Using Data to Persuade:

State Your Case & Prove It

Denise Troll CoveyPrincipal Librarian for Special Projects

Carnegie Mellon

LAMA Preconference: Got Data, Now What?

June 2004 – Orlando, FL

A S S E S S M E N T

Users want Easy, speedy, convenient access to quality resources

Affective, effective service

Comfortable, aesthetic space

What Do They Want?

Administrators want Satisfied users who are lifelong learners

Peer comparisons that look good

Cost-effective management

Fund raising

What is a “Culture of Assessment”?

Beliefs, behaviors, & assumptions that drive

an ongoing cycle of data gathering, analysis,

interpretation, organization, presentation, & use

Demonstrate contribution & accountability

Identify problems that impair or impede contribution

Monitor & facilitate continuous improvement

Provide evidence of need

Academic libraries (2002)Denise Troll Covey: Usage & Usability Assessment: Library Practices & Concerns (CLIR report 105)

Public libraries (2002) Larry Nash White: Does Counting Count: An Evaluation Study of the Use and Impact of Performance Measurement in Florida Public Libraries

CRIME: “orphaned data & knowledge”

Negligence: Intentionally created, but of little or no

use to library & its stakeholders because of ineffective

processes that result in delayed analysis & presentation

Harm: Waste resources; reduce benefits; raise costs;

veil challenges; obstruct opportunities; hurt morale

Assessment Scene Investigation (ASI)

What Are We Doing?

Allowing a gap between our current culture & our objectives; the current culture is winning

CURRENT

Beliefs

Behaviors

Assumptions

DESIRED

Beliefs

Behaviors

Assumptions

Transition

Conner, D.R. Managing at the Speed of Change. NY: Villard, 1992.

Muddling through: using short term solutions to solve long term problems

Project for the Future of Higher Education

What do we need to do?

Need to transform higher education

Create a vision focused on student learning, quality of

faculty work life, & reduced cost per student

Gather & USE data to create deep change

Implement the vision via creativity & collaboration

Improve effectiveness, efficiency, & value

Promote operational culture of evidence

EDUCAUSE National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII)

Assumptions

No assessment, no transformation

No transformation without resistance

No pain, no

gain

Assessment

is like teaching pigs to dance.

The results aren’t pretty

& it just irritates the pigs.

Assessment Requires Persuasion

Problem or opportunity exists

Need to conduct research

What kind of study

Who should be involved

How to interpret the data

What to recommend based on the data

Getting support for your recommendations

Persuasion is an Art

Using discourse to effect thought & action

Convince – agree that your argument is reasonable

Persuade – motivate action based on conviction

Elements of the rhetorical situation

Problem or opportunity that invites change

Audience capable of mediating the change

Constraints that can be manipulated to effect change

How You Begin . . .

Problem or opportunity is WHY you gather data

Controls audience to be addressed

Controls change to be effected

Audience is WHOM you gather data for

Those with power to mediate

the change you want

Problem + Audience = Purpose

What research questions must be answered to

Solve problem or take advantage of opportunity?

Focus, facilitate or demonstrate achievement?

Decide WHAT data you need to gather

to answer THESE questions

for THIS audience

given your CONSTRAINTS

Gather WHAT Data?

Good enough data for your purpose

Inputs – potential to provide service

Outputs – actual service provided

Outcomes – what good you do

Performance – how well you do

Efficiency

Effectiveness

Satisfaction

Quality

Usability

http://www.csus.edu/portfolio/

Examine Your Constraints

Time, money, people, & skills

Constrain research & sampling methods

Commitment to use the results

Incentive, motivation, & credibility

Audience (see handout)What’s their culture?

What do they know or think they know that’s relevant?

What do they need to know or care about?

What triggers their sense of urgency?

Other Constraints

Rhetoric – discourse designed to engage & motivate the audience to mediate change

Rhetor – who creates & delivers the discourse

Time – to state your case & prove it

– The higher up the food chain you go,

the less time you seem to

have with your

audience

Got Data, Now What?

Analyze – compile & examine for tendencies

Interpret – decide what the data mean

Tentatively plan how to use the data & knowledge

Organize & present the data & knowledge

to tell a story that will engage & motivate

your audience to confirm the plan

& mediate the change you want

Tell the Right Story to the Right People

Data are part of the story

The rest is rhetorical argument

Convey the urgency of the situation

Start with premises accepted by the audience

Use data, knowledge, & strategy to build your case

Persuade the audience to accept your conclusions

Strength of case is determined by audience

Beginning – State your case in their terms

Middle – Prove it in a crescendo of evidence-based

arguments (plot) that convey urgency, address objections,

& build a case that fits or alters their worldview

End – state proposed plan & your “ask”

– By the time you reach your “ask,”

the audience must be persuaded

Tell the Right Story the Right Way

Leverage Existing Data & Knowledge

Develop & strengthen your story

using all available evidence

Previous internal assessments & visitor reports

Standards, guidelines, & best practices

Comparative data with peers

Environmental scan

Relevant research

Fundamental Strategies

Association – connect your data & knowledge

with what your audience knows & cares about

To be persuasive, your data & claims must be

consonant with your audience’s knowledge at the time

Dissociation – separate your data & knowledge

from what they mistakenly believe or assume

Predict & address resistance & objections

EXAMPLE

Problem requiring discourse to change:

Undergraduate students are using

inappropriate resources for their coursework

Audiences able to mediate change Faculty

Provost

Reference librarians

University Advancement

Undergraduates

Want easy, speedy, convenient access Remote access to full text resources

More & easier to use online resources

More books

Library web site is problematic

Physical library & ILL are inconvenient

43% never use reference service

14% never heard of reference service

Undergraduate Behaviors & Beliefs

Value efficiency more than effectiveness

96% believe info on the surface web is adequate

80% prefer remote access to information

72% begin with a search engine

48% use online resources all or most of the time

46% believe other web sites are better than library

Spend 33% of their study time in a library

Research by Outsell, OCLC,

Pew Foundation, & the EDNER Project (UK)

Digital Reference Automated Resource Finder

Email & chat reference

Web based tool

to easily locate

appropriate online

library resources

Initial funding

from private donor

“Ask”:

“Ask”: Million Book Project

Digitize & provide open

access to a million books

on the surface web

Initial funding from NSF

& the governments of India & China

Thank you!

Denise Troll Covey

troll@andrew.cmu.edu

An ounce of pretension

is worth a pound of manure.

B. Holton. Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee. NY: Gramercy Books, 1995.