STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH
What have you found, My Black Cat?
A Website that tells you everything you need to know about Citizens’ Juries?
“The principle work of the Jefferson Center has been the development of the Citizens Jury® process and the promotion of its use in a variety of settings. The Center was set up in 1974 by Ned Crosby……”
So, “The Jefferson Center” is where it all began - the “Originator of the Citizens Jury Process.”
They’ve missed out an apostrophe?
Don’t be pendantic, My Black Cat, who cares about that? Have they mentioned Gordon Brown’s Birmingham Jury?
They have?
“British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Uses Citizen Juries”
“Reports indicate that participants were given briefing materials and may have had some chance to ask questions of experts. The deliberations have so far been limited to a single day. The number of participants seems to vary from event to event. Forty individuals were present at the Bristol Jury (09/06/2007) on school safety and over 1,000 at nine locations for the NHS health-policy consultation (09/18/2007). Some participants were appointed and in some cases a portion of participants were randomly selected……”
“On September 18, nine simultaneous “consultations,” involving approximately 1,000 people, were held on health care. Several blogs have criticized the one-day process (see here) and a newspaper reports the Tories said the juries “will be fixed.” It is unclear how participants were selected and how the agenda was set for these meetings. Again the Prime Minister’s Web site commented on the process, stating that a report on health care reforms is expected. As with the previous events, we’ve not discovered much more relevant information.”
Do they say anything about Deborah Mattinson’s company “Opinion Leader Research”, My Black Cat?
Opinion Leader Research Runs Citizens Juries in UK
“Opinion Leader Research is a firm that has been involved in running Citizens Juries for several years in the UK. The recent projects for the Scottish Government and for Gordon Brown (see above postings) were both conducted by Opinion Leader Research.
We regret that we do not have the resources to visit the UK and do an in-depth examination of their work. As a professional organization, they deserve a detailed and fair evaluation, something that we cannot provide simply by making judgments based upon what we find on the Internet. But here are a few things that we picked up from a quick search on their involvement with Citizens Juries:
The work by Opinion Leader Research on Citizens Juries goes back to some of the first ones conducted in Britain. See the British Medical Journal, 1996.
Secretary of Health Patricia Hewitt used their services in 2005 to conduct at least two Citizens Juries on health issues. See this article on “Patient Approach” in The Guardian.
An article in Wikipedia reports on some controversy regarding a recent project conducted by Opinion Leader Research. See “New nuclear row as green groups pull out,” where this article says, “At least six groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and Green Alliance, claim the government is distorting the evidence … The process is being run by Opinion Leader Research (OLR), a market research organisation … “
The Opinion Leader Research Web site says, “Research magazine named us the ‘House of Influentials.’ Part of this is the company we keep—from MPs to captains of industry to city analysts. And part of this is due to the influence of our work, which is far reaching and widely recognised.” We see no reason to believe that Opinion Leader Research does not do quality research. But their Web site has the aura of a research organization that is closer to power rather than everyday people.
The recent project they did for the Scottish Government was a three-day event and there was a detailed discussion of the process in the 27-page report that was issued. Certainly this has the appearance of a sound, professional job. See the link to the report in the article immediately above.
Even this project, however, appears to be more of an attempt to do research on the public, as opposed to an attempt to empower a group of citizens to speak with a trustworthy voice on important public issues. The goal of empowerment, which the Jefferson Center sought from 1984 through 2002 (and by-and-large was unable to deliver) remains to be achieved.”
These are interesting bits, My Black Cat.
….But their Web site has the aura of a research organization that is closer to power rather than everyday people….
…more of an attempt to do research on the public,….
……as opposed to an attempt to empower a group of citizens to speak with a trustworthy voice on important public issues.
…….The goal of empowerment, which the Jefferson Center sought from 1984 through 2002 (and by-and-large was unable to deliver) remains to be achieved.”…….
The Witch Doctor - Link to a random page
_________________________________________________
LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE
LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE
_________________________________________________
