What Is It Good For?
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This can be done for internal, administrative
decisions as well as external processes. |
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This table helps you keep track of which participants
are where in the process of solving
the problem. This helps focus your efforts by showing where resources
can be most effectively used. By identifying which groups are
at what level of awareness, you can
determine what steps are needed tohelp people toward responsible
judgement. If you have a group that is at responsible judgment
and one unaware of the problem, then spend your resources communicating
with the unaware group rather than preaching to the choir. A large
number of unaware publics might signal the need for more active
information dissemination.
Implementing a solution is nearly impossible without using
the publics' insights and ideas, addressing their concerns, and
seeking as much consenst as possible.
To chart public involvement activities
and progress, sometimes it is useful to take the pulse of the
public at key times to determine where they are and what actions
need to be taken to get to the next step.
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How Do I Use It?
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- Identify groups you want to track.
- Discuss issues to determine how these groups view the problem.
- Develop questions or thresholds that would show their level
of awareness and participation.
- Interview key representatives of those groups or survey
the groups.
- Use a table like the following to record the groups and
the percentages of each group to assess what level they are
operating under.
Issue
Levels of awareness
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Group 1 |
Group 2 |
Unaware of issue
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Dawning awareness
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Sense of urgency
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Discovery of choices
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Wishful thinking
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Practical resolve
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Responsible judgement
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Implementing decision
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Sample Table
Water supplies for Marble Springs through 2050
Levels of awareness
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Rachel Cole School Board
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White Owl Lawn Club
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Crystal River Water Board
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Unaware of issue
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50% |
10% |
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Dawning awareness
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40% |
10% |
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Sense of urgency
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10% |
60% |
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Discovery of choices
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20% |
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Wishful thinking
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30% |
Practical resolve
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50% |
Responsible judgement
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20% |
Implementing decision
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If someone has a low level of interest or awareness, explain
the problem in terms of how they or their community will be affected.
Grouping approval of alternatives by publics can also be a useful
tool to gauge the acceptability of an alternative or to pinpoint
ways to change the alternative. This helps gauge the commitment
to the alternatives.
Levels of awareness
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Group |
Noninterested publics |
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Noninterested publics (25%) |
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Publics which prefer the alternative
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Neutral/indifferent |
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Publics which reject the alternative
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The Stonefield Learning Group uses a quick survey to determine
a group's level of commitment, understanding, and/or attitude
toward an idea, proposal, plan, etc. Whenever a medium-to-large
group of people want to see what the group's attitude or level
of commitment is:
- Determine what is to be measured.
- Distribute post-its.
- Agree whether or not the answers are to be kept confidential.
- On a flipchart--draw a scale from 0 to 100, in increments
of 10 (0, 10, 20, etc.)
- Each person writes (on a post-it) where they are on the
scale, relative to the specific topic.
- Post-its are collected by the facilitator.
- Facilitator places the post-its on the scale (flipchart).
- Group discusses outcome of process.
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