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A woman I know is a Samaritan. Whether by instinct or by training, she is remarkably good at listening. People want to tell her their feelings; they will readily unburden […]

At one our recent Seminars on Engaging the Hard-to-Reach, one participant was heard to complain that if you added up the numbers identified in each of the separate groups thought

We’ve just passed the 2005 deadline for e-enabling the citizens’ interactions with Government and its agencies. Beyond the predictable and competing claims of success by the programme’s supporters and carping

Law-makers have switched on to the idea of consultation, with the result that our legislation is becoming very prescriptive, and requires all kinds of public bodies to consult a vast

Listening effectively to the public, through professionally-organised consultations is a challenge. If decision-makers are to do better than just respond through knee-jerk reactions to opinion-poll data, care is needed to

There are few techniques of greater value to consultation professionals than stakeholder mapping. This can be done in a variety of ways, and to a greater or lesser sophistication. Whilst

Citizens Panels have now come of age, and play an important role in Local Government consultation. They have, however, their detractors. Some claim that once people become members of a

Before everyone shouts “Get me out of here!”, this topic explores those occasions when a Big Name or VIP can help attract publicity for a public consultation. The starting point

In the dotcom boom, we all became familiar with some new acronyms. B-C (or B to C) represented the use of the Internet for Business (B) to communicate to Customers

One of the most frequently asked questions is “What’s the difference between market research (or social research) and consultation?” Sometimes the question comes from experienced researchers who, for years have