Why?

Integrating research and developing a culture of learning makes decision making easier and helps organizations make intentional investments. Yet, organizations may stay away from research because it can feel cumbersome and time intensive. As a result organizations can rely on opinions and assumptions to make important decisions.

This workshop focuses on informing decisions based on facts and data (stories as well as numbers) over assumptions and opinions. You will learn about a range of participatory methods that can be used in-person and remotely to uncover insights, and understand the people you serve and guide decision making.

Who is this for?

This workshop is for teams & leaders who want to:

• Base their decisions on what's happening in their organization or communities
• Engage the existing knowledge and perspectives of their communities
• Move away from making decisions on assumptions or the most vocal opinions
• Approach challenges in an intentional, human-centered and action oriented way
• Learn how to conduct remote research that is accessible and effective
• Communicate their impact to funders, team and stakeholders
• To use Mural in an intentional way for collaborative research processes

What do I walk away with?

Participants leave with the ability to:

• Translate learnings from research into action
• Apply qualitative research methods to a challenge in your work
• Draw on methods that prioritize participation and inclusion
• Select an appropriate method(s) to find insights on the challenges you’re experiencing
• Frame a research question
• Leverage the power of Mural to identify patterns in the information collected, better understand mural, what situations to use mural in, models and methods that you can use in Mural
• Engage and share with a team the learnings
• Use research to inform where to go next and guide decision making

What is the course format?

In each 2 hour session, you will experience how to integrate research into your work in a pragmatic way. We will use hands-on tools and exercises and apply them to a challenge that you are working on in your organization.

First and foremost, we believe in learning by doing. At times you'll work on your own, in pairs or as a part of a small group. We'll use MURAL boards to facilitate certain exercises and illustrate ideas. No prior use of MURAL is required.