The ORID technique

The ORID technique ensures that the group visits each rung of the ladder of inferencetogether. Here is how it works. After the group shares a common experience (informational presentation, document, etc.), lead them through the following five steps:

1. O (for Objective) - Ask the members what they recall seeing or hearing and list their answers on flip chart paper. Caution: Keep people focused on what they observed with their senses. Disallow interpretations and opinions at this stage.

2. R+ (for Reflective positive) - Ask members what they had positive reactions to and list their responses.

3. R- (for Reflective negative) - Ask members what they had negative reactions to and list their responses. What will be positive for some may be negative for others. That ís okay and exactly why you are doing this.

4. I (for Interpretive) - Ask members what sense they make of the data and record their responses. Hint: It's easier to assign meaning by thinking about what headline a reporter might write about this data.

5. D (for Decisional) - Ask the members what decisions they can now make as a group. Help them work individual proposals into consensus decisions.

If you want to learn more about ORID there is one page on the ICA Canada site where you can get a simple demonstration.

http://www.icacan.ca/template/foundations/orid.cfm

From the article - "A magical tool for group discussion."