MSC: A Story of Different Applications of the Technique

and the Central Role of DialogueBy: Tracey Delaney

Overview of MSCUnderpinning theoryFour Examples of use

MSC - Background

◦ Form of qualitative, participatory M&E◦ Based on stories of change - Not indicators◦ About surfacing values about what is important◦ Originally developed in Bangladesh by Rick Davies

(1996) “Evolutionary approach to organisational learning”

◦ Adapted by Jess Dart (1999) “The story approach”

Now widely know as THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TECHNIQUE – common thread throughout the process

3

The basics of MSC

4

Collect stories Review & filter stories regularly (selection) Communicate the results of selection (feedback)

Story Collection

Review and

select

Use ofStories

Feedback

PROCESS DATA

In MSC the stories provide:

1. information about project impact

2. a basis for discussion about project activities and future direction

5

Learning & Project improvement

+

Some theory behind MSC

6

‘The Evolutionary Approach to Organisational Learning’,

Drawing on the work of Campbell (1969) and Nelson & Winter, (1982) who had earlier drawn from the Darwinian language of evolution, adaptation, and natural selection to explain organisational change Davies noted:

“The process of learning is not something that occurs in isolation. Even at the level of biological evolution, interactions within populations of organisms are central to the process. Within the lives of individual human beings the ability to learn from each other, and not just their own immediate experience, is a major feature that has enabled humans to adapt effectively to their world.”(1998b, p44)

“The story approach” (Dart, 1999)

Constructivism: theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences

◦ rejects the existence of a singular knowable reality◦ our experience of the world is not direct, that our

perception of reality is mediated by what we bring to the experience,

◦ our experience of reality is constructed

The “Story Approach” (Dart 2000)

Essence of technique – construction of meaning

“When a beneficiary tells a story of change he/she interacts with the world and draws meaning from it and in telling the story meaning is constructed. Then when reviewer read the story they construct a further new meaning” (p.130)

9

The relationship between stories and meaning has also been discussed by Widdershoven (2001) in his article on ‘Dialogue in Evaluation’:

“people need stories in order to make sense of their situation; yet they are not locked up in those stories. Strange and unexpected experiences can open up the horizon of expectations, and elicit new stories. Experiences are richer than expectations, and can create room for new ways of meaning making”. (p.256)

The Most Significant ChangeIn fact all stories are significant, at very least to

the person who first told the story a given story may be both significant to one small

group of people, but not to a wider group of people - when they are comparing that story to others

It is important to understand that selection is not solely about the choice or the last story standing, but also about the discussion that happens in reaching a decision about which is the most significant.

The Most Significant Change Technique (MSC)AIMS:

Move towards better understanding between all the various project stakeholders as to what is occurring for the beneficiaries/participants

To explore and share various values and preferences of the project stakeholders

To gain a clearer understanding (as a group) of what is and is not being achieved by the project and to clarify what they are really trying to achieve, so that the project can move towards what is desirable and move away from what is undesirable.

12

MSC is all about dialogue!

Understanding selection

Selection is a key tool of MSC!

People don’t like it necessarilyIt puts people out of their comfort zoneIt’s a technique to get people to enter into

deeper level of dialogueIts ensures people to really read the storiesBut its not about the choice - its about the

dialogue! Its about surfacing values

15

Selection structures

Hierarchical ◦ Builds on existing structure, includes various levels

of selection e.g regional, nationalFlat◦ Brings groups of people /stakeholders together e.g

various partners or distinct groups (parents, teachers, youth)

Applications of MSC

Communities for Children, Mission Australia, Dandenong (ON-GOING USE)

Communication for Transformation, World Vision (Cambodia) (ON-GOING USE)

Values in Action Schools Project, Curriculum Corporation (EVALUATION)

COAG mental Health Project, Lifeline Australia (EVALUATION)

Communities for children (Mission Australia, Dandenong)

is a place-based early intervention and prevention and community capacity building program

health and well being of families and children aged 0-5 years

focusing on local needs and gaps, community participation and creating child and family friendly communities

45 disadvantaged sites throughout Australia identified ‘Facilitating Partners’ funded by FaHCSIA, to work with

local stakeholders

19

Partner A

Partner E

Partner B

Partner C

Partner D

Quarterly Community

Partners Meeting

6 monthly Report to

funder

Influence of MSC

Gave them a focused process for reflection during quarterly partner meetings on what was being achieved

Refocused M&E towards outcomesHelped develop a more fully shared vision of

what represented ‘success’Encouraged dialogue and sharing among

partner organisations

Transformational Development communications Project (TDC)

(World vision)

a planned and systematic introduction of MSC a three year pilot project launched in August

2007 in three national offices namely World Vision Cambodia, World Vision India and World Vision Philippines

the objective was “Transforming Lives through Sharing Stories of Transformation”.

See: Connecting communities: a review of World Vision’s use of MSC (2011) by Davies and Delaney

Step 1: In small groups the participants share their stories and select ONE

Step 2: Selected stories are presented to whole group with REASONS WHY selected

Step 3: Whole group (or reconvened group) selects ONE story from among those selected in small groups and agrees on REASONS WHY

Influence of MSC on communityCommunity empowermentbringing groups of community together to share

and reflect on changes in their lives. encourage discussion and debate resulted in

increased knowledge and awareness, and a higher level of critical thinking.

Critical thinking enables communities to understand the interplay of forces operating on their lives, and helps them take their own decisions.

COAG Mental Health Program - Lifeline Australia

In 2006, Lifeline received five year funding through the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing to undertake service improvement and service enhancement activities on three ‘TeleWeb’ services, including the 13 11 14 service.

The funding was established under the package of mental health reforms that COAG agreed to in 2006 and became the COAG Mental Health Program.

The Project has also involved considerable change within Lifeline, most particularly in how the 13 11 14 service is delivered.

As this service is provided via 3,000 volunteers who are operating through a nationally linked network of 42 Lifeline Centres, cultural, practice and operational change has been significant.

The methodologyDocumentation review Case studies of specific Lifeline centres (x5)

◦ Context surfacing workshop with Lifeline staff (and volunteers)

◦ Semi structured interviews with staff and volunteers, incorporating MSC

Survey of a sample of staff and volunteers to verify the extent of change reported

Evaluation summit – incorporating story selection and identification of outcome themes and issues - lead into key lessons

Group 1

Group 3

Group 2

New insight

on values

New insight

on values Key:

Stories

Teams/groups

Selected Stories

Feedback on which story selected and reasons why

Selection occurred in a workshop session from sets of stories

New insight on

values

New insight on

values

Key:

Stories

Teams/groups

Selected Stories

Feedback on which story selected and reasons why

Influence of MSC allowed for behavioural and cultural changes brought about

by the COAG Mental Health Program to emerge as understood and experienced from the perspectives of those involved in the process

Allowed for both positive and negative stories to be generated

Highly participative process allowed for multiple interpretations of the impacts of change management to be explored

judgments made in the evaluation process were based on values of the stakeholders as opposed to the evaluator.

because participants played an active role in the forming conclusions based on the data, there was a greater potential for learning to occur and a much greater chance of ownership of the recommendations

VALES IN ACTION SCHOOLS PROJECT (VASP) – Curriculum Corporation)

a national project in which clusters of schools were funded by the Australian Government to design, implement and evaluate the outcomes of high quality values education projects.

built on the significant values education work previously undertaken in the Values Education Good Practice School Projects – Stages 1 and 2.

all Australian schools were invited to apply for grants to support school clusters designing, implementing and reporting on innovative values in action education projects during the 2009 school year.

See: ‘Giving Voice to the Impacts of Values Education’ (October 2010)

School cluster committee

VASP coordinating Committee

Evaluation Summit

Parents

Students

Teachers

School cluster committee

School cluster committee

School cluster committee

Influence of MSCThe collection and selection of significant

changes stories provided very direct participant input about the outcomes of the cluster projects.

This was notable because the perspectives of these three cohorts revealed the high level of importance each group ascribed to the values education approaches being enacted in classrooms and beyond.

The selection of the most significant of those stories enabled individual cluster projects to focus on what they were trying to achieve

Parents’ participation was particularly powerful, as they felt they were involved in a mainstream curriculum discussion by identifying what was ‘significant’

By incorporating a selection process at the end of the evaluation, stories offered a meaningful way for a range of stakeholders to engage with the data and form judgements about the overall program

Use of the stories

Because of the primacy of ‘story’ in assessing the impact of values interventions, the final report presents these stories of most significant change as key impact data, prior to any secondary analysis.

The ‘voices’ from MSC stories also appear throughout the report and reflect the perceptions of key project stakeholders.

Key messagesThe process of selection, when it takes place through a

dialogue between two or more people, helps surface participants’ values, about what is important in people’s lives,

this in turn leads to a discussion about program intention, impact and ultimately future direction.

This dialogue is at the very heart of MSC and where the true value in using it lies.

promoting more collaborative, participatory approaches to evaluation, which by their very nature promote dialogue, have a greater potential to influence in distinct ways those who participate