Bearing witness in evaluation: Why participatory approaches to data analysis (sensemaking) are essential to community-engaged work

Abstract Information:

Objectives:
• Learn about sensemaking as a key step in evaluation, especially for marginalized groups
• Hear examples of how to use sensemaking at various stages and in multiple formats
• Participate in a hands-on, creative sensemaking activity
• See how virtual whiteboards like Miro can be used to host sensemaking sessions

In this skill-building workshop, evaluators will take a deep dive into sensemaking, learn how it contributed to a community-engaged evaluation, and experience lively sensemaking activities and tools to take away for their own practice. Sensemaking is a way of analyzing evaluation data with participants to collectively make meaning about what happened and its significance. Also known as ‘ground-truthing’, people are invited to make sense of range of voices and experiences. As white women who work with communities of color and marginalized groups, it's essential that people have agency as they share their stories. The collective analysis also minimizes evaluator bias and provides a transparent feedback loop so people understand and contribute to how their stories are applied. How does this kind of evaluation- where the group most impacted tells the story of what happened—matter and help shape the work going forward?

For a recent 2-year learning community with Oregon arts educators at the helm, sensemaking was a key tactic towards a larger evaluative goal of understanding value, and ultimately, bearing witness to what the group created. From the start, this racially/ethnically diverse learning community took a collaborative and adaptive approach to setting goals, designing meetings and developing plans for how the arts can support a more equitable and responsive education system for students. The evaluation complemented their approach; alongside evaluation interviews and small group conversations, the in-person and virtual sensemaking activities supported participants to surface where they felt impacts and what made those possible. The evaluation was positioned more as a reflection about the experience and its meaning for participants than a judgement or outside recommendation about the value of the community.

With a creative and playful mindset, we’ll take a tour of how we applied sensemaking techniques and practice engaging sensemaking activities as a group. Establishing trust is an important precursor that invites deeper listening and sharing. We’ll use low—stakes methods to build trust as we work towards a group narrative and understanding. Attendees will see examples of where sensemaking can be useful, how to plan and prepare, and how online whiteboard tools like Miro can be used to condense and refine the overall story.