I’ve used “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” as a way to get quick feedback from my program and workshop participants.
Adapted from the Stanford Design School’s “I Like, I Wish, How to” process, I first used “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” during an evaluation project with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s sexual and reproductive justice campaign. The campaign’s Community Engagement Group facilitated local gatherings in the five boroughs to gather insights into how various demographics were advancing Reproductive Justice in their communities.
Due to the gatherings being large in scope and attendance, we 1) needed something quick for the participants to fill out before leaving, and 2) wanted to develop an easy-to-understand evaluation process that was easy for DOHMH staff to volunteers to administer onsite (as I was not able to be at all gatherings) and for participants to not have much of a problem completing. Also, it was a lesson learned in developing an evaluation tool that generates honest constructive feedback AND helping staff and volunteers learn how to look for generated themes by a variety of participants.
This activity is ideal for:
- Staff responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of programs, services, and strategies
- Gathering quick feedback in a time-crunch
- Breaking out of the standard survey construction model
- Staff interested in building their skills and confidence in qualitative data collection and analysis
Here’s what you need:
There are two ways to implement this process:
- Option 1: Sheets of paper, writing utensils
- Option 2: Butcher paper or a white board, a marker, writing utensils, post-its
The process:
For option 1: Have participants divide their sheets into four quadrants labeled “I Like”, “I Wish”, “I Wonder”. (You can also have sheets that already have the labels typed out. You’ll have an empty quadrant, and I’ll explain what to do with it later.
For option 2: Diving the butcher paper or whiteboard into four columns and label them as above. You’ll have a fourth empty column here as well.
Label the fourth empty quadrant/column as “What’s Next”. This will be a bonus way of getting feedback. Below outlines each section and you’ll use the following as prompts in guiding your participants:
“I Like”: What aspect(s) of today’s meeting/training stood out to you most, and why? (From how the trainer facilitated the meeting or a particular activity, to how participants felt about engaging with each other.)
“I Wish” If there is an aspect of today’s meeting/training that you would change, what would it be? (This could be anything from the type of discussion questions asked, activities facilitated, or the length of the meeting/training itself.)
“I Wonder”: Did something come up for you during today’s meeting/training that piqued your interest enough to further explore? (Due to time constraints, we often aren’t able to dive more deeply into a topic. This section will give you ideas on how to take the topic further as well as encourage the participants to do their own exploration).
Bonus- “What’s Next”: In the fourth quadrant/column, ask the participants “What is one action you plan to take with the information you’ve learned today?” (This serves as a call to action for the participant as well as gives you an idea of what stands out most for the participants on the topic)
For Option 1, participants will fill out the quadrants and will look something like this (here’s I’m using the prompts as filler):
For Option 2, participants will write on the post-its and place them in the appropriate column, like this:
Key takeaway
I try to come up with or share creative ways to gather feedback from participants and allows for individuals responsible for administering data collection tools can feel confident when an evaluator is not onsite. After collecting the sheets and post-its, spend time looking for key words and phrases that stand out to you (called “coding”) to generate themes to help you better understand what stands out for participants and what can be improved for next time. Try it out and let me know how it goes for you.
Raise Your Voice: How can you use the “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” process to get feedback on your programs and services? Share below in the comments section.
