Setting up a project As you start to think more seriously about your project, you'll need to make decisions on all aspects of it. Here are some considerations and suggestions that might help. Setting and measuring objectives Showing whether a project is having any impact is often very difficult, but by setting the right objectives in the first place you can make your life a lot easier. Consider setting SMART objectives. These are objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. So 'address the supply of scientists' might become 'increase the number of A Level physics students in Birmingham by 20% by the end of 2010'. Whatever the objective, thought should be given to evaluating the outcome -- how will you know you've achieved the objective? Recording visitor numbers, school numbers and number of role models is a good way of seeing what your reach is and can be good for publicity or headline statistics. However, numbers give no indication of the impact, if any, on participants. Gathering qualitative feedback through questionnaires, focus groups and informal anecdotes will allow you to see if your project is affecting the behaviour and / or the attitudes of participants. It is worth spending time developing questions that will illicit the information that you'll need to show if you're project's having the effect that you want it to. Be clear what any quantitative objectives represent. A high target for the number of visitors could mean that you end up concentrating your efforts on