This web site has useful information for communicators of all kinds: broadcasters, publishers, NGOs, arts groups, webmasters, educators... anybody who's interested in using research-based methods to make their organizations more effective.
The goal of Audience Dialogue is to improve people's lives through informed participation. We try to achieve this through a blend of social research, evaluation, and inquiry methods. Our emphasis is on action research, interactivity, and user involvement - because we've found that unless a wide range of stakeholders can reach consensus, a problem is seldom solved. Our preference is for formative evaluation ("how can this be improved?") rather than summative ("did that project work?"). We like to work with our clients, rather than for them, helping to build their capacity to solve their own problems.
July 2008: We've received contact/inquiries from community radio in Australia and other countries, which has prompted us to review what supportive resources there may be online other than this site. The first, quick pass brings up a site that may be useful, and also an audience research specialist with experience in developing countries whom I understand worked with Dennis List. As we find more we'll put them on here for your reference.
http://www.cba.org.uk/index.php
http://indepconsultants.co.uk/member/5000287
May 2008: Sourcing books written by Dennis List. Dennis produced several books (most being practical user guides) as noted on this site, including the following:
Co-Discovery Conferences: A Users Manual.
Quick Guide to Audience Research.
Consensus Groups: A Users Manual.
Participative Marketing for Local Radio.
Scenario Network Mapping: A Users Manual.
The source for copies of these books (and others produced by Dennis) was the publisher, Original Books based in New Zealand, however, whilst these books are now out of print, electronic versions of some are available in PDF format (click on links below) or on request, so please contact us if you'd like a copy. There is some prospect for updated versions of these resources, so keep in touch with us.
Co-Discovery Conferences: A Users Manual (PDF)
Quick Guide to Audience Research (PDF)
Scenario Network Mapping: A Users Manual (PDF)
Consensus Groups Technique: A Users manual (PDF)
May 2008:
Website under new management. My name is John Goslino and I maintain the website on behalf of its creator, the late Dennis List, with whom I had great pleasure in working and sharing ideas for several years. Dennis List was an innovative and passionate thinker and developer of research, planning, communication and evaluation methods who worked closely with people and organisations across the globe, helping them better understand their world and how they could achieve their goals. He was also a keen proponent and user of the internet. This website is testimony to his great breadth of knowledge, experience and most importantly perhaps, the commitment he gave to help others, including many in the developing world. It contains a wealth of well researched and tested information, tools and techniques that are relevant, practical and usable.
I intend to retain, update and enhance the website to keep it relevant and useful for you and your colleagues. Many of the ideas for change or new content may I hope come from site users like you, so please send me your suggestions and comments. I will endeavour to answer your questions as best I can, and if I can't do so, try to find someone who can. You can email me directly at john.goslino(@gmail.com) - remove brackets in the address when you write to me. I look forward to a dialogue with you and trust you continue to enjoy visiting this website (and refer your friends and colleagues).
August 2007: A new domain name - we are now audiencedialogue.net, formerly .org - the change is due to strange problems that arose when we changed to a different host. Hopefully we'll be able to retrieve our original domain name some day.
July 2007: two methods for coding qualitative data without transcription.
June 2007: a new edition of Know Your Audience is on the way. Not much change was needed, except that the chapter on Internet research had to be rewritten, as the 2005 version was already out of date. The bibliography was overhauled, too, and replaces the recommended books on media research on this site.
January 2007: How to run courses with interpreters - the trainer speaks in English, and the interpreter translates it into the local language. We often do this, but there seems to be very little about it on the Web, so this page is quite detailed.
June 2006: A revised version of Dennis List's Quick Guide to Audience Research. In only 55 pages, it can't tell you in detail how to do audience research, but it does explain the basic principles, and guide you toward an appropriate research method for a particular need. If you'd rather read it in Arabic than English, a translation is available from the World Association of Newspapers.
Since I (Dennis List) finished my PhD thesis, which involved developing an alternative to scenario planning, this site is extending its coverage on futures methodology, starting at this page on futures methods.
February 2006: the entire thesis is on this website - for those interested in methodological development in minute detail.
Why do newspapers need audience research? Melanie Walker, of the World Association of Newspapers, interviewed Dennis List on this topic. The interview was published in the October 2005 issue of the newsletter RAP21. See rap21.org.
The translation into Bahasa Indonesia of Participative Marketing for Local Radio (Pemasaran Partisipatif untuk Radio Lokal) is available through Studio 68H.
Business models. A lot has been written about business models, but what exactly are they? We looked for a clear example but didn't find one - so we designed a method for developing a sustainable business model, as a system that creates positive feedback.
This website has three main sections: Tools, Techniques, and Cases.
The Tools section of this website describes the tools available for communications research, evaluation and planning. These are not hammers and saws, but tools for working with words, numbers, and software. The tools include links to useful websites in our main topic areas and reviews of books on social research methods. This section also has glossaries of technical terms, reviews of research software, and notes on writing global English. Another tool to help people whose native language is not English is online translation.
Techniques is the largest section of our website. It focuses on practical methods for research and planning. This section includes most of the text of two books by our founder, Dennis List: Know Your Audience: a Practical Guide to Media Research, and Participative Marketing for Local Radio. This section also includes pages on two new qualitative research methods that we've been developing: the consensus group technique and the co-discovery conference.
The cases section is in a different style: mostly narrative. Here you can find 30-odd stories about some of our most interesting research projects, Also, amusing tales about projects that didn't turn out as we expected.
For an overview of all the pages on this site, see our site map. Also, you can search this site for a particular word or phrase.
Audience Dialogue is based in Adelaide, South Australia, but a lot of our work is in developing countries. In Australia, we mostly do communications research, evaluating the success of communications between organizations and their stakeholders. Internationally, we work mostly with media and aid agencies: training staff and evaluating communications projects. We run courses in simple evaluation methods: how to collect relevant data, and how to use it well. Our work includes...
More about us, and our privacy policy. We specially welcome visitors from developing countries, so we have tried to make this web site easily accessible - even if you have a slow internet connection or an old computer. To help people whose first language is not English, we try to write in a way that's easily understood, avoiding technical jargon and cultural assumptions.
We always welcome feedback. If anything on this site is unclear or confusing, please let us know, and we'll fix it. If you have any questions or comments, we'd be pleased to hear from you. We try to answer the same day. How to contact us.
