The catch 22: Can encouraging participation put people off?

Recent research has highlighted a possible catch-22 for decision makers trying to engage citizens in participation. A report called ‘Pathways through participation’ explored people’s motivations for getting and staying involved in different forms of participation throughout their lives. It found that people reacted negatively to ‘Government’s encouragement of comparatively narrow, highly formalised and structured forms of participation (e.g. public consultations, regeneration boards, health consultative bodies, formal volunteering)’.

This offers a challenge to the organisers of science dialogues, many of which have taken the form of structured workshops with pre-determined agendas. However, Diane Warburton, who is a Sciencewise Dialogue and Engagement specialist and also worked on the Pathways through Participation project, highlighted that science dialogue can use the results of the research to further motivate participants to stay involved. As she explained to the dialogue bulletin:

The research also suggests some practical solutions as well as raising challenges. The key factors in why participation starts are people's individual motivations, external triggers, personal resources and practical opportunities. But what keeps them participating is a good-quality experience alongside resources. A good-quality experience for participants includes – crucially – being able to make a difference, to have an impact. If science dialogues can demonstrate, even more strongly than they have so far, the impacts that they have had on policy, then this is likely to encourage people to take part. Doing this could potentially overcome some of the structural barriers the Pathways research identifies.