​​Survey Planning
​​This is part of the DandDTrans   "community of inquiry and action" regarding the role that dialogue and   deliberation can play in addressing the mega-crises of our time.
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​Notes from 1/24 Survey Brainstorming Call

​​A quick round based on Robert's questions:  
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​​Why do we want to do a survey? Concerns about a small response/sample size
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​​Hungry for questions that had both information and invite people into a space of possibility which may evoke more participation, in addition to providing info we can use. What would have to happen for these conversations, and the technologies, to achieve their highest potential? Become attracted to their own vision of possibility. "Testing the energy" to see if there's energy to move ahead. These kinds of questions access that more.
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​​What are our own hopes/expectations have been for this Jan. event... seeing what our common ground is. i.e. what is everyone's definition of "success"? 
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​"Pet priorities" for the event... microcosm of the macrocosm...
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  • ​​Linda
  1. ​​personally wanting to find people who could be potential collaborators on projects. Reconnecting with people doing work Tom got started with.
  1. ​​How has the D & D field emerged? Who are the people? Would help the field itself define itself.
  1. ​​Come up with strategic project(s) that as a field we could support, and leverage our process skills.
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  • ​​Ben R
​​A reminder of our "P&IR"
​​The purpose of "DandDTrans" is to explore this calling question: ”What do we, as members of the dialogue and deliberation community of practice, have to be and do to enable our most positive transformational impact in the face of emerging global crises which fundamentally challenge our business-as-usual habits and systems?” 
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​​The intended results of our time together (though January 31) include:  
  1. ​​To engage in deep dialogue around our calling question.
  1. ​​To connect to build community and share resources, information and strategies.
  1. ​​To elicit inspiring, actionable possibilities and support the emergence of collaborative teams to work together on bringing them forth in the coming year.
  1. ​​To have the inquiry process itself be a prototype that can be iterated upon in service for systemic transformation.  
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​​We're actually doing all of these to some extent. #3: important we put effort into convening and hosting work; actively reach out to people. To the extent we do that, odds go up that teams will emerge going forward. All that still works for me. 
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​​Has his ​+super-saturated OS idea​ now on hackpad as an outgrowth of this process.  
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  • ​​Robert: 
​​Came in late to the process; interested in the 4 items above. Drawn primarily to Tom's question and ref. highest potential of this community. Process includes technical as well as ontological tools. Where values of those tools end, and where original goals were is something I'm still playiing with. Mindful in terms of survey concept, of goals of anyone who would have participated in this process. That's what's measurable and of value, re: expectations and objectives in participating were being met. 
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  • ​​Ben L.
​​Wanted to practice online dialogue, and support Ben and others in creating a healthy space. Mainly a process piece, vs. content, that will constantly emerge. My main goals are satisfied.
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​​Tom 
​​Same... spectator, watching the process and my responses to it. Learned a lot watching it. Not dissatisfied; intrigued with how it's unfolding. 
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​​Nancy 
​​Came in partly because at last minute 2 colleagues asked me to be involved because they couldn't. Other part was having conversations with Kim(?) at NCDD conf. and wanting to provide support and engagement for his ideas. Fascination watching interaction between these powerful social technologies interacting with online technologies. Learned a great deal watching the process. Intrigued and attracted by potential of these technologies to relationship building at a distance and to develop ideas. Sobered by technological issues, Some elements are easier and some are harder to deal with.  
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​​Also wanted to connect with others who care about this topic. Very satisfied with being able to do that.
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​Question ideas:
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​​Important question area around the technologies. Also if people were able to make connections, learn about new resources. 
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​​Issues around application and learning of technologies are really important for community as a whole. And it's the case that this whole month could have been spent on a single substantive issue... educaiton, anything. But I wonder whether or not there's a difference by virtue of the dimensionality of Tom's question, about challenges facing all of humanity. If so, for a survey, how do you put priority on the value of the technology, over discussions over why people might have responded to TOm's question, I think due to its substantive dimension. If we have to choose, would go for substance over technology. Choices need to be made as to how much to ask on each dimension. For purposes of creative connectivity, understanding who and how engagement happened, etc. could take up lion's share of survey.
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​​Is there a role in asking people to speak to Tom's original question, as a survey question (essay)? How do they feel about the question now that they've gone through this process, their answers, etc. May address substantive concerns. 
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​​Want people to harvest on hackpad as well, not just a survey. If they have hackpad, do they also need it on survey? Inviting people to do that harvest/meaning making process on hackpad. Survey is for questions to quantify... e.g. how many relationships/connections did you make out of this? A way of making that value that explicit for the whole group. LIkely we won't get a lot of people to fill out a survey, especially if it's really long. Not put in a lot of work into something that may not merit it.
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​How do you envision the results being used?
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​​Find other people to connect with around critical issues Tom addressed. Especially if they can see aggregated results, and include ways people could connect with others. Also could share with NCDD if there were questions there that were of interest to them, e.g. if something like what we did could be useful to them going forward.
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​​If there was a way to measure some of the value we've created, make visible things that weren't recognized, or that were taken for granted. Also offers and requests opportunity, survey could make those visible. How much did people invest in this? How much did they show up? Lots of questions Ben R has written below. X hours, etc.
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​​May be just as valuable tell people that we'd like to get their input on questions we can put into hackpad (as long as people are OK with being attributed to their answers). Surveys always give opportunity for anonymity and to aggregate responses. Open-ended questions requre reading and interpreting. Coding answers can predict possible answers that enable people to participate easier.  RC included open-ended questions e.g. greatest take-away, etc. that ties into Tom's inquiry. Could also pre-code this as well. 
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​​Nancy: Attracted to then answering Tom's question if we do have an open-ended question... closure for people who were attracted to it in the first place. eg. what happened to you as a result of this question, and the processes you interacted with. Want to be clearer whether the survey will benefit those who are taking it... what will happen with it? What's the value proposition to those responding to it? Is there a way that this core group is prepared to support at end of Jan. if not ongoing, the effort for people to hook up with others around interests of Tom's question. Possibility of some kind of attractor for NCDD... is this a ? that NCDD would incorporate? If we're talking about how dialogue all this could in turn leverage new kinds of relationships, transformation, etc., and a lot will go on at scale, e.g. China, and people at a distance, a lot is going to happen online. And the capacity of these tools (hardware and social) and what does and doesn't work at social level is useful. E.g. bringing people together from varied backgrounds, what are assumptions of building a container for them? What works, vs. not? This is high-value, as well as high-risk. Figuring out how to do this well is a critical leverage point for working with Tom's question. It's not merely the tech--it's much bigger than that.
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​​The survey will be work for those who complete it, so the value of it needs to be clear.
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​​To what extent does the energy of the group impact what we might do going forward, or of the members of this hosting team? What can we ask to test and evoke energy?
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​​Is there a way to do a mini-survey about the value of doing a survey?! And what might NCDD want? Robert: probably won't be a reliable cross-section.
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​​Retrospective vs. prospective focus is a key choice.
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​​Perhaps we come up with 3 or 4 questions on HackPad on participant's experiences of the inquiry events.  
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​​Robert not feeling that a survey is worth while given low possible turnout.  
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​​IF we don't have demographic information  from any place, Nancy wouldn't mind having them check off some info on themselves in a survey....What if we thought through possible follow-ups, such as things they might want to do next?  
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​​She also feels about the open-ended questions are good because we've done this all along.  She would rather give people one page with a list of questions that are evocative and then let them say what they want to say.  She wants, time permitting, to comb through the HackPad to learn what she can learn...for her own meaning making?  Several of might be doing this already.  In turn, this may help us learn what the energy is for doing something next.   Another thing we might do as  team is to think about some sort of survey/query process that could go back to a larger group...that would tap into aspects of the question that Tom started with.  She would love to know how many people as part of the community see themselves as part of the larger crisis?  Do they feel they are part of a network that share in these concerns...or do they feel isolated in their concerns?  It isn't just to have the statistics...but this might go back to a larger cohort.  
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​​If we set for ourselves a task, how can we facilitate connecting people up around projects who share these concerns?  What would this look like?  We could then reflect this back to the community.  
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​​What is/are the interests of importance to you in connecting with others?  Put this on a HackPad.  
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​​So, a survey might go out in 3 months to a larger cohort that could ask about their DandDTrans participation...Let's just do Hackpad questions for now.  
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​Potential Questions for hackpad:  
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​​Answer the original question? Or "given this question, what's changed for you/what insights have you had? What's happened to you in relationship to this question?
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  • ​​Has this affected the work you are doing, were doing, might do?
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​​Where do you want to go from here? Make that as concrete as possible.energy and guidance for what we do next, and what might need support.
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  • ​​This could be framed with some suggestions in a list (that would have been pre-coded in a survey)
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  • ​​Is there a larger D&D project? Are there people you want to connect with? Geographic focus?
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​​What were your experiences using the technology both positive and negative?  
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​​What has the effect been of this event  on the work they already do?  
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​​Story question....Something that might have happened during this month-long event...funny, challenging...a story about some aspect of this inquiry that touched you or surprised you?  
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​​Going back to Tom's original attractor question...very abstract...how about posing it and then ask for a story about how you might have changed...Remembering back to the original vision of this inquiry...Everyone has their own pad...we have a list of questions and let people just answer it 
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​​Just some question ideas (just notes, I'm unattached...):
​​What would have to happen for these conversations to fulfill their highest potential?
​​What would make it possible for these virtual technologies to realize their highest potential?
​​What could still come out of this series of conversations which would engage you for months afterwards?
​​What impact has this process already had on your work and life?
​​What happened here that made this process worthwhile for you?
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​​If we have 20 individual pads, will we have some way of looking at the results that can be collated in some way?  
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​​The questions at the top of the HackPad are meant to evoke.  We want them to reflect on the whole process  as well...if they don't have anything they want to say, then we learn that much more.  
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​​One process question:  what would you like to share about the process itself as opposed to the content?  
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​​We want this on the main page as a banner item.  
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​​Ben R will do an email out and create a main menu item.  So, the main pads will have a banner item...main call pad for tomorrow's pad.  We won't have moderated pads because we haven't stressed that during this event.   
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​​Nancy is willing to take the names of people who want to opt in and collect them in a file and feedback.  On a google document, Nancy could put an x and then we get that back to them. 
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​Pre-1/24 call thoughts

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​​ From Linda's ​+Post January Planning​ pad:
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  1. ​​ Participant Survey:  Robert has offered to create a small survey for participants to fill out who registered for Maestro.  We would want to clarify questions that are important to each of us so that  Robert has these in time to include them in his survey.  We might even want to query participants about this.  Gathering questions is something we might begin to do now and letting participants know that such a survey will be going out right past the end of January so that they are anticipating it.  I know I want some questions on what we did well during this month and what we could do better should we undertake this again in the future.   Also, questions that could help participants connect with other's, sharing their interests and contact information (for those wanting to do this).  
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  • ​​My understanding of what people want has evolved. assumed it would be about things to work on together. that's less apparent now. tension is to understand if the survey is as useful as I thought. would like convo with our input on this, and what would be useful to ppts so far. Also imagining a larger survey for the whole field.
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​​From Ben R's 1/22 email:
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  • ​​Here’s my first hit on some stuff I want to know. It’s around the value of what we did, as opposed to something designed to help organize next steps. In Community, ​+Peter Block talks about rethinking “action” and what is valuable in our gatherings​, suggesting that we don’t always have to leave with a list of next steps for the time together to have been worthwhile (while also noting elsewhere in the book that it’s “illegal” in many circles to do so!). And yes, I see the irony in my posting this into a pad that has "Next Steps" at the top!!! 
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  • ​​What kinds of questions might we ask to get at some of the points Block made? Maybe things like this:
  • ​​How much time did you spend in DandDTrans activities (asked separately for hackpad and the calls)
  • ​​Approximately how many new connections did you make through DandDTrans that might be of value to you going forward?
  • ​​How many people you already knew did you engage with in ways that strengthened your relationship?
  • ​​Please describe briefly what, if anything, you learned though DandDTrans that was/might be of value to you? 
  • ​​What offers would you like to make to the D&D community to enhance its capacity for serving systemic transformation?
  • ​​What requests would you like to make of the D&D community in service to your work in service to systemic transformation?
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  • ​​Linda's comments to Ben R's comments (1/22):  
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  • ​​Thanks for your questions.  These are exactly the sorts of questions I'm hoping we can all brainstorm.  I think where I might depart from your concern about leading to action steps, is just to be neutral about them, but make sure to include questions that might help people find each other through shared interests.  
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  • ​​I found your last two questions to be a bit confusing as I wouldn't know what the D&D community is as a whole...it seems like these are getting at some sort of actions steps.  I would rather just go ahead and ask questions more directly that might either be fed back to NCDD in some way or part of some sort of collaborative effort amongst the people who participated in this January inquiry.  
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  • ​​Ben, in response to Linda above.
  • ​​Looks like we're going beyond "brainstorming" to a discussion/critique of ideas, which may be a good thing... 
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  • ​​For the record, I don't have a CONCERN about action steps, nor does Block say it's bad to have them. On the contrary. AND, per Block, I want to invite an expanded notion of action and value.
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  • ​​Re your confusion about the last two questions, Block suggests that powerful questions are ambiguous! I have no problem with the possibility that people won't have the same (or a clear) sense of what "the D&D community" is. And my thought would be to share whatever people did provide as answers back out to the three main listservs we promoted this gathering to.
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  • ​​Linda's Response to Ben R (1/23/15)
  • ​​Thanks again, for clarifying.  Intersting that Block thinks ambiguous questions are powerful. Will have to think about that.  
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  • ​​We are going to hold our brainstomring session this Saturday, 1/24/15, at 2pm MST/4pmEST/1pmPST.  I haven't yet heard if this works for Nancy, but I know that Tom, Robert, and Ben L, can make it.  
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  • ​​We will do a check in round about our personal hopes/intentions around the January DandDTrans events as a way to find where we might have some common ground in crafting survey questions in lines with those hopes/intentions and then sift through some topic areas that Robert has/is preparing that we can add to or modify.   If you can't make the session, you might want to put in writing any of your personal hopes/intentions and any other questions you have at this point.   
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