Group Dynamics of Educational Stakeholders Engaged in Roundtable Dialogues: A Critical Incident Technique Inquiry

• In Event: 18.028 - Operationalizing School-Community Collaboration: Reimagining the Role of Educational Research Through Community Roundtables

Abstract

Objective: Set up to discuss pressing educational issues and solutions in the region, these community roundtable conversations and participants had the potential to influence others in dialogue. This analysis sought to answer: (1) What critical incidents occurred during the discussions that appeared to shift thoughts and beliefs? (2) Is there a difference among various stakeholders who influence verse those who are influenced? and (3) What group processes contributed to a shift in dialogue?

Theoretical Framework: This analysis draws from Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1994), which provides a lens for understanding people’s actions and/or behaviors that may differ in the presence family, school, or work. It is how people interact in the world on multiple levels and make meaning. For this research, we specifically use the context of the Mesosystem (external environments which directly influence development), and the Macrosystem (the larger sociocultural context). We assume that this framework guides what participants bring as their pressing issues (Mesosytem) and how their ideas may have been altered within the larger group setting (Macrosystem).

Analyses: The use of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT; Flanagan, 1954) was used to analyze these data as it allows for an understanding various stakeholders perceptions of educational issues due to the identification of perceived key actions and reactions associated with Roundtable dialogues. The CIT involves collecting behaviors that are crucial in engaging in a group dialogue with a single focus. This technique allows researchers to more clearly capture participants’ beliefs and thoughts, and how others may influence emotional reactions or shift thoughts in the social context of a group dialogue (Khandelwal, 2009). Research has shown extensive use of the CIT with community health care workers (Ferguson, Waitzkin, Beekmann, & Doebbeling, 2004), teachers (Khandelwal, 2009), and counseling (Butterfield, et al. 2009).

Initial Findings: Initial findings suggest that the stakeholder that speaks first sets the tone for the depth of the conversation. Although the roundtable facilitator used group processing skills, those with societal-perceived positions of power (e.g., business leader, administrators) seem to influence the others in the group. Additionally, if there was more than one person who was venting a level of frustration (a critical incident), the other participants remained in the same discussion tone. Specific topical themes will be analyzed further to discern if topics or stakeholders were more influential.

Significance: The preliminary results contribute to the national discourse about educational issues. As numerous and various constituents present educational concerns to each other about current deficits within the educational system, it is helpful to see how the variety of stakeholders can be easily influenced in the national discussion, even by simply engaging in a local 90-minute small-group dialogue. Findings may also be unique in describing what type of stakeholder or topical theme may have more of an influence, adding to previous research on group dynamics and educational issues.

Authors

• Kara Ieva, Rowan University

• Elif Balin, San Francisco State University