Thinking and feeling through data
Engaging in meaning making and reflection isn’t easy. Just because we are taking in information doesn’t mean we are making sense of it or learning from it. It’s not always clear what to do with evidence and data once you’ve collected it. You engage in learning and evaluation efforts to do your work better and have a deeper impact, but how do you go from gathering evidence and data to making those changes? That’s where meaning making comes in.
One of my favorite ways to go from data to action is the Think, Feel, Wonder, Do activity. This is adapted from a common practice used by teachers called See Think Wonder (developed by Harvard’s Project Zero). This activity asks participants to reflect on four main questions:
What does the data/evidence make you think?
What does the data/evidence make you feel?
What does the data/evidence make you wonder?
What does the data/evidence make you want to do?
I like this activity because it engages different parts of the brain and encourages participants to engage with not just their head, but their body and emotions. All of these factors influence how people engage with data/evidence and how they interpret data/evidence. It can also generate a fun, interactive, and engaging conversation as people get into it. This activity also fits perfectly into any purposeful learning cycle you are working through.
Here’s how I typically facilitate this activity.
Think, Feel, Wonder, Do
Materials:
In-Person: Sticky notes (4 colors), pens/markers, flip chart paper (optional), any materials for sharing data (slides, posters, print-outs, etc.)
Virtual: Virtual whiteboard (such as JamBoard, Mural, or Miro), any materials for sharing data
Time: 2-4 hours depending on group size, group dynamics, and amount of data/evidence.
Process
Introduce the activity. Assign one color of sticky note each to think, feel, wonder, and do. Share the reflection questions and examples connected with each sticky note and the process that you will move through in this activity.
THINK: What does the data/evidence make you think? What do you think the data/evidence means? Examples:
“I think the data shows that participants appreciate the humanity in our programming.”
“I think the data means that community members do not appreciate x, y, z about our approach.”
FEEL: What does the data/evidence make you feel? What sensations do you feel in your body as you take in the data/evidence? What emotions are you experiencing as you go through the data/evidence? Examples:
“I feel happy seeing this data.”
“I feel concerned because…”
“I feel hopeful.”
“I feel tension in my shoulders or a pit in my stomach.”
WONDER: What does the data/evidence make you wonder? What additional questions or curiosities do you have after going over the data/evidence? Examples:
“I wonder how a different community experiences our program.”
“I wonder if we changed X, if we would have a bigger impact.”
DO: What does the data/evidence make you want to do? What do you want to continue, start, change, or start doing? Examples:
“X part of our program seems to be working well, we should expand that part of the program.”
“We should start doing x, y, z to improve the parts of our approach that participants don’t like.”
Share your data/evidence and ask participants to reflect on what they think, feel, and wonder as they take in the data/evidence. Ask participants to write their responses to the above questions on the appropriately colored sticky notes. I’ll also usually ask participants to make a small note about what data/evidence their sticky note is in response to. Ask participants to not go to the “Do” questions and sticky notes yet, that will come later.
How I go about sharing the data depends on the group I’m working with. I’ve done it a couple of different ways, but the two most common are described below.
Presentation: As I give a presentation of the data (typically through a slide show), I ask participants to write out what they are thinking, feeling, and wondering on the appropriate sticky note. I incorporate breaks throughout for participants to organize their thoughts. If we’re in person, I put some flip chart paper on the wall labeled “Think", “Feel,” and “Wonder” and ask participants to put their sticky notes up on the wall during these breaks. If we are virtual, I’ll use a virtual whiteboard, such as JamBoard or Miro, with a different section for “Think,” “Feel,” and “Wonder” and have participants add their sticky notes to the whiteboard throughout.
Data Gallery Walk: I’ll do a data gallery walk with posters (or different virtual whiteboard sections) with different data points for participants to engage with. I ask participants to go through each of the posters and leave sticky notes on them with their thinking, feeling, and wondering (in appropriate colors). Encourage participants to interact with one another and discuss what they are seeing in the data. You could also have participants “up vote” other sticky notes that people have already left on the various posters by marking the sticky note in a specific way - such as drawing a star or using dot stickers. I’ll float around or be available to answer questions about the data/evidence that is being presented. If I am doing this style, I will introduce the data gallery process at the beginning and give a brief overview of the evaluation work and the data that is presented. This could also be adapted to use with data placemats.
NOTE: Groups are typically not used to engaging with how they are feeling in response to taking in data/evidence. Because of this, I will often incorporate breaks throughout the data presentation to sit (or stand) quietly, with their eyes closed (or turned downwards if people aren’t comfortable closing their eyes), and tune into the sensations of their body. Sometimes I’ll strategically place these throughout the presentation at points where I’ve shared particularly positive or critical data/evidence. Or I’ll do an impromptu pause if I’m sensing that the room is tensing or responding to the data/evidence in a specific way.
Examine what the group thinks, feels, and wonders. Once we have made our way through the data/evidence, through whatever means we used, it’s time to dig into what people thought, felt, and wondered about it. If the group of participants is big enough, I’ll split the group into three - one for each think, feel, and wonder. I’ll ask each group to go through their group of sticky notes and group the sticky notes into themes. Then each group will share their themes out with the larger group and talk through what they think their themes mean. If I am working with a smaller group, we’ll go through all three groups of sticky notes together.
Come up with the “do’s.” After we have heard and reflected on what people thought, felt, and wondered about the data/evidence, it’s time to think about that last question - what does the data/evidence make you want to do? This is the action planning step in the meaning making process. A lot of times, after groups have gone through the previous steps, these action items start to flow naturally.
But sometimes groups struggle with what to do next. This can be turned into an opportunity to dig into WHY those ideas for action are not flowing naturally. What is getting in the way of ideas of where to go next? Is it that we are missing a critical piece of information? Is it that the problem is “too big” to tackle? Is it that we are lacking the creative energy at the moment (for whatever reason) to dig into this question? Once we identify what is at the root of this barrier, we can start to get around it. If we are missing a critical piece of information - how can we get it? If the problem is “too big” - how can we break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces? If we are lacking the creative energy - can we revisit this question at a different time? Or is there something that we can do to get our creative energies flowing? Sometimes even just by exploring why there is a block will start to get some ideas going. Or will at least point the group in the direction of what they need to do in order to start action planning.
Have you used this activity or something similar? How have you approached it?
