University of Twente Student Theses
Cooking Up Ideas : Evaluating The Cookery as a Sensemaking Tool for Addressing Societal Challenges
Amariei, Alexandru (2024) Cooking Up Ideas : Evaluating The Cookery as a Sensemaking Tool for Addressing Societal Challenges.
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| Abstract: | This work represented the first empirical study exploring The Cookery's potential to facilitate the addressing of societal challenges. Societal challenges are complex problems our society faces and must be addressed holistically (Brown et al., 2010). Tackling them calls for cross-disciplinary approaches, such as transdisciplinarity, where stakeholders from all societal areas should collaborate (Polk, 2015). However, this can create further complexity when approaching a challenge. Approaches such as sensemaking, where people use familiar frames of understanding to approach novel situations, can reduce this complexity (Weick et al., 2005). This approach stays at the foundation of The Cookery. The study explored how people experience this sensemaking-based tool while addressing societal challenges regarding their preparedness to address and understand the issue, and through further qualitative insights of the users. A between-subject, mixed-methods design was used. Sixteen participants, students and university staff members, were recruited and split evenly across two conditions: The Cookery and Focus Groups, a classic method used in co-design practices. Data were collected through recordings of post-session discussions and individual written responses, with subsequent content analysis. The findings indicate that The Cookery enhanced participants' preparedness, provided an environment that encouraged creative thinking, and raised awareness of diverse approaches to tackling challenges. These findings show the value of sensemaking and of tools using this approach in enhancing collaboration and perspective sharing to tackle societal challenges, applicable in contexts like education and stakeholder engagement. Future studies should continue developing The Cookery and investigating its usefulness in these contexts. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 70 social sciences in general, 77 psychology, 81 education, teaching |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/104823 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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