Comparing Structured and Unstructured Facilitation Approaches in Consultation Workshops: A Field Experiment
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Comparing Structured and Unstructured Facilitation Approaches in Consultation Workshops: A Field Experiment Jordi Honey‑Rosés1 · Mitzy Canessa2 · Sarah Daitch3,4 · Bruno Gomes2,5 · Javier Muñoz‑Blanco García4,6 · André Xavier7,8 · Oscar Zapata1,9
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Facilitators must make important decisions when preparing for consultation workshops. One critical choice pertains to how much structure should be incorporated in a workshop and imposed on group discussions. Highly structured consultations may ensure efficiency and help produce specific outputs. However, too much structure may limit group discussion, creativity, or be ill received by participants. To examine the impacts of structure in a workshop consultation, we conducted a field experiment that compares structured and unstructured facilitation approaches in a workshop on participatory environmental monitoring. We randomized participants (n = 34) into two parallel sessions where they completed the same tasks of idea generation and prioritization but with contrasting facilitation approaches. We collected pre and post surveys to compare satisfaction between groups across a range of variables. We find that structured facilitation with small group discussions provide a modest yet consistent improvement over the unstructured facilitation approach. We also find that women and men had very different perceptions about the level of women’s participation in the session. Experimental research designs are feasible for learning about facilitation methods and testing best practices in public participation and consultations. Keywords Consultation · Facilitation · Experiment · Field experiment · Public engagement
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1072 6-020-09688-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Jordi Honey‑Rosés [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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1 Introduction Public managers now widely accept that public participation and public consultation contribute to more democratic decision-making (Creighton 2005; Webler et al. 2001). Public consultation events help gather new information about an issue, build trust among stakeholders and potentially contribute to the resolution of conflicts among competing interests (Beierle and Konisky 2000). Public officials will often rely on public engagement events to gather input on difficult policy decisions (Gregory et al. 2005). Public consultation can take many forms, including surveys, public meetings (Adams 2004), citizen advisory groups (Arceneaux and Butler 2015), online forums (Afzalan and Muller 2018), civic lotteries (MacLeod 2017), deliberative mini-publics (Jacobs and Kaufmann 2019), and facilitated workshops (Susskind and Cruikshank 2006). Facilitated workshops are an especially useful form of engagement because they are interactive, dynamic and promote the two-way exchange of information
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