3.2 Problem identification

• Critiquing scenarios to identify the problem in a community
• Data collection tools: observation, interviews, questionnaires, focus groups
• Analysing simple data to determine the nature and extent of a problem
• Documenting and managing data for information dissemination

• critique given scenarios to identify the problem in a community
• use data collection tools to record the characteristics of the problem identified
• analyse simple data to determine the nature and extent of the problem
• document and manage data for information dissemination
• appreciate the importance of accurate documentation for effective problem resolution

“How do you tell a problem from its symptoms?”

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1. Finding the real problem
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   Symptoms, causes, and a technique for getting past the obvious answer.
2. Collecting and reading data
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   Choosing a tool, asking questions that work, and making sense of what comes back.
3. Critiquing a community scenario
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Practising the KICD skill: given a story, name the symptom, the problem, and what is still unknown.
4. Observation as a tool
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Recording what people actually do, with time, place and a fact/judgement split.
5. Interviews and focus groups
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Open questions for depth, and a small group conversation that does not let one voice stand for all.
6. Writing a short questionnaire
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Closed and open items, one idea per question, no double-barrels, and no fishing for the answer you want.
7. Piloting the questionnaire
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Testing on a few people, listening to where they stumble, and changing the paper before the real round.
8. Analysing simple data
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Turning ticks into a table and a chart that show nature and extent, including the spread not only the average.
9. Documenting and sharing findings
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Filing a brief other people can use: date, source, table, sentence, keeper - no private names.
10. From symptom to a problem brief
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    A capstone: critique a scenario, choose tools, sketch data, and file a one-page brief.