflection and ongoing improvement are critical to our work, and we are grateful to have such an amazing group of researchers on our team.