Originally published 3 September 2008. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
The ability to elicit people’s views through new technology has many advantages. It is a form of mass publishing that lets the audience decide whether or not they want to participate; they can do so at a time, and increasingly a place, of their own choosing – and it saves a small forest of trees!
Then there’s the question of cost. Of course, the cost-per-response appears much cheaper, especially for high-volume routine e-surveys and, no doubt, Finance Officers regularly salivate at the apparent savings that would be achieved if this method of communication could render the traditional time-consuming, and costly, alternatives unnecessary.
This is probably one of the reasons why we are beginning to see a spate of online only consultations. It is not the only reason. Many organisations lack the skills or the know-how to run focus groups, organise public meetings, meet stakeholder groups and use other dialogue methods – and hiring specialist consultants, or paying intermediaries, takes management effort as well as money. Moreover, whenever multiple channels are used, there is the problem of absorbing and analysing different types of output data. Isn’t life so much simpler, if we just select one method, and let those who wish to take part find their way to that option? Eyebrows were raised as long ago as 2003 when the Labour Party ran a consultation called The Big Conversation. The Conversation Starter of 206 questions in 13 sections ran to 83 pages, and was only available online. Party modernists could claim this to be a signal of their embracing the 21st century; the Prescott tendency grumbled that that the party of the people was making it difficult for all of the people to participate.
But here’s the rub. Even with 60% and rising, internet access, the propensity to participate online is much smaller and usually concentrated among professional, educated males. And there are other reasons why an online only policy is seldom suitable:- • Online surveys are great for yes/no option-selections from drop-down lists or other straightforward questions .... but are less suitable for discerning those more nuanced or subtle viewpoints • Discovering why people hold the views they do requires an iterative dialogue of some kind. The e-discussion forum comes closest to mimicking a deliberative debate, but lacks the immediacy of face-to-face alternatives • Opposing views expressed in person can present the opportunity for creative compromise as people explore consensus options. Too many online debates tend towards polarisation. • Consultors miss the opportunity to meet stakeholders and informally discuss the issues with them.
Why is informal dialogue so important? Because that is the best way to put a face to a point of view and also only by talking to people can one discover what assumptions they’ve made. Upon what information are they relying? What Reports have they read? Whom have they contacted? What have they seen? What specialist insight do they bring? And so on. Contrast this with the mechanistic anonymity of the online world. Okay, you may have signed it with your own name (as opposed to the alias you used last week), but this is a method that biases us towards binary calculations, and against being able to take different account of views according to the credibility of the participant.
Online consultations are here to stay, and are an invaluable addition to the range of dialogue methods we can use. But they are essentially supplementary tools, and when one sees an online only consultation, it should raise serious questions. No doubt there may be occasional situations where there are a smallish number of predictably-IT literate potential respondents, and where the other limitations may not apply. But these are few and very far between. In general avoid online only.
Trigger points
- What is your organisation’s policy re e-consultation?
- Does your organisation strike the right balance between online and traditional methods?
- e-surveys are considered in the Institute’s training course on Effective Surveys & Questionnaires
This is the 118th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement