Phase four, option 3 - Team-Based Inquiry (TBI)

Owned by Nicole Mc Neilly
Last updated: Aug 17, 2023
7 min read

Pros: learn a new, simple methodology that you can use and apply across different areas of your work, as well as in evaluating your impact assessment evaluation; work with teams; improve your data collection skills; focus from the outset on improvements you can make; the method was designed for a museum context; focus on specific areas of improvement. 

Cons: it takes time to learn a new method; some colleagues may not want to take part in something new; more challenging to evaluate your approach at a high-level; better for specific areas where you want to improve; it takes more time and effort compared to the previous two options. 

Introduction

Throughout the different Phases of the Impact Playbook, we emphasise the importance of involving your team and the value that multiple perspectives from different frames of reference can bring. Team-Based Inquiry (TBI) is one way to grow, learn and improve together as a team. This four-step approach helps you to isolate a key question, investigate it, reflect on your progress, and prioritise improvements as a result. It’s a perfect tool in the toolbox for Phase four, as the TBI process is designed to lead to actionable improvements which you can embed straight away into Phase one - impact design or other parts of your work.  

We draw on the Mingei project’s approach to TBI which was in turn drawn from the original creators of the TBI process, Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), who created it more than a decade ago. Mingei is a project dedicated to digitising and finding ways to represent both the tangible and intangible elements of heritage crafts. The Mingei partners adopted TBI as a method to help them support organisational change (impact) for the heritage and technological partners involved.

About Team-Based Inquiry

Team-Based Inquiry (TBI) was created in a heritage education context. It was designed to be effective and light-touch. While you might think it’s difficult to add on another process to the impact phases, TBI can be run as a part of each of the four phases. We introduce it here and illustrate how it can be used to help you evaluate your impact approach in a focused, low risk, light-touch and team-based setting. 

It requires more effort than the two options presented above but it may also lead to greater return. In addition, you and your colleagues will be able to apply the methodology to different areas of your work. 

 

https://www.mingei-project.eu/what-is-team-based-inquiry-and-have-we-used-it-in-mingei/

The four TBI steps: Question, Investigate, Analyse, Improve

Mingei project visualisation of the TBI cycle. CC BY-NC-SA.

Using TBI to evaluate your impact assessment process

Download the worksheet

https://europeana.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CB/pages/2257420312

Key steps

For whom are you aiming to make an improvement? This stakeholder group may be different from the audience that was involved in your impact assessment. You’ll want to get a diverse range of people with different perspectives involved in your TBI cycle, if this is possible, and particularly the people who might have to implement the changes you recommend at the end.

Tip.

See guidance about stakeholder mapping in the Mingei Hands-on Guide to Increasing the Impact of Digital Heritage Projects.

 

To evaluate your impact assessment approach, you need to formulate a research question. What this question is depends on what is important for you to know. Consider the elements in this checklist to ensure your question is relevant and useful. 

Checklist for your question

  • You are only asking one question (not multiple questions at once).

  • You don’t already know the answer to the question.

  • It is not a question you ask the participant, but a broader research question.

  • Everyone needs to understand your question and why you are asking it.

  • Your question is concise enough to be answered in the timeframe and with the resources you have.

  • Your question leads to information that you can act on, and improvements that you can embed.

Here are some examples of questions you could use or adapt:

  • How have we used the findings of our impact assessment report in our organisation? 

  • Have we embedded any of the recommendations from our impact assessment report? 

  • How could our impact assessment be used in a conversation with prospective funders? 

  • What is missing from our impact assessments? 

  • What could we improve in our impact assessments Phases one to three? 

Now you have formulated your question, you can set out how you will find the data you need to answer it. Keep it simple. You can use data you already have and review it in a different way. You can also collect data to answer the gaps in your knowledge. 

Remember, however, that this is not another Phase two data collection phase! Your data collection approach should be light-touch. You are most likely collecting feedback, and there is less pressure to collect a statistically valid sample. The more data you collect, the more time needed to analyse them. You can collect data from both internal sources (within your organisation)  and external sources (e.g. your visitors).

You’ve collected your data. What next? You need to organise, analyse and interpret your data and we recommend that you involve different people from your team. 

  1. Organise your data so that it’s easy to analyse (e.g. extract it from survey software into Excel; input the data from your observation sheets; add the feedback cards at the museum exit into a spreadsheet). Always make a back-up of the original data!

  2. Analyse the data for what they tell you about your question. What patterns or lack of patterns do you see? You should also ask: what limitations have you encountered and how does this affect your analysis and interpretation?

  3. Interpret the patterns you have found in terms of what this means for your research question.

You’ve collected the data, made your analysis and now you’re ready to make some improvements to your impact assessment cycle! Making improvements is the core reason why we use TBI, so make sure that you have the buy-in of your colleagues in order to make the change you need to see.

You might want to start brainstorming improvements as you are completing your analysis section. This might be when ideas are fresh in your mind (when you have just seen the data) or you might want more objectivity, and draft some recommended improvements once you have had a moment to step away from the data. 

Remember, you don’t need to make big changes to have an impact. You can improve your impact assessment approach and/or your activities by small tweaks in different areas. Where big improvements are needed, you might need to put some thought into how these are presented in order to make the path to them being implemented as smooth as possible. For example, for each recommended improvement, you could write a summary statement of the rationale that informs it. 

Prioritising your improvements

You might have a big list; you might only have a couple of action areas. Either way, we recommend that you prioritise the improvements, and in doing so, carefully think about which resources should be directed to which improvements first. It’ll pay off in the long-run!

 

Read more about how Team-Based Inquiry helped museums improve the museum visitor experience

In summary, some of the outcomes that resulted from the Mingei TBI cycles included: 

  • Attracting new users and those interested in heritage craft.

  • Improved communication within the museum settings.

  • Improved communication in the Mingei project setting.

  • Potential future impact as a result of the wider awareness of the Mingei project’s developed resources.

  • Better communications, dissemination and exploitation planning and delivery in future projects.

  • New solutions to tricky problems (because the TBI cycles are a new tool in the professionals’ ‘toolbox’).

  • Improved user experience for museum visitors using the digital applications and exploring the museum setting.

https://www.mingei-project.eu/what-weve-learned-in-mingei-through-team-based-inquiry/

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