What?
In normal cases, when the municipality asks residents about the situation, it is done in the form of surveys. A couple of given questions provide answers that are compiled and added together. 75% thinks so, 20% thinks so. There is nothing wrong with such surveys, but when it comes to more complex issues, the survey is restrictive. How do we ask, for example, about a perceived situation? An experience of discrimination? How do we capture perceived discrimination based on seven different grounds for discrimination?
We want to test ways of measuring and collecting stories about experiences of perceived discrimination in Helsingborg. The person asked can tell the story openly, and then categorize their story based on a couple of specific parameters. The method is called sensemaker, and has been used in some places around the world to better understand complex contexts and to capture things that ordinary survey studies miss.
The insights from this work will lead to concrete measures to conduct the work against discrimination, which leads to a better quality of life for discriminated people in Helsingborg. At the same time as vulnerable people have their voices heard, insights into the business increase and concrete measures can be implemented to reduce discrimination.
Why?
We need to capture and understand the gap between vision and human experiences. By measuring experiences of discrimination, we could get:
- basis for the activities to plan how they can contribute to equal opportunities
- basis for making central support efforts
- basis for dialogue on how we can develop the work against discrimination
- basis for social innovations to prevent and deter discrimination
How?
Analysts should support how the collection of material should go, how should we ask and how do we capture experiences of discrimination? The material collected must then be analyzed with the help of a digital tool and the insights that arise must be interpreted and the results and measures packaged.
In April, the survey closed and now an analysis of the material is underway together with the organizations. The next step is determined by the nature of the material. Here is a presentation of the survey with some descriptive examples.