Page 222 - Mike Ratner CC - WISR Complete Dissertation - v6

2. I have been researching ‘community conversation’ meetings found through Google news

searches most recently in March 2018 I sent out questionnaires with follow-ups to hone in

on my most responsive replies. The first query surveys were sent out in 2017 which had

minimal response after repeated tries so I have sought to find new potential respondents

from contact information found online during or immediately after finding new listings.

3. I have included two case-studies. The first case-study is the 4-part Community

Conversations series I was involved with in Albany, New York that took place in 2016 on

Implicit Bias which includes my observations participating. As a second (back-up case

study) I am also including my current involvement in the Red Blue Dialogue series that

have been taking place in 2018 in Milwaukee of which I have co-facilitated large events.

4. As a final leg, I have asked the facilitators of the Milwaukee event to convene their after-

th
thoughts from the last CC event (held September 6 2018) as my last post-event survey in
a group and 1-on-1 dialogue including reviewing the dialogue data gathering.

5. As a ‘fifth column’ back-up I have been examining an enormous wealth of research

archives that contain years of coded past dialogues held at the Zeidler Center (below)

My first study using grounded theory began with a questionnaire that was sent to dozens

of CC efforts in 2013-2014 and again in 2017-2018 but with lack of significant response to warrant

a larger study moved my focus to review secondary data and where I looked more closely at efforts

of other dialogue groups that evolved into the next phase of observation after compiling of research

and articles from journals, reports and related books to finish most of the literary review section.

The most rigorous intergroup dialogue evaluation research I found focused on populations

of students in academic settings. However, there is also significant work being conducted in

community and international venues. Eleven studies were carried out in academic settings, with

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