Developing the research questions

To understand faculty and student perception of the College of Arts and Sciences 

To understand faculty and student perception of the C of A&S  in relation to general education  

To gather gen ed requirements from ODAC schools and aspirational schools to compare to our perception findings 

In order to: 

Provide some grounding for a rebranding of A&S and provide some suggestions of for that branding based on the above research.

Stage 1: Clarify purpose of the research

1. Goals
• what the research is trying to accomplish? For example: the research intends to provide
wild mushroom harvesters more information about the condition of the mushroom crop
so as to help them have an informed dialogue with the Forest Service
• what type of problems the research is trying to solve? Are they ecological, economic
and/ or social? Examples are: the sustainable harvest of Non Timber Forest Products
(an ecological problem), forest worker rights (a social problem), and better markets for
small-diameter wood (an economic problem)

2. General Strategy
• what is the plan to attain research goals? Will the research involve: organizing meetings,
workshops, interviews, or data collection? Will the data be ecological, social, cultural, or
economic?

3. Values of the research partners 

• what are the ground rules that will guide the research? For example, ground rules can lay 

out the degree of emphasis on stakeholder involvement, transparency, organizing, 

capacity-building, and training. Also ground rules can clarify who will own the research 

results, and how will they be distributed

Stage 2: Identifying and involving diverse stakeholders in the research

Strategy. Identify all stakeholders affected by the research. Regardless of why parties choose 

to be involved, it is crucial that their participation is treated with respect. 

Tools. Make a list of stakeholders using the following questions. 

• Who is affected by the research? 

• Are there stakeholders who should be involved, but may need support? 

• What support is required and how can it be provided? 

• Are political or institutional “change agents” represented?

Stage 3: Building Trust

Unlike conventional research processes, developing the research question is not the starting 

point of the PR process. Building trust is a necessary stage prior to developing the research 

question. Building community members trust in the research process which is so crucial in 

PR takes a lot of time and patience. 

Strategy: Create space for informal communication and regular interaction amongst 

research partners in order to build trust. 

Tools: 

What is the college student equivalency of these tools? 

• Gatherings in people’s homes 

• Getting together over food such as potluck meals 

• Field visits 

• Informal meetings and meetings in small groups 

• Training sessions 

• E-mail lists and listservs for a greater flow of information 

Stage 4: Building Common Understanding

Questions to design a process that builds common understanding· 

• Is the language (scientific, cultural terms, English) being used understandable to all? 

• Do all stakeholders recognize and respect the different individual and cultural 

approaches to communication? 

• Do some stakeholders require technical or financial support to participate more fully? 

How can it be provided? 

Strategies. Stakeholders should be encouraged to explicitly spell out their goals so that it is 

possible to see where they overlap, and where the differences are. The most common 

strategy is to organize a meeting of stakeholders. The tools described in this section relate to 

organizing and facilitating meetings. They may not be appropriate for working with culturally 

diverse communities, and thus may need to be adapted to suit their needs. 

For example, when working with wild mushroom harvesters from Southeast Asia in Oregon, 

I found that they do not like to participate and speak in formal meetings. However after 

informally interacting with people with other groups, they willingly participate in meetings 

that include people whom they have got to know and trust. I cannot overemphasize how 

much sharing meals with them helped builds trust. 

Once a common understanding has been negotiated, and the stakeholder groups and the 

researchers agree on the goals of the research, this agreement could be formally recorded. A 

way to do this is for all participating groups to sign a memorandum of understanding that 

broadly outlines what the research hopes to accomplish. Though this seems an overly formal 

way to define a collaborative process, however it provides clarity and may help resolve future 

conflicts. An example of a formal agreement is that the NCFC regional centers sign a 

contract with their partner communities that describe the goals of the research. 

Tools. There are several different ways meetings can be organized for building a common 

understanding. For example, invite people with expertise on relevant issues to speak briefly. 

This could be used to initiate discussions. Also, experienced facilitators could facilitate 

meetings. When organizing meetings, we should pay careful attention to location and time so 

 5that it is convenient for stakeholders to participate. We should allow adequate time

Some of the tools that can be used in a meeting format are: 

1. Note card exercise
The purpose of this exercise is finding common ground and 

identifying shared priorities and values. At the beginning of a meeting of stakeholders who 

are trying to seek common understanding, ask people to fill out cards as they enter: “In five 

years, I’d like our community to have/be ___________”. Collect cards; shuffle them; read 

them out or capture on flipchart. Usually people find they have more vision in common than 

they thought.

2. Brainstorming creative solutions 
This exercise is used by groups of people working on a 

project to expose their preliminary ideas about the project for all those involved to see. 

The key ground rules are 

a) every idea is worthwhile 

b) suspend judgment - no critiques, evaluation, censorship; 

c) capture all ideas for later discussion

3. Venn Diagrams (People love visuals.)
This method uses diagrams to identify linkages and overlaps in ideas or 

perceptions. These commonalties are the used to a shared understanding of a issue, problem, 

or situation. The Venn Diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles (see example 

below from www.graphic.com). They are used to describe and compare elements and 

characteristics of a situation. To create a Venn diagram to identify a shared understanding of an issue in a group setting, you can follow these steps: 

Step 1. Draw three circles which partially overlap and name them A, B and C.

Step 2. Ask group "What are the 3 most important elements of the issue?" Write these three 

elements in each of the three circles.

Step 3: Ask group “What is common between the elements in Circle A and B, or how can 

the differences between the elements in these circles be resolved?” Fill in the overlapping 

area of the two circles with the group’s response. 

Step 4. Repeat Step 3 with Circle B and C, and then with Circle C and A. 

The overlapping areas now document the common characteristics of the issue identified by 

the group and can form the basis of shared understanding.

Stage 5: Identify the Research Question or Questions