Tools and Services - Doing the Matrix
The Communities Matrix process is available for free simply by contacting the CIEL office to enable access to the Questionnaire.
Once a community (geographic or “of interest” – eg, sports, art, youth etc) decides to engage in the Communities Matrix, a representative group of individuals is solicited to engage in the process. This is easiest to do if there is a local champion (individual or organization) who is willing to take on the responsibility of encouraging people to participate. A minimum of twelve and a maximum of twenty-five participants will provide enough data to enable a snapshot of the community. These individuals complete a Questionnaire, either on paper or electronically on the internet.
CIEL recognizes that a much larger community sampling – more than 380 randomly selected individuals in a community of 10,000 – is needed to ensure confidence in results 19 times out of 20 with a margin of error of + or – 5%. Recognizing that such sampling is beyond the means of most communities, the Matrix relies on a small, rich sampling to get a proxy measure. In this way, the community can best use its limited resources to delve deeper into areas of strength or weakness or to further explore results. The Matrix questionnaire process is in no way meant to replace more comprehensive community surveying or diagnostics but to serve as an efficient and quick means to identify the current community stage/phase, gauge community readiness to engage in activities and identify tools appropriate for the stage/phase.
The data gathered from the completed questionnaires is analyzed by CIEL staff and a simple report is returned to the community, identifying the location on the Matrix of the community across seven categories of community functionality. Like a trip to a General Practitioner, the Matrix can help a community get an overall sense of its health before heading off to a specialist. If a community is interested in a more in-depth analysis of the data, a fee can be negotiated with CIEL for the creation and delivery of a comprehensive report.
The purpose of engaging in the process of the Communities Matrix assessment is to provide the community with information that can help choose a course of action to address the agreed-upon priorities. This can only happen if the community participates in a discussion and decision-making process upon receiving the results of the Matrix analysis.
In order to assist in the process of setting a course of action, CIEL offers suggestions for tools and resources. These can help the community address the needs for a given phase and category (Connections and Co-operation, Vitality, Inclusivity & Community Values, Leadership, Strategic Capacity, Community Sustainability, and Community Entrepreneurship). It is up to the community to decide which area they want to tackle first.
Please contact CIEL if you are interested in learning more about the Communities Matrix or wish to use the Matrix in your community.
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