Tools and resources

Here are a range of methods to get people involved in your organisation.

To help choose the most suitable approaches, you'll need to consider:

Leaflets/Posters

This is a simple method for communicating basic information widely, which is relatively easy to produce and to distribute.

A newsletter can be electronic or hard copy. It can be a one-off publication, feeding back from a single event, or a regular publication publicising the ongoing work of a group or project.

Website

As websites can host user generated content as well as static content, they can be used to consult people through online surveys, forums and chat rooms. Take a look at the ICT section of this website for more information on user generated content.

Surveys

This method enables collection of information from a large number of respondents. It can be carried out in a number of ways including online, through the post or through one-to-one interviews.

Open days or fun days

One-off events to celebrate and raise interest in a project or organisation, can be great opportunities to reach out to all members of the community, enabling them to meet staff and each other, raising the profile of the project or organisation in the process.

One-to-one interviews

Semi-structured one-to-one interviews or conversations can be used to obtain detailed, qualitative information about people's experiences of services. The people you want to involve could volunteer to be peer interviewers themselves.

Focus or discussion groups

Usually consisting of 6-12 people, focus groups are facilitated by one person with another person taking minutes, or noting main points on a flipchart. This technique can be useful when you want qualitative and in-depth information about a topic or set of issues. It is often used in market research.

Café consultations

This approach offers people a relaxed café-type environment in which they can talk to others in small groups, and move between groups to meet new people and get a fresh perspective.

Open Space events

These are events managed by the participants who create their own programme around a pre-determined theme. There are no speakers and no set agenda. The number of participants and duration of events can vary.

Multimedia (eg video booths)

Options include using a range of equipment such as camcorders, cameras and computer software packages to enable people to communicate views and feelings verbally and directly. For example, a video booth is a private area where someone can sit in front of a camcorder and be recorded giving their views or responding to questions. Read some multimedia case studies in the ICT section of this website.

Suggestion boxes or comments books

Boxes or books can be placed in an accessible area for individuals to post anonymous comment cards with their opinions and suggestions. Regular feedback needs to be provided on action taken.

Stakeholder forums or panels

These usually consist of groups of 10-20 stakeholder representatives who meet on a regular basis to discuss topics of concern to them as users, representatives of users or other stakeholders of a project or service. This approach needs to have a recognised mechanism for feeding views into the decision-making body of a project or service.

Advisory groups

These typically include 10-30 stakeholders who meet to inform and advise on decision-making or service design. The group may meet over a couple of days as a one-off event or convene regularly over a longer period.

Involving people in recruitment

This approach can include users reviewing job descriptions and person specifications, short-listing, interviewing and selecting new staff.

Mystery shopping

Mystery shoppers are volunteers who audit services by pretending to be service users, and then report on what they find. This method has been used commonly in services for young people such as sex advice services.

User representation

In this approach, users are represented on governance bodies and inspection teams, eg as peer inspectors, committee members or trustees. The role of representatives needs to be clearly defined.

User-led management committees

User-led organisations are those where the majority, or all, of the management committee members are service users or members.

User-led projects or services

In this situation, a group or sub-group of service users is given a budget to manage specific activities and produce specific outputs. Each user group will need clear terms of reference for their work.