Resolving Conflict Creatively in Ontario

With the help of a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Triune distributed free copies of it's acclaimed conflict resolution video series,"Resolving Conflict Creatively" to Ontario Public Libraries and community agencies in 1999/2000. Applicant groups throughout the Province of Ontario participated in a follow-up evaluation survey conducted by Francis G. Hare, Ph.D. (Director of the School of Child and Youth Care, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto). The Complete Report can be downloaded (in .pdf format), but some overall statistics from this study show that:
Over 90% of users agreed that the resources contain useful materials and state that new skills were learned.
About 90% of user agencies would recommend the resources to others.
Over 80% believe that the resources could change people's attitudes.

An excerpt (pages 17-20) is found below.

Produced in Canada, the "Resolving Conflict Creatively" series has been successfully distributed worldwide and includes the following titles in a Box Set;
Resolving Conflict Creatively in the School Community
Resolving Conflict Creatively in the Multicultural Community
Resolving Conflict Creatively betwen Victims & Youth Offenders

Excerpt (pg 17-20) from:

Evaluation Report on Resolving Conflict Creatively in Ontario

Submitted by
Francis G. Hare, Ph.D., Evaluation Consultant

10 January 2000

. . .

Qualitative Data : Comparisons across common questions
In addition to the common questions in the quantitative part of the survey, there were four common qualitative ("short answer") questions for each resource. This allowed the respondents to express their own opinions on issues of the strengths of the resource and the less effective aspects, to suggest potential uses for the resources and to add whatever other comments they felt would be appropriate. Since the questions were the same across the three resources, this also allows a comparison of qualitative data to complement the quantitative comparisons previously noted. What follows in this section is an identification of themes that emerged in an analysis of the qualitative data. Full transcripts form a later section of this report. Comparing four qualitative data questions across three resources:


Question : What do you see as the greatest strength of this resource ?

Resolving Conflict Creatively in the School Community - Question 16.
The three themes that emerged as strengths were the realistic nature of the material, the variety presented, both in situations and in participants, and the value of the role-playing approach.

Resolving Conflict Creatively in the Multicultural Community - Question 15.
The dominant theme to emerge as a strength was the variety and diversity of participants from around the world. In addition, two less frequently noted strengths were the focus on the importance of cultural sensitivity and the depiction of role-playing and "freeze" mediation techniques.

Resolving Conflict Creatively between Victims and Youth Offenders - Question 17.
The dominant theme to emerge as a strength in this case was the attention paid to alternatives and options within the justice system. A second strength was that the point was made of the impact on the entire community and that actions have consequences.



Question : What do you see as the least effective aspect of this resource ?

... School Community - Question 17.
The aspect most commonly cited in response to this question was the length of the video. Several respondents found it to be too long. A second area of critique was in the youth and family scenario that opened and closed the presentation. It was found to be less realistic and weaker than other aspects.

... Multicultural Community - Question 16.
The most common criticism was a "lack of depth", which took two different forms. On the one hand, some respondents wanted to see a more sophisticated socio-political analysis, while on the other hand several respondents simply wanted to be given a more extensive list of potentially offensive comments and/or gestures. A second area of criticism was that it was occasionally difficult to understand what the various people were saying in the video.

... Victims and Youth Offenders - Question 18.
The most two commonly cited criticisms in this case were the format and the length. Several respondents did not feel that the "concerned father / talking computer" interaction was effective, and others felt that the video was too long and became boring.


Question : What would you consider to be the best use for this resource?

... School Community - Question 18.
The overwhelming response to this question was that it be used for educating students and training agency staff and volunteers. A less-frequent suggestion was that it be used as part of a therapeutic process in individual or family counselling.

... Multicultural Community - Question 17.
The two most common suggestions in this case were organizational and therapeutic. On the organizational side, several respondents felt that it would be useful for staff training and for starting discussions on the issues within organizations. On the therapeutic side, a few respondents felt that it would be useful as part of a group process and discussion. Unlike the School Community resource, relatively few respondents suggested that this resource be used in schools.

... Victims and Youth Offenders - Question 19.
Similar to responses on the School Community resource, the dominant response to this question was use as an educational and training resource for students, staff and volunteers. A secondary theme was that of public education on the workings of the justice system.



Question : Is there anything else you would like to add in your feedback on this resource ?

... School Community - Question 19
Several respondents commented on the usefulness of the supporting material. Many simply took the opportunity to again express their satisfaction with the material.

... Multicultural Community - Question 18
Several respondents expressed a desire to have some form of reference source on what is felt to be offensive by whom. A variation on this which might be more practical is the suggestion that the supporting material contain a reference list on how one would contact representatives of various cultures.

... Victims and Youth Offenders - Question 20
There were several variations on the idea that the material was highly informative. In addition, several respondents again took the opportunity to express their satisfaction with the material and the potential of the approach.


IV. Summary Comments

The quantitative and qualitative are complementary in that they document the favourable reaction of respondents to the Resolving Conflict Creatively resource set. While there were differences in the extent to which the individual resources were positively judged, they were in fact all judged to effective, useful, interesting and informative, tended to meet the expectations of those taking part in the survey project, and typically would be recommended to others by respondents. Two to four unique questions were included in each of the surveys, specificall related to the particular resource being evaluated. The issues raised in these questions tended to be elaborated on in the qualitative survey questions. One area initially appears to represents a discrepancy between the "Best use" qualitative question and the final five quantitative questions (This resource was most useful for"). Many respondents suggested in the short answer (qualitative) section that the resources should be used for educating students, in addition to staff training. However, the "most useful for" quantitative questions were much more likely to identify staff and volunteers as the target audience as opposed to students. A possible reconciliation of the difference is found in the actual wording of the quantitative "student" question, which asks for agreement on whether "The resource was useful with my students". Roughly 70 % of respondents on each of the resources indicated that the question was not applicable. This probably indicates that they themselves are not educators (i.e. have people identifiable as "my students") but that they feel that the resources should be used in this way by thse who are educators. High school, college and university students were all identified as potntial beneficiaries. Responses that were included in this report represent a sample of the initial distribution of the resource set. Additional surveys have been received since the cut-off date for inclusion, and additional requests for the resource set continue to be received. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data presented in this report, it appears that those who took part in the survey project found the material to be an important resource, in particular for training and education of students, staff and volunteers in the human service sector.

. . .

The Complete Report is available in .pdf format.



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