Introduction

This report summarises participant feedback for The Big Rock Pool Challenge in Q4 of 2025 (October–December) and compares it with feedback from earlier periods.

Participants and Data Overview

Total responses in Q4 2025: 15

Total responses before Q4 2025: 93

Feedback was collected via post-event surveys, with participants providing numerical ratings (1–5), Likert-scale agreement with statements on enjoyment, connection, wellbeing, accessibility, and conservation, and optional open-ended comments. These are summarised below.

Summary/ conclusions

Participant experience in Q4 2025 remains highly positive and broadly comparable to earlier periods.

Participants indicate consistently high ratings and positive responses to likert scale questions, reporting strong enjoyment, connection to community, perceived benefits to wellbeing, and increased awareness of marine conservation. A higher proportion of participants report that they feel connected to the local community in Q4 vs previous quarters.

Ratings

Summary table of ratings by period
period n mean_rating sd_rating
Before_Q4_2025 93 4.838710 0.4245284
Q4_2025 15 4.666667 0.4879500

The average recommendation rating for Q4 2025 was 4.67 (SD = 0.49, n = 15), compared with 4.84 (SD = 0.42, n = 93) in earlier periods.

Likert Responses

Across Q4 2025, between 80% and 100% of participants reported positive experiences across key aspects of the event (enjoyment, connection, wellbeing, accessibility, and conservation). Negative responses were not reported in Q4.

Comments

In Q4 2025, 40% of participants provided comments, with an average length of 286 characters.

Summary of Open-Ended Comments
period prop_with_comment mean_comment_length
Before_Q4_2025 0.4408602 135.9268
Q4_2025 0.4000000 285.6667

Common words used in free-text comments are presented in the Word Cloud below.

Participant Attendance

Participants attended events across newly launched and existing hubs. The majority of participants learned about the event via local networks (friends/ family) and Instagram (this is similar to previous q’s, although Facebook was previously higher than instagram.

How Participants Learned About the Event (Q4 2025)
3. How did you learn about the Big Rock Pool Challenge BioBlitz Battle? n
Friends/family/colleagues/neighbours 8
Mark @ Somerset wildlife trust 1
Saw them on the beach previously 1
The Marine Biological Association newsletter/membership 1
The Rock Pool Project’s Facebook Page 1
The Rock Pool Project’s Instagram 2
University society 1