Tool 4
Gathering Stories and Understanding Results
Working pages for gathering and checking people’s experiences
Download the working file
Use these two working pages when you need experiences to help explain an outcome. Your measure may be an AMI priority metric or one selected for your own program. Start with the purpose and partner agreements already developed through Tools 1 and 2. Return the checked findings to Tool 3 for reporting. The separate AMI Storytelling Reference Guide provides methods, ethics, analysis and worked examples.
1 Plan the conversations
What do you want to understand
Name the outcome, result or question, product or service, place and periods. What needs explaining about the change or maintenance over time?
Whose experience will help
Choose people with direct experience and include a different perspective. Record why each person or group is relevant, who was invited and who participated. Consider roles, sites and access barriers.
How will you gather the accounts
Choose an existing check-in, report, interview, group discussion, short survey or observation. Record the collector, timing, language, review date and resources agreed with partners.
Choose two or three questions and follow up
- Compared with [earlier period], what changed or stayed the same in obtaining [product] or providing or receiving [care]? Please describe a specific experience.
- What part did donated products or related support play? What else helped or made things difficult?
- What did this mean for you or the people receiving care? What should happen next?
Follow up with when, where and how the person knows. Match the questions to what each person can directly know. Ask about experiences that differ and keep wording consistent when you intend to compare accounts.
Permissions and practical arrangements
Explain the purpose, participation choices and intended use. Record the permission reference, privacy arrangements and any restrictions. Use the ethics guidance in the AMI Storytelling Reference Guide.
2 Record and compare what you hear
Copy the source record for each conversation, group discussion or observation. Keep the original notes and link each finding to its source. Use a participant code where personal information needs protection.
Source record
Source ID; role or group; site; date; period described; method; collector; language; questions used; permission reference.
What the person described
Record what changed or was sustained, a specific experience, what products and other conditions contributed, and any different or unexpected experience. Label exact quotations, paraphrases and your own observations.
What you need to check
Which stock, service or other records could help? What question should be followed up? Record allowed uses and any contributor review needed.
Compare the accounts
Read the notes, sort relevant passages under a few shared topics and compare across people, sites or periods. Include different and conflicting accounts. The AMI Storytelling Reference Guide explains the process and how to describe the scope of the finding.
What the accounts and metric show together
Summarize the pattern, differences and contribution of the program. State who was consulted and whose experience remains missing. Link the supporting records and source IDs.
Partner review and next step
Who reviewed the finding? What was corrected or remains unresolved? What assumption is checked, partly checked or still to test? Record the action, owner and review date, then bring the finding to Tool 3.
