Evaluation Q & A #3 with Wright & Wallis
Bernadette Wright and Steve Wallis, co-authors of the new book Practical Mapping for Applied Research and Program Evaluation served as Mentors-in-residence for SAGE MentorSpace in October 2019. They agreed to answer some questions, and this is the third of four posts.
In several chapters of your book you point to the value of collaborative mapping, including online mapping. How can instructors prepare students for these activities? How can research or evaluation teams use these approaches?
Collaborative mapping is a useful approach to gathering diverse perspectives. Teams of students or evaluators collaborate to create these kinds of map, by sharing their understandings of a topic or situation. The result is a practical map that the group agrees is ready to put into action to support decision making, conversations, research, and evaluations.
Over the years, we’ve studied (and used) a wide variety ofmapping techniques including “mind mapping,” “concept mapping,” and others.We’ve found that “practical mapping,” with its measurable concepts and causalconnecting arrows, provides a better representation of the real world. Also,studies show that this kind of mapping—mapping that focuses on causalconnections--is more effective for understanding and solving the problems facedby our organizations.
Instructors and evaluators can use a few key techniques tohelp our students and clients to create good maps using collaborative mapping.
Arrange a room and materials. Even before the mapping begins, you should be sure toarrange a comfortable location with plenty of materials. We recommend to haveabout 20 3x5 cards for each person, along with markers for writing concepts andarrows on the cards. It’s nice to have refreshments as well!
Prepare a topic. You should also prepare your topic in advance. For the classroom, student teams can use the topic of the course or choose a relevant sub-topic. For an evaluation, the topic will likely be decided by the client and/or be the subject of the research (such as, “homelessness in our community”).
Invite diverse groups. Always remember that diversity is desired. When bringingpeople together to create a map, you want to bring in as many different groups representingdifferent interests as possible. For the classroom, you can have studentsbrainstorm a list of stakeholders who could be included in the collaborativemapping process for their topic. For evaluations, you can invite people fromdifferent parts of the community (such as managers, front line case workers, communitymembers, and people from other organizations).
Explain the process. At the start, the facilitator should carefully explained themapping process to participant with clear examples. After this explanation, welike to facilitate participants through a “practice round” using a simplesituation such as a birthday party. Participants identify resources,activities, and outcomes for their topic and the causal connections betweenthem while we create the map – posting large cards on the wall. As we do that,we remind participants of the importance of using measurable concepts andcausal connections.
Begin mapping. Because collaboration requires participation, it is important thateach person gets time to put their concepts on the map. In short, it is bestthat people take turns. We want participants to end the day thinking, “this is our map.”
Support the process. Finally, facilitating the mapping process is best done withclose support for the participants. To start, it is good for the facilitator toobserve one group or table of participants to be sure they are following thecorrect procedure.
For students, the mapping process supports collaborativelearning. For teachers, you can use “gap analysis” (page 162 of our book – linkbelow) to identify blank spots on the maps where there may be gaps in studentknowledge. Researcher and evaluators can use the map to support conversationsand decision making—and to identify opportunities for additional research.Organizations, with support from an evaluator, can use their map to track theirprogress toward their goals, and revisit the map and update it as they gainmore information.
For more suggestions, check out the free online book handouts “Tips for Facilitating Groups” and “Participant’s Guide to Knowledge Mapping,” found at: https://practicalmapping.com/
