RESEARCH
Identify your communities’ biggest needs.
We help uncover and elevate community needs with a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods, surfacing extracting insights that go beyond the surface.
We work with you to understand your needs.
Part 01: Framing
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
We work with our clients to frame the issue at hand in a way that makes solving it possible. This includes defining how the issue exists right now, what outcomes we’re working toward, and which stakeholders should be involved in solving the issue.
Kickoff
To kick off our research process, we’ll work directly with you to clarify the objective for our work together, begin defining the status quo, and build consensus around the overall end state we’re striving to achieve together.
Visioning
Building on the conversations from our kickoff engagement, we’ll work with you to clearly articulate the highest version of what your organization can be in the world. We will facilitate a conversation, asking deep questions related to: Who do you want to be in the community? The country? The world?
Stakeholder Mapping
We will map the key stakeholders who should be engaged to fully understand the problem. These are the perspectives that will not only paint a clear picture of what needs to be addressed, but what should be done to create change.
Background Research
Most likely, great work has already been done to address parts of the issue you’re working on. We’ll conduct background research to assemble the stats, case studies, and other insights that can help better define the problems at hand and their possible solutions.
Part 02: Community Engagement
We engage with communities to understand the root problems.
Through community-centered research, we help you truly understand the problem in a new way. Whether you speak to those you serve every day, or only once a year, our research approach elevates the voices of those you want to impact to ensure you know exactly where to direct your efforts.
Community-Centered Research
Through interviews and focus groups, we work directly with you, other related stakeholders, and the community members who have lived experience with the challenge you want to address to pinpoint the most important issues for you to focus on going forward.
Need Assessment Report
DC Design will synthesize insights from visioning, stakeholder mapping, background and community-centered research into a single needs assessment report that clearly tells you the most important issues for your organization to focus on to achieve the social change communities need.
Service Gap Analysis & Journey Map
Through conversation with your organization and our synthesized research findings, we will create a map that details the journey a community member takes trying to get to their goal. We can also map the service gaps in the current system that lead to problems for those you want to serve.
Stakeholder Engagement
Through our multi-stakeholder engagement process, we engage all the individuals who play a role in deciding what solutions get implemented, including those at your organization, those holding leadership positions outside your organization, and those with veto power over what gets implemented.
Insights Videos
Through synthesis of recorded video clips from our community-centered research process, we will develop a video that quickly shares the challenges the community faces, using their own words. This is useful for quickly explaining the challenges and gaining buy-in from outside stakeholders.
Personas
Sometimes, even though we have proximity to others, it can be hard to fully visualize the challenges they face and the nuances that keep them from embracing certain solutions. Using the research conducted, we can develop personas that show how the needs of the people you serve manifest in their day-to-day lives.