I enjoyed a hands-on research experience last Friday that was quite new to me.   You see, I'd been asked to work with Kaiarataki CEO, Jane Sherard of Ngati Whatua Nga Rima O Kaipara and Annette Lindsay, CEO of ProCare Network North PHO to meet a challenge that they were addressing.  Their challenge involved preparing a report which strongly affirms successes that have been already been achieved by those two organizations with respect to their health innovation project called Te Awaroa Lifestyles - Toku Oranga Pai. 

They're doing this because they've been nominated as a finalist (one of 21 nationwide) in a health innovations spectacular.  So that means they now want to find evidence which will support the extra data that they have to supply to the competition organizers by way of affirmative information.  In addition, they want to find out about how best their two organizations might work with clients in order to build even stronger health successes in the future.  Furthermore, they also want to add a whole lot of substance to an elementary evaluation that was prepared last year by Te Ropu Whariki (otherwise known as Shore Research an evaluation agency that operates out of Massey University). 

It seems that Te Ropu Whariki had prepared a short report that looked at what had been achieved between March 2006 – June 2007 but Jane and Annette wanted to update that information and they also wanted to strengthen it because they felt that it was really important that their evaluation data were kept up-to-date.  So what I suggested to them was that we run a one-day workshop that used appreciative inquiry as a tool for gathering data about actual positive events which had happened to clients.  And I have to say, with the benefit of 20:20 hindsight that as an evaluation process, it worked very, very well indeed.

This meant that I wanted to tap into whanau experiences by creating platforms of constructive review from which groups of participants would be able to work together to explore in detail, positive things that had happened to them.  I needed them to collaboratively gather and assemble really useful and relevant information about the successes of the Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara Te Awaroa Lifestyles - Toku Oranga Pai project; I wanted them to unlock information in the form of corroborative evidence about the good things they'd experienced and appreciated. 

I also wanted them to become co-authors of an evidence-based report on successes in which they'd participated.  Normally, these sorts of reports are written up by external people who have not necessarily been closely associated with the project being evaluated and in fact, keeping an evaluator distant from a project is sometimes promoted as an intentional ploy in the interests of being able to demonstrate objectivity.   But reports that have been prepared by distant or removed evaluators are not always able to unlock the full story of what has happened precisely because the reporter is distant.  In other words, evaluators and writers from outside agencies have not necessarily been a part of the inside story in the first place.  They have not necessarily been that involved. 

Of course, these participants had been involved and very much so.  They'd been a part of the promotion and delivery of services.  And so, peripherally, have I.  I've been a co-facilitator for three years of the Waitemata District Health Board's programme of enabling consumers to better understand and contribute to research matters which concern themselves as communities of consumers.  What's more, I've hosted Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara at the Woodhill Park Retreat before and have been welcomed onto the Reweti Marae.  That's why I felt confident that I could participate with impunity and integrity in the Appreciative Inquiry Evaluation exercise that we were facilitating with this particular community of consumers. 

What I wanted was for those from Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara who were attending the day to become really closely and intensely involved in the story telling about those services in which they had participated.  The aim was to probe their experiences so that the stories they told could be used as corroborative evidence. 

Beyond that, I wanted them to become a partner in preparing an evaluation report because a collaboratively prepared report would clearly represent a more realistic evaluation of their stories than a 'slim' external evaluation could possibly hope to.  The intention was that their testimonies could be used tell others about what happened to them as individuals and to their whanau; their stories would tell what happened to whom and why; the appreciative inquiry evaluation would unfurl stories concerning and confirming what happened to which people, for what reasons and with what results. 

As we discovered, the exercise unlocked an absolute treasure-trove of evidence - it yielded positive and powerful affirmations of successes that participants had enjoyed.

So just what is involved in this process of evaluation that uses that process called Appreciative Inquiry?  Basically, Appreciative Inquiry zeroes in on identifying evidence about positive experiences people have had or positive services that they've experienced.  Fundamentally, those involved gather information about how such positive experiences have impacted upon their life.  And at the same time, the Appreciative Inquiry evaluation interview also finds out how those positive experiences might best be used to achieve dreams - the visions that people have of a positive future.  It's a story telling and story writing process that emphasizes positives as a means of moving forward to achieve ideals. 

That doesn't mean, of course, that problems have to be overlooked.  Identifying and solving problems is an important part of any evaluation – but for that day, I wanted to involve participants in a process that deliberately emphasized positives.  For that reason, we acknowledged that problems can present challenges which are also a part of the whole but we opted to celebrate the positives and to temporarily park problems for another hui.   It wasn't, therefore, a matter of ignoring problems and challenges but rather, a decision to use good happenings as evidence of achievements. 

Our Appreciative Inquiry Evaluation process took practically all of the time allocated for the day (i.e. from 9.30 a.m. - 3.30 p.m.).  There were some basic administrative matters that had to be completed at the outset.  First, after we'd shared our mihi and before we had our first of many cuppas, we explained what we wanted to achieve for the day and we also described how we intended to get there.  Second, we asked participants to complete an ethics form.  This form gave permission for evaluation findings to be used in the preparation of any reports, papers and presentations that emerged from the day.  But importantly, those taking part also agreed that by signing the ethics form any papers which might emerge would be deemed to have been prepared and authored by of those participating.  That means that although I've penned this blog, it has actually stemmed from the work of us all and I want to acknowledge those who were there for inspiring me to delve further into the realm of blogging.

 Blogs aside, the exercise proved to be an important mechanism for affirming the many successes that had been achieved as outcomes of the Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara Marae Arataki project.  The evaluation also pointed out the important role that ProCare North had played in the Marae project which underscores the important principle that health initiatives often work best when they are taken to the people by the people for the people.

After the introductions, the participants were asked to work in groups of three in order to address the questions below.  In succession one person was the interviewer and another was the recorder/note-taker.  This meant that the story told by the third person could be written up in as much detail as was possible.  Then, when one person has finished telling their story, the team swapped roles.  When they had each told their story, they were asked to spend time writing up the story they had recorded in detail and also to identify highlights of that story.  To guide the process, participants were given the questions below on a sheet and each person was provided with a notepad for keeping detailed records.  Their notes were later collected and were transcribed for analysis via QSR NVivo 8 software.  Here then are the questions that people were given:

1. Think, for a short time, about your involvement with the Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara Marae Arataki Project since it began.  Specifically, think of all the changes that have occurred since you first became involved (whenever that may have been).  Please, please, please, do not just think in a hurry – think carefully and some in detail which means we want you to replay events and happenings in your mind.  It may take a minute or three for you to remember and reflect about these matters.
2. Now specifically, remember a peak experience — a significant change that stands out for you, a change in which you felt most involved, most engaged, or most satisfied with the work of the Marae Arataki project.    
3. We want you to tell a story about that change.  We want you to say what happened? We need you to tell us who was involved?  What did you contribute to the experience or the event?  What were the key factors that made it possible?  Tell your story describing the experience in detail. 
4. What do you most value about the contribution of to the Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara Marae Arataki Project to your Whanau, your Hapu and to your Iwi?  What examples can you think of and tell us about which show others how whatever you most value has made a difference?    
5. If you had three wishes for the continued evolution of Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara Marae Arataki Project in order to make more of a difference to your people, what would they be?

This blog is to be continued... in the meantime, any feedback or discussion is welcome...

Ka kite

Jens