CIfA carried out a survey to find out how CIfA and professional archaeologists are viewed by people those within our sector, and those in related professions and organisations – our ‘stakeholders’. This was the first of three surveys to be undertaken between now and 2020, which will chart progress towards some of the objectives of the Institute’s Strategic plan 2010–2020. The results also give some indications of how well people understood our profession.
As this is the first of three surveys, it provides baseline data with which the two subsequent surveys can be compared.
We got some interesting responses back which have provided a good starting point for us to think about broader perceptions of archaeologists as well as how people view CIfA itself. For example, and encouragingly, all respondents agreed that archaeologists have specialist skills and knowledge relating to the study and care of the historic environment.
Respondents were positive about their experiences of professional collaboration with archaeologists and around two thirds of responding organisations used archaeologists to add value to their work and to create a distinctive character to their work and products.
