Using Data to Persuade: State Your Case

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Using Data to PersuadeState Your Case Prove It

• Denise Troll Covey
• Principal Librarian for Special Projects
• Carnegie Mellon
• LAMA Preconference
• Got Data, Now What?
• June 2004 Orlando, FL

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What Do They Want?

• Users want
• Easy, speedy, convenient access to quality
  resources
• Affective, effective service
• Comfortable, aesthetic space

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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

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Assessment Scene Investigation (ASI)

• 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

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What Are We Doing?

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

Project for the Future of Higher Education
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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)
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Assumptions

• No assessment, no transformation
• No transformation without resistance

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 Usab
ility
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Examine Your Constraints

• Time, money, people, skills
• Constrain research sampling methods
• Commitment to use the results
• Incentive, motivation, credibility
• Audience (see handout)
• Whats their culture?
• What do they know or think they know thats
  relevant?
• What do they need to know or care about?
• What triggers their sense of urgency?

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Other Constraints

• Rhetoric discourse designed to engage
  motivate the audience to mediate change
• Rhetor who creates delivers the discourse

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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

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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

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Tell the Right Story the Right Way

• 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

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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

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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 audiences knowledge at the
  time
• Dissociation separate your data knowledge
  from what they mistakenly believe or assume
• Predict address resistance objections

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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

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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

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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)
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Digital Reference Automated Resource Finder
Ask

• Email chat reference
• Web based tool to easily locate
  appropriate online library resources

Initial funding from private donor
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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
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Thank you!
An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of
manure.
B. Holton. Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee.
NY Gramercy Books, 1995.
Denise Troll Covey troll_at_andrew.cmu.edu