TurningPoint Case Study

USDA Research Initiative

BACKGROUND

Catherine Keske is an Assistant Professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics at Colorado State University. Her experience in the university's Department of Soil and Crop Economics has provided her the opportunity to become a principal investigator on a national research initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During her study, Catherine will be exploring sustainable economic development practices in the fragile mountain ecosystems of rural mountain communities.

During the first phase the study, Catherine and her colleagues conducted stakeholder meetings in the rural Colorado towns of Alma and Leadville. The meetings combined government officials and citizens in order to gather information from all individuals regarding the transition from a mining economy to a recreational economy. Opinions from the community members regarding economic development were vital to the research study and well-being of the areas.

THE CHALLENGE

The communities of Alma and Leadville are experiencing a shift in economic climate, thanks to the natural presence of such attributes as 14,000 foot peaks, referred to as "Fourteeners" by experienced climbers that provided for hiking, climbing and skiing. Since nearly 500,000 hikers and climbers make their way up the peaks each year, the land provides a very valuable economic benefit to the areas. With a rich history in mining, however, the communities face a decision to delve deeper into the recreation area or further develop the mining industry.

Phase one of the research initiative centers around the stakeholder meetings and feedback from the community. Catherine and her team created questions to ask the citizens pertaining to the mining, recreation and economic development. She faced a challenge to make participants feel comfortable and confident providing honest, anonymous feedback regarding their preferences for economic growth.

THE SOLUTION

Another professor at Colorado State had used audience response technology during extension programs for presentations, programs and training. After researching which software was intuitive, upgraded well and easily downloadable for other users, Turning Technologies' interactive PowerPoint software TurningPoint was chosen to be used for multiple projects, including the national research initiative that Catherine was working on. Catherine could already see the benefits of integrating audience response during her meetings.

"The problem during normal question sessions is that the people who are giving information get no instant feedback," said Catherine. "You have to have good faith that at some time it'll produce research. With the [ResponseCards], the feedback was instantaneous and kept people interested in every single question."

CONCLUSION

The meetings took place in Alma and Leadville, ran about 90 minutes and gathered about 30 participants a piece. TurningPoint was used for about 45 minutes of the program, and results gathered from the highly targeted questions will contribute to the ongoing research in phase two and three. Many of the participants were excited to use the response technology, and asked to be included in the follow-up results.

"After the meeting in Alma, the group spontaneously broke into applause. I've never experienced anything like that in my life. It's not unusual to do these stakeholder meetings to build the next phase of your study by gaining support of the issue, gathering input and making sure that you're on the right track. I've done many of these meetings before, but never had that kind of reaction from the audience," said Catherine.

Catherine also related that the use of TurningPoint helped to gather honest opinions on a controversial topic. In order to verify that feedback was sincere, she conducted post-event surveys which asked if participants felt confident in responding and secure that answers were anonymous. Attendees gave the system the highest marks possible, confirming the fact that participants contributed honest answers.

The results gathered at the meeting will aid in phase two and phase three of the project, improving the quality of the research conducted. As Catherine stated, "The meetings helped us gain the trust the community and the use of the technology really intrigued the attendees. We plan on using TurningPoint to communicate information and get feedback in the future."

For more information about Turning Technologies' audience response systems for your organization, contact us at 866-746-3015.