Developing Deliberative Practice: The Impacts of Deliberation

This Kettering Foundation Report by William J. Ball on how forum participants are affected by their participation provides an important window into the value of forums. Using pre-forum surveys and repeating the questionnaire three months later, the researchers found some stability of effect. Anecdotal evidence of the impact forums have matters, but empirical evidence strengthens our understanding of the degree of change we see. The researchers found that, beyond learning more about the issue, people took some form of action as a result of their participation, such as doing additional research, contacting other participants, or talking with others about their experience.