Sense-Making Methodology Research Articles

Examining the Care Experiences of People Experiencing Homelessness in Kingston

Background Across Canada, approximately 235,000 individuals face housing instability, and homelessness has been associated with an increased use of emergency department (ED) care. EDs are a safety net for people experiencing homelessness (PEH), when faced with limitations to primary care access, such as limited service hours and locations. PEH have reported negative ED care experiences, including feeling judged, not having health concerns taken seriously, and experiencing stigmatizing behaviour. Prior negative experiences contribute to the avoidance of care services, exacerbating issues for PEH. Objective This study examines the experiences of unhoused populations accessing ED services, to better understand the adversity they face. Methods The study is participatory and cross-sectional, using the sensemaking Spryng.io platform to survey patients at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre EDs. Sensemaking methodology (SM) uses a mixed-methods research approach that collects data through storytelling. This enables individuals to naturally convey complex information and make sense of their experiences. Within the sensemaking survey, individuals who self-identified as a PEH answered an additional subset of questions about their experiences accessing care. Follow-up focus group discussions (FGDs) will take place at St. Vincent de Paul, an organization that supports people in Kingston with resources such as food, clothes, and housing. FGDs will be used to validate the sensemaking results and co-create care improvement strategies. Conclusion By engaging PEH, our results can lead to actionable care improvement strategies. The study is also a foundation for future research collaborating with PEH and community partners, to mitigate negative care experiences.

Sense‐making, sensemaking and sense making—A systematic review and meta‐synthesis of literature in information science and education: An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper

AbstractSense‐making, sensemaking, and sense making are terms used in different disciplines. Similarities of usage seem unclear. (1) to examine the concepts used in different approaches to sense‐making/sensemaking/sense making; (2) to identify, classify and synthesize recent studies relevant to information science, as well as similar group on sensemaking in education research; (3) to reflect on future directions for sense‐making/sensemaking methodology in information science. The objectives were to retrieve, examine, classify and perform meta‐synthesis on sense‐making/sensemaking studies in both information science and education research. The review used systematic review principles, with selection criteria for case studies for examination in both information science and education sets. The final meta‐synthesis used a meta‐ethnographic approach, together with findings of recent overviews on organizational sensemaking, and other information science reviews. Qualitative sense‐making studies in information science often used Dervin's SMM (sense‐making methodology) and studies in organizations and education frequently used Weick's organizational sensemaking. Different mixed methods approaches were identified. Sense‐making is actively used in research and practice in information science and knowledge management. Using a coherent sense‐making methodology helps and dialogic principles are useful in planning, data collection and analysis. Individual and collective sense‐making are important to information science.

Influence of Dervin’s sensemaking methodology determined through citation context analysis, content analysis and bibliometrics

PurposeThis study explored the influence of Dervin’s sensemaking methodology (SMM).Design/methodology/approachCitation context analysis was used to identify the most influential SMM concepts in 948 articles citing 34 SMM-related studies by Dervin that were published between 1983 and 2017. Moreover, the bibliometric method and content analysis were incorporated to examine the disciplines and research topics influenced by the SMM-related studies and the role of cited content in SMM-related studies.FindingsThe influence of SMM is concentrated in information behavior research in the field of library and information science (LIS). The 1992 book chapter From the mind’s eye of the user was most frequently cited, followed by the first SMM study from 1983; 14 of the 18 content categories were relevant to SMM. “Sensemaking,” at the core of SMM, was the most influential cited concept, primarily cited from the 1983 SMM-related study. Although the SMM was developed as a research method, it has not been primarily applied to design research methods in other studies.Originality/valueThis study explored the interdisciplinary influence of Dervin’s SMM from several aspects and demonstrated the complex information dynamics between SMM-related works and citing articles.

Insights to Improve Dietary Guidelines for Americans Communication and Policy.

This study aims to tease out why the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have largely failed to support positive attitudinal and behavioral dietary change in the U.S. over the past decade. Dervin's sense-making methodology (SMM) is employed as a theoretical framework to postulate why DGA has not been more successful with its past communication approaches. A brief history of DGA is shared along with criticisms and literature discussing its potentially politicized nature. Thirteen semi-structured qualitative interviews with individual people and various experts (government, dietitians, communicators, and school-lunch administrators) reveal successes and failures and, ultimately, gaps in the communication process. Key themes emerged indicating the importance of mothers, coaches, and significant others, but rarely DGA, in American's nutritional upbringing. Industry expert interviews exposed areas where competing systems may cancel out efforts and how too many people are looking at narrowly focused details without seeing the big picture. Systems thinking embedded in social change theories may be advantageous over traditional, less coordinated linear-thinking approaches to improve awareness and attitudes. A systems map is proposed to guide the process and bring key parties together to move beyond the contentious, only one winner mentality that has dominated in the past. In conclusion, this article adds qualitative insights to this area of inquiry and makes suggestions to improve organizational communication and policy.

What we know about information seeking and use and how research makes a difference in our knowing1

This paper summarizes what is known about everyday health information seeking and use, as supported by empirical research largely conducted during the 1980s and 1990’s. It draws implications for research and system design applicable to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) MedlinePlus web portal and data base of consumer health information. Its focus is on the two academic disciplines that bear most directly on information seeking and use, each with different perspectives. Communication (COMM) whose orientation is the study of messaging and the effective transmission of information, and Library and Information Science (LIS) whose focus is on meeting user information needs. Although there is very little overlapping literature, Dr. Dervin’s career was spent working across these two research genres. She is known most prominently for her Sense-Making Methodology. Dr. Dervin supports the view that there are more commonalities than differences between the two disciplines, and that research focusing on the commonalities provides a better opportunity for accounting for more variance in human information seeking than the highly compartmentalized approaches that dominate the study of information seeking. Dr. Dervin’s first-person review of these literatures was commissioned by NLM in 2001. It remains relevant today both for its critical insights, and as an historical resource. It is published posthumously in 2023 in tribute to Dr. Dervin on her recent passing.

Pet owners, Hurricane Harvey, and sense-making: conceptualizing “crisis core identities”

ABSTRACT Pets are considered family to many people, which may be a reason why pet owners face identity-specific challenges during disasters. As such, this research queries how pet owner identity may impact communicative exigencies during a disaster and how this identity may impact individuals’ disaster sense-making. The 2017 Hurricane Harvey serves as the context for this research. Data were gathered using a three-stage, multi-method design that sampled from Harvey-affected pet owners. Findings suggest that pet owner identity did impact participants’ communicative exigencies as well as their sense-making processes related to their Hurricane Harvey experience as a pet owner. Based on participant insights, the concept of “crisis core identities” (CCIs) is proposed to make sense of nuances that emerged from data. Brenda Dervin’s sense-making methodology and Michael Hecht’s communication theory of identity situate the study and serve as foundations for advancing CCIs. Implications are further discussed as related to extant research, praxis, and future research.

Exploring information seeking of rural older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types and sources of information sought by older adults along with their motivations in the Midwestern United States.Design/methodology/approachInterviews were conducted with 30 older adults residing in rural communities around the Midwestern United States during late-summer (July/August) 2020, using a protocol based on Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. The resulting data was analyzed using standard content analysis procedures, guided by the theoretical frameworks based on Dervin's Sense-Making and Williamson's Ecological Model of Information Behavior. Implications of COVID-19 for the normative behaviors described in these models are discussed.FindingsFindings show that older adults were concerned primarily with health and political information during this period, but that this information was not necessarily sought only to address an informational need, but also to satisfy the need to maintain social and emotional connections in coping with isolation and loneliness. Sources of information that allowed for social interaction with people were favored. Wider personal networks (community members) were strained by the social distancing measures and closures. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for considering the impact of social restrictions on information seeking behaviors of older adults in a time of crisis.Originality/valueThis study is the first, known to the authors, that applied the two adopted theoretical frameworks to explore information seeking behaviors of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An interview with Professor Emeritus Brenda Dervin

In 2019, Professor Emeritus Brenda Dervin agreed to participate in a series of interviews to discuss her life and work. Two sessions were conducted with Dervin that covered scholarly and biographical topics. The interviews reveal aspects of Dervin’s personal journey as a researcher, and a teacher, and provide insight into how she saw the related fields of information science and communication developing shared interests and shared perspectives in social research. Dervin candidly shares how her life experiences, both inside and outside of academia, have influenced the development of her theoretical approach. Readers will find here discussion of a range of issues associated with the Sense-Making Methodology as well as Dervin’s thoughts on how information and communication domains intersect within the context of modern digital environments. With reference to her own experiences, Dervin outlines how important it is to ensure that leadership within complex online environments is fostered in the areas of public information provision, and in civic dialogue, and how managing the information frameworks within which critical inquiry can thrive requires increasing commitment to, and understanding of, the human-centered considerations surrounding interpretation and identity. Further information on Dervin can be found at Bonnie Cheuk’s site: www.sense-making.org.

En route to a PhD: Mapping the journey through a sensemaking lens

Doing a PhD is for most scholars a demanding and emotionally strenuous experience, frequently resulting in potentially promising researchers succumbing to despair soon after embarking on the journey. However, those who complete their doctoral studies recollect subsequently both the frustrations and exciting experiences encountered. This article describes one researcher’s ruminations to make sense of the extensive systematic analysis utilised in a quest to obtain a PhD and to understand the academic essence of the scholarly contribution of her PhD. Using the seven fundamental properties of Weick’s (1995) sensemaking theory as the theoretical lens, the researcher reflects on the experiences and observations faced en route to completing her PhD. The seven properties form the backdrop of the researcher’s qualitative sensemaking methodology in which she formulated three key phases to illustrate her sensemaking road, namely Mapping the Journey, Travelling the Road, and Reaching the Destination. This article reinforces the extent of the challenges a PhD study holds and provides detail of and insight into the application of the sensemaking theory that may be useful to postgraduate researchers and supervisors involved in qualitative inquiry.

Applying Brenda Dervin's sense-making methodology to fan studies

Communication scholar Brenda Dervin created sense-making methodology (SMM), an approach for conducting interviews that draws on metatheoretical concepts such as hermeneutics, phenomenology, and the humanistic approach to psychology. Since its formulation, SMM has been utilized across different disciplines through the development of interview protocols for both one-on-one interviews and focus groups. Among these studies are those that focus on people's engagement with media products or with each other in relation to media products. These SMM audience and reception studies demonstrate that the methodology can be useful for studying fans by bringing a more systematic, and thus quantifiable, approach to a phenomenological, interpretive study of fan behavior, be it mental, emotional, physical, or social. SMM would allow for studies that analyze how fans make sense of a situation involving their fandom and fan identity. After explaining what SMM is and how it has been used to study fans, a case study demonstrates how SMM may suggest a way to define being a fan and applying the concept of fandom beyond the traditional domains of sports, media, and popular culture.

How real patients with severe asthma experience their disease: An ethnographic study

ObjectiveTo explore and understand the experiences of the patients with severe asthma throughout their patient journey. DesignQualitative ethnographic study based on an ethnographic approach. LocationBarcelona, Sevilla and Madrid. Participants and contextTen adult (>18 years) persons (six females and four males) diagnosed with severe asthma were selected from public healthcare settings by purposive sampling. MethodSemi-structured in-depth interviews performed by an expert anthropologist in the patients’ homes. Data was collected using a video and audio recorder and analyzed by three researchers using the sense-making methodology. ResultsLife experiences were classified into four main areas: life experiences throughout the patient journey, attitudes towards the disease and healthcare professionals, unmet needs regarding knowledge and self-management, and relationship with doctors and healthcare providers. Within each area, several topics and subtopics emerged, allowing to distinguish three initial phases of the disease and three attitudinal profiles. ConclusionsDuring the initial phases of severe asthma, participants underestimated its severity and symptoms, resulting in disease denial and passivity. Participants associated disease severity with chronicity, which was internalized years after its diagnosis, delaying patients’ adaptation to the disease and their ability of to self-manage it. Participants noticed gaps in health-related information and communication and needed a comprehensive understanding of their disease from the beginning.

Agile communication evaluation and measurement

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze what the concept of agility means for communication evaluation and measurement and to challenge assumptions of goal-oriented and organization-centric approaches to evaluation and measurement.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a development debate based on a literature review, regarding agility, evaluation theory, communication evaluation approaches and what agility means for communication measurement.FindingsAgility teaches that what works is more important than what was agreed upon in advance, so it is with more emphasis on needs rather than objectives. Regarding evaluation, the findings show that in today’s communication evaluation theory, evaluation is equated with summative evaluation of smart designed and fixed objectives. In agility, evaluation is always formative, to foster development and improvement within an ongoing activity. Consequently smart objectives are no longer valid as fixed benchmarks and ex ante and ex post evaluations do not exist; instead evaluation is an on-going and forward looking activity during action. Regarding measurement, the basic focus in agility on user needs implies that qualitative methods are more obvious than quantitative. The classic Weberian idea of “Verstehen” is helpful to understand how to focus on needs rather than objectives. This paper finally explores the merits of action research and sense-making methodology as applicable measurements in which “Verstehen” is the basis.Research limitations/implicationsAgility is a very radical concept. The practical and theoretical implications of agile evaluation and measurement mean a total change for practice as well as for communication measurement and evaluation theory building.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is that it is the first to include agility into communication evaluation and measurement and that it, consequently, moves beyond organization-centric concepts of evaluation and measurement by bringing the often overlooked user needs into the game.

The Information Needs Matrix: A navigational guide for refugee integration

This paper presents an information needs matrix as a navigation guide for refugees and host societies to support integration. It is an outcome from an information behaviour investigation into refugee integration, conducted through interviews with asylum seekers and refugees. A sense-making methodology was used as a framework to examine the experiences of refugees, focusing on the situations and information gaps encountered during integration. The study identified information needs on housing, financial, legal and social support, mobility, health, education, employment and state benefits. A unique feature of the proposed matrix is the order dependency of the uncovered needs by our investigation. The findings were validated with observation data collected while undertaking a role at the Scottish Refugee Council. The matrix can be used to guide society's provisions for integration, assess levels of individual integration and inform the design of information support for refugees.

Understanding actor perspectives regarding challenges for integrated river basin management

ABSTRACTIntegrated river basin management increases technical as well as management and governance complexity. In this multidisciplinary setting, actors, from their different backgrounds, frame both issues and solutions differently. To resolve conflicts, it is important to recognize – and to not ignore – the existence of contending social framings. A better understanding is needed of how actors frame issues and solutions in integrated river basin management. To gain this better understanding, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Dutch river basin management actors following Sense-making methodology. Three challenges were identified where respondents framed both the issue and solution differently: (1) creating flexibility in a controlled river system; (2) sustaining the integrated approach in the maintenance of floodplains; and (3) formulating future river basin management policies to adapt to climate change. Cultural Theory was subsequently used to analyse how respondents construct perspectives towards these challenges. The analysis showed how actors use different rationalities in constructing these perspectives. As an implication, it is important for actors to recognize and acknowledge these perspectives in integrated river basin management decision-making. New tools, embedded in learning environments, are needed to facilitate exchanging and understanding actors’ perspectives.

Rapid Sense Making

This article shares the problem-solving process and resultant rapid sensemaking methodology created by an interdisciplinary research team faced with qualitative “big data.” Confronted with a data set of over half a million free text comments, within an existing data set of 320,500 surveys, our team developed a process to structure the naturally occurring variability within the data, to identify and isolate meaningful analytic units, and to group subsets of our data amenable to automated coding using a template-based process. This allowed a significant portion of the data to be rapidly assessed while still preserving the ability to explore the more complex free text comments with a grounded theory informed emergent process. In this discussion, we focus on strategies useful to other teams interested in fielding open-ended questions as part of large survey efforts and incorporating those findings as part of an integrated analysis.

Open perseverance: the sensemaking narrative of startup entrepreneurs

The irruption of startups and entrepreneurs has transformed the economic landscape. Entrepreneurs propose innovative business models that must progressively respond to the viability triad, the complex and uncertain process by which an idea becomes a product. Based on the theoretical and practical contributions of Dervin's sensemaking methodology, the objective of this study is to understand the narrative of entrepreneurs in their creation of meaning, identify the uncertainties, identify the practices used to address these uncertainties, and thus obtain a deep knowledge of the sensemaking mechanisms. The results of 43 interviews with entrepreneurs are presented in the form of a narrative composed of four stages and three major gaps, illustrating the practical ways in which entrepreneurs overcome uncertainty and create metastable sense.

Political Advertising and Young Voters Information Needs

. In the election campaigns, young voters will be exposed to a variety of political pieces of information created by political parties to influence either their political efficacy orin formation-seeking. Political advertising has become one of the main political information sources during election campaign. In political advertising, political advertisements are designed to serve multiple purposes, whether to persuade, influence, attack, inform or manipulate the voters’ information-seeking. Meanwhile, the role of young voters in political process is a crucial study that needs to be addressed by scholars. Researchers in this field are eager to know how this target group uses political information to meet their information needs and usage. Therefore, in this study, an exploratory study by using Sense Making Methodology (SMM) was conducted to understand how young voters’ political situation affects their information needs and usage. The participants of the study consist of nine universities’ students from Klang Valley. The findings show that political advertisements do have an impact on their political situation and voting decision. Some important political issues do influence their political situation. In this exploratory study, parents do play a significant role in influencing young voters’ political situation. Therefore, this paper will discuss the role of political advertising in voters’ information-seeking and voting behaviour

Knowledge elicitation practices for organizational development intervention

Based on a sensemaking methodology and the use of narratives from a case study in a quality assurance department of an electronics manufacturing company, a Group Reflection and Inquiry Protocol (GRIP) technique is developed to solicit judgmental knowledge from the staff of an organization in regard to formulating business strategy. The method combines knowledge elicitation (KE) and organizational development (OD) intervention for the change to be brought about in an organization. An open communication platform is created for the participants, with minimum influence of the consultant, as well as there being no demand for any special expertise of the consultant or researcher in the OD intervention.

The Information Behavior of Catholic Women Discerning a Vocation to Religious Life

ABSTRACTApproximately 10% of Roman Catholic women seriously discern a vocation to religious life during their lifetime. Spiritual discernment is often characterized by prayer and spiritual direction, but also the acquisition of knowledge and information about religious life. No study to date has sought to understand how women seek out and retrieve information about religious life. Therefore, the current study sought to answer the following research question: “what is the information-seeking behavior (ISB) of Catholic women discerning a vocation to religious life?” using Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. A survey was administered online and yielded responses from 124 participants. Findings indicated that digital and print resources were heavily utilized. However, participants indicated that connecting with a person face-to-face and visiting religious sisters produced a kind of knowledge and information that could not be acquired online, suggesting that their ISB was an integration of digital and print resources and human connection. This study contributes to the literature by intersecting the disciplines of information science and religion to equip practitioners who seek to develop resources for them. The study introduces the concept of limited Internet effectiveness in order to understand the integration of digital versus in-person resources in spiritual religious processes.

Hidden Depths and Everyday Secrets: How Audience Sense- Making Can Inform Arts Policy and Practice

ABSTRACTThis article responds to the arts policy and research call for better understandings of arts audiences—actual and potential. The authors report on the application of Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology (SMM) to audience research. SMM is an approach developed specifically for providing data useful to informing policies and practices of institutions mandated to serve publics. We review the narrative themes that have emerged from our analyses of accounts of cultural experiences by several hundred informants, and we offer five sample applications that illustrate potentials and their implications for arts policy and practice.