Fact-Finding and Listening

The Fact-Finding and Listening module  contains simple, all-purpose tools for fact-finding and active listening. They are generic in nature and can be applied to any topic. The tools are divided into three sub-sets:

Seeking evidence and consensus

Validation helps you validate the results of an inquiry and decide whether more evidence and/or consensus is needed before action can be taken based on the results.

Engaging people

Participation helps you to determine the desired level of participation in an ongoing or proposed project and assess the extent to which existing conditions limit or enable it.

Forum Options helps you choose the forum option that is appropriate to the activities you are currently planning. It describes the strengths and weaknesses of each option and includes recommendations about how to use each option.

Third Party helps you decide whether or not you need a third party facilitator, consultant, mediator or arbitrator to help you resolve problems or implement an activity.

Active Listening helps you to engage people and help all participants listen and be heard.

Measuring and mobilizing evidence

Free List and Pile Sort helps you create and compare lists and categories of elements relevant to a particular topic. This is a foundational facilitation technique for many other tools.

Ranking helps you to develop order within a hierarchy, from first to last, using one or several criteria. Ranking creates scores or values that are all different from each other (e.g., 1 to 10).

Rating helps you to grade elements using one or several criteria. Rating creates scores that may be the same for several elements in a list (e.g., 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5).

Weighting helps you to rate and compare elements in a list using multiple criteria and scores weighted according to the importance that people assign to each criterion.

Scoring Tips helps you adjust and adapt ranking and rating tools to a particular situation.

The Socratic Wheel helps you to evaluate and rate one or several elements or alternatives on multiple criteria. It is a foundational tool for monitoring and evaluation of project goals, options to choose from, individual skills, leadership styles, products, events, etc.

Information G.A.S. (Gathering, Analysis, Sharing) helps you to select methods for gathering, analyzing or sharing information best suited to the needs and culture of the people involved. 

Writing for Change (download) is an interactive guide to effective writing, writing for science, and writing for advocacy developed by Alan Barker and Firoze Manji of Fahamu  in collaboration with IDRC.