Introducing Kettering Research

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As an independent, nonpartisan research organization, the Kettering Foundation examines issues that concern people, such as the education of the next generation, financial security for older citizens, and the relationship between the United States and other world powers like Russia and China.

Kettering research is distinctive because it is done from the perspective of citizens and focuses on what people can do about issues that concern them. It is about making democracy (or self-rule) work better. It is about how people collectively can make a difference in what happens in their lives, beginning in their communities.

The foundation follows in the tradition of experimental research that was characteristic of a generation of inventors, including the Wright Brothers and Kettering’s founder, Charles F. Kettering.

Collaborative Research

Kettering has a small staff that collaborates in research with organizations around the world that are working to solve problems similar to those Kettering studies. Some of these organizations focus on regional economic development and community health care. Others, such as neighborhood associations and ad hoc coalitions, combat street crime and drug abuse. This network also includes libraries and university-based policy institutes, as well as religious organizations and tribal councils.

The foundation does not go into other communities or organizations to study them but relies primarily on what they learn from their own experiments to improve democracy. Those working on related problems share what they are learning in foundation workshops, which provide an ongoing exchange for learning how democracy can work as it should.

Kettering learns from what others are learning through joint agreements. The foundation lays out the questions it is trying to answer, and the other party to the agreement, usually a civic association or NGO, describes the experiment it is attempting and what it hopes to find out. The two lists are seldom the same, yet where they overlap creates an opportunity for joint learning.

Learning grows when people are able to compare findings that speak to the same questions. The foundation disseminates what it has learned through publications, workshops, and the Deliberative Democracy Exchange in the summer.

The exchange of findings from serious, systematic experiments provides the basis for most everything the foundation has to offer.

Kettering’s research is interconnected just as all the practices needed for democracy to work are interconnected. Still, it is useful to look at democracy from different perspectives. Although all of the research is done from the viewpoint of citizens, as they see problems and decide how to deal with them, the foundation also pays close attention to the perspective from community, where citizens have to come together not only to make decisions but also to act on their problems. The foundation also looks at democracy from an institutional perspective as citizens try to work productively with schools, governments, colleges, universities, and civic organizations.

Making democracy work means putting the public back into the public’s business; this begins when people take on the responsibility of citizenship. Kettering gets its insights from what citizens learn when they work together in their communities.

Kettering research is based on information given by communities, so it goes directly back to them, as has been the case in cities from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to El Paso, Texas, to Abakan, Russia. People in these and other communities are grappling with problems ranging from ending juvenile violence to improving race relations to building stronger economies.

National Issues Forums and Deliberation

Kettering research has continuously found that people want a stronger hand in shaping their future. In order for people to act together to address the problems that they face collectively, they need to make decisions together about what ought to be done. And these decisions need to be sound.

Some of the foundation’s research on public decision making is used to prepare issue books for citizens on critical issues. Each book presents three or more options for dealing with an issue and lays out the pros and cons of each option. The choices include possible actions by government, as well as actions that people might take. These issue books include those produced for the National Issues Forums (NIF) series.

Although the foundation does not conduct forums, its issue books have been used in forums conducted by thousands of civic, educational, and professional organizations throughout the country. Results from these forums have helped Kettering study what enables people to move from hasty reactions to more reflective and shared decisions on critical issues.

Deliberation—fairly weighing the likely consequences of various options for action on those things that people consider deeply important—has proven essential for coming to sound judgments.

Outcomes of the forums based on foundation research are reported locally by the organizations that convene them and nationally through events and panel discussions held in Washington, D.C. Briefings are also held for Congress, agencies in the executive branch of government, and the media.

Research shows that citizens don’t always have confidence in our major institutions, including those in education, government, and the media. For instance, Kettering studies have found that public schools may lack the public needed to be effective.

Many other institutions can’t do their jobs without taking into consideration the work that citizens do—and the way they do it. So the foundation studies how citizens and these institutions (along with their professionals) can combine their efforts more productively.

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Introducing Kettering Research

Collaborative Research

National Issues Forums and Deliberation