Let’s go back a step and examine the basic questions and problems your project is addressing by asking questions like those raised earlier when you were refining a purpose statement. Questorming is a variation of brainstorming developed at MIT in the 1950s that focuses on asking questions rather than seeking solutions. If your proposed project is broad and somewhat fuzzy (and it should be at this point), questions like those below will help you develop a more concise, focused problem formulation.
What are the best questions we should be asking in order to do this project?
- What should we ask to determine whether or not this project should beundertaken?
- What do we need to ask to evaluate the impact of this project?
- What are likely to be the consequences of implementing this project?
- Are we lacking critical information before proceeding further? If so, how can we get it?
- What cross-disciplinary skills and information would be useful in conducting this research?
- Who are the stakeholders? How do we include them in meaningful ways?
- Have we covered all the major possibilities? Are we overlooking anything?
Gather two or three people who are key to the success of your project. If you are the executive director of a
community agency, you might invite the board president and/or appropriate committee chair, the advisory committee chair, and the program director or
a key staff member already working in this field. If you are considering
a research project, choose people in your own and related departments who have the experience and skills you will need. If this is a thesis project, ask your committee. Send an invitation memo that invites them to a 30- to 40-minute session to consider the questions you need to ask about the proposal focus from your mind map. If your office is too small to meet comfortably, reserve a conference room. Ask a friend or clerical support person to be your recorder and you’re all set. You can either ask the questions yourself to guide the discussion or enlist the help of your advisor or a facilitator but your main role is to listen.
Remember this is questorming, so focus on eliciting questions rather than answers. The results of the meeting should be another list of questions. Here are some that came from asking the question: “What are the best questions we need to ask to provide support services for unemployed residents in our community?”
What services are currently provided by the state, • county, community colleges, and other agencies?
- What kinds of jobs are available? For unskilled workers? For high school graduates? For seniors? For people with an arrest record?
- What are the characteristics of people who are unemployed? Of discouraged workers?
- What job search skills are most effective?
- Who is providing job training?
- What skills do previously employed workers have? Those who have never been employed? What new skills do they need?
- What barriers exist for job seekers? Transportation? Relevant skills? Uniforms or professional clothing? Child care? Other?
If the questions expand your list of things to do, that’s okay. The process will help refine and make the finished program design sharper and more realistic. For a sense of closure, however, you might finish with questions like:
- Is the research question I’m asking answerable?
- Have the questions underlying the proposed project been addressed?
- Are we asking the best questions for this stage of the proposal process?
- What kind of resources do we have within this group? Time? Space? Information? Skills? Materials? What do we need?
Finish the session with a brief recap of the main questions that have emerged, thank the participants for their time and assistance, and promise to keep them in the loop as you move forward. Within the next couple of days, transcribe and condense the questions that were generated into a one-page document. Send this sheet to each person at the meeting with another note of thanks. File the back-up material because you will want to use some of the details in your proposal. Keep the summary handy, however, to serve as a road map for the work you will be doing in the next few weeks.
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Idea To Writing Grant Proposal - Questorming with Key People
