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MORI Encourages People Power
MORI has launched a Participation Unit, offering a range of research methods to engage the UK public in decision making and 'shift power to the citizen'. The unit's techniques, such as peer interviewing and citizens' juries, are attracting interest from the UK government, which is keen to find new ways to increase political involvement.
The unit will build on MORI's existing expertise in participative and deliberative research. Techniques include peer interviewing and citizen interviewing, where members of the public interview respondents from backgrounds similar to their own. Citizens' juries, workshops, and real-world exercises will also be used to help participants explore options and make decisions.
MORI is currently conducting a blind trial to assess the value of participative approaches. In a project for the Home Office, citizen researchers and professional researchers are tackling the same research questions. A comparison of the results will be presented at the Social Research Association's Annual Conference in December 2005.
Bobby Duffy, Research Director of the new unit, told MrWeb: 'We've had lots of interest from local authorities and other organisation about how they can devolve more power to people in a representative way. At the same time, there has been lots of interest from the Government in new ways to get people more involved in politics.'
Similar participative techniques are employed in the US by the organisation America Speaks. Its 21st Century Town Meetings aim to 'create an opportunity for the general public to give those in leadership positions direct, substantive feedback on key issues'.
MORI's new unit is online at www.mori.com/participation
The America Speaks website is www.americaspeaks.org
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