TRAINING & SERVICES
The MCM team can provide workshops, bid support and consultancy services.
MCM Group Workshops
The MCM team can provide tailored group workshops to help researchers to gauge the potential of the method or to gain the skills required to run an MCM project from start to finish. MCM projects can of course be run using the detailed MCM Manual but researchers may wish to take part in a workshop as well.
Taster Sessions for Potentially Interested Researchers
The MCM team can provide taster workshops on the general principles and possibilities of MCM to help interested researchers to gauge the potential of this method. We recommend that a taster workshop run for about 2 hours. Suitable for a flexible number of people with their own laptops; a taster session can be held at any appropriate venue. A typical agenda would include an introduction to the MCM process and software, and an opportunity to create a simple MCM trial project.
Group Workshops for Training Project Teams
To augment the Manual, the MCM team can deliver face-to-face training to help a group of project researchers undertake roles (depending on the project) of MCM interviewer, facilitator or analyst. Suitable for a flexible number of up to a dozen people, each with their own laptops; this group training can be held at any appropriate venue. We suggest it be split into two half-day sessions, one focussing on designing an MCM project and conducting interviews, and the other focussing on MCM analysis. These two sessions can be delivered together or on separate dates for different stages of a project.
Group Workshops for Training Individuals
To augment the MCM Manual, the MCM team can organise open training workshops to help individual researchers undertake roles of MCM interviewer or analyst. These workshops will typically be held on a periodic basis at the University of Sussex. Applications will be collected on an ongoing basis, and an open workshop will be organised when justified by accumulated interest. The open workshop will typically be run for one day, requiring accommodation to be organised separately by participants if travel times to Sussex are too long.
MCM Bid Support
In order to assist in the preparation of relevant parts of research bids, the MCM team can draw on past project materials and experience and wider capacities at their home institute of SPRU (which is a primarily externally funded research organisation). This may involve suggesting text concerning the background or process involved in MCM or helping to review text already produced about MCM.
MCM Consultancy
Subject to available capacity, the MCM team can offer more bespoke support for the use of MCM in your organisation according to more flexible contractual terms – subject to general MCM principles concerning the 'opening up' of decision making processes in ways that illuminate the kinds of issues, uncertainties, options and perspectives that can often otherwise remain hidden or implicit. This may involve helping with the design of the MCM project, the use of the methodology, delivering MCM training, support and analysis, as well as conducting MCM interviews if required. Consultancy work is charged on an hourly/daily basis as the need to support is likely to be different for each organisation.