Interplay between logical induction and intuition in community problem solving

As a matter of fact, most lab fellows did not live in the area where Aldrich Bay Market was located. Many of them also had a background different from that of the market tenants and the market users, such that it required some conscientious effort for them to connect with these stakeholders of the Aldrich Bay Market. “I can more easily understand people with similar profile as mine- why going or not going to markets, maybe working people, or young couples... Still I don’t know what old people do in markets... I may see them killing time there, but I don’t know the reason, and I don’t know what they feel.” (Lab fellow L, focus group)

Heedful of the complexity of the experiences that the market stakeholders might have, the lab fellows were hesitant to claim that they understood their plights, especially those of the market tenants. Some of them reflected that the more they understood the situation of the market tenants, the greater caution they would have in claiming knowledge of their concerns or feelings. “The more I know, the less I can say I understand, I mean their real worries… We can state in abstract terms ‘probably they think about having no customer ’ , but do we feel that? Do we share the worries? We probably have to take that to another level. ” (Lab Fellow E, focus group)

The lab fellows exhibited a careful attitude in claiming knowledge about other people. This careful attitude was illustrative of their respect for the complexity of human experience, which was facilitated by the exposure to various life stories of multiple stakeholders in the Market Lab process. The community deep dive that the lab participants had did not substantially boost theirconfidencein understanding otherpeople’s mental states, thoughts and emotions beyond their own perspectives and life experiences. Nonetheless, as they stepped outside their comfort zone in the community deep dive, they acquired a humble attitude and were more ready to appreciate the complexity of life. Humility is an enabler of empathetic understanding as it allows productive conversations across differences even when we cannot imagine ourselves as the other (Johnson, 2019)§ .

Interplay between logical induction and intuition in community problem solving

Pre-post analysis of the survey identifies that the Market Lab process has not produced significant change in the lab participants’ attitude about new ventures and risk taking in problem solving. (

§ Johnson, C.R. (2019). Intellectual Humility and Empathy by Analogy. Topoi 38, 221–228.

Table 6

No.

Rating increased

Rating decreased No change Total Z p

24 I am willing to explore possibilities to find more effective ways to solve problems. 8 3 8 19 -1.30 0.19

25 Exploring important new methods for solving pr is oblems. 5 3 11 19 -0.90 0.37

26 I will of sol take risk to test new ving problems. ways 5 2 12 19 -1.13 0.26

27 I will learn new ways to solve problems. 4 1 14 19 -1.34 0.18

Readiness to take risk and exploring new possibilities has always been considered an attitudeconduciveto innovation. Some laborganizers relayedthatthelimited statistical change in attitude towards risk taking and trying new things could be resulted from the high baseline among respondents.

“I think we have recruited a group of fellows who are already willing to take risk and try new methods, this is some sort of selection effect. Hence, the change in this area is not drastic” (Lab organizer E, individual interview)

Ostensibly, instead of a reserved attitude towards new ventures and risk-taking, some lab fellows expressed in the subsequent focus group interviews their yearning for innovative and groundbreaking outputs,whichtheycouldnotclaim fortheprototypestheytestedintheMarket Lab.

“Maybe for the tenants, these elements are new, but are these really new? I can tell for sure, no. Because they were already in Taiwan, Australia… From the oversea cases we studied, borrowed some useful ideas, localized them, or made them more close to the community. And we added something ourselves into them. As a result, prototypes were formed. Therefore I think we were not creating new things. ” (Lab fellow C, focus group)

Expecting novelty and originality, lab fellows did not consider prototype ideas that were inspired by international experience and adapted to the local context as truly new and creative. According to some lab fellows, time was one of the factors that could limit originality of the solutions they derived in the Market Lab process. “We had a busy life, and the lab had time limit. So freely creating new things was difficult to me. The most efficient way was to see what were being done in other places. ” (Lab fellow C, focus group) “We actually didn’t know how to deconstruct and rebuild, because we knew that would spend lots of time and resources. In some moment, we felt the risk: ‘we have done so much thing. If we start over, there is no time, only a month left.’” (Lab fellow B, focus group)

The Market Lab process was considered too short for providing an adequate temporal space to generate truly original ideas. Ostensibly, the amount of time available has always been a critical factor enabling new ideas to flourish. Exploration of new ideas needs time; and haste can produce an emotional block to creativity.

Apart from the time factor, some lab fellows described Market Lab as a “step-by-step” , “systematic” , and “logical” research process, which might not be the most conducive for producing creative insights. “It was very logical…like doing research…. trying hard to clarify the problems, then decide the next step of action…I think it was step-bystep, logical development process more than innovation. Let’s say we collected the data, then like reeling silk from a cocoon to find out several issues, what were the pain points. Then based on these pain points, democratically raised hands to express which the more significant issue was. From this issue, lead to what prototypes would be made… (if it is) innovative problem solving, I feel like the steps don’t need to be that logical.” (Lab fellow A, focus group)

Influenced by the ethnographic research methodology, the social lab method emphasizes community deep-dive to gain empathetic insights about people using the public service, so as to stimulate innovative solutions to service problems. In this research logic, ideas for change should be induced from the stories collected, and validated by their connection to the user experiences revealed in the stories. Some lab fellows opined that the logical procedure that the Market Lab has adopted might have limited their capacity to think out of the box.

Notwithstanding, although this logical research process might not be the most useful in generating prototypeideas that werenovel and original, it wasconsidered necessaryformaking responsible suggestions that responded to the needs of the stakeholders. “I think logical (process) was a responsible way, because we had to be accountable for users… I agree that it was a responsible way. ” (Lab fellow A, focus group)

A lab organizer also pointed out that the lab fellows could be lost in the Market Lab process, if theydid not haveaguidingframeworktogovernthe fuzzy dataanalysis and ideation process. “We had a framework to help analyzing the stories…there was a dilemma. We wanted to be open (for any idea). When there was a framework, we were doomed to be bounded… lack of creativity…My thought is, we need framework as a basis, and treat it with an open mind…Creativity should not be the excuse for not thinking systematically… the fellows have pinpointed that they were lost without a framework. ” (Lab organizer D, individual interview)

Despite that the Market Lab process was guided by a logical inductive procedure, the evaluation team observed that insight and intuition still played a significant part in instigating some prototype ideas. For instance, the initial idea of “pop-up markets” was not generated systematically through the inductive process, but was proposed by an organiser who had experiencein publicpolicymaking. Being built upfrom latent experiences, instincts and senses, intuition is not an antithesis of logic. Through active reflection, logic on the conscious and rational side of people’s mind could identify the meaningful patterns of latent data behind the intuitive primal responses. “At the moment (action week for testing prototypes), I suddenly understood why we were doing pop-up (stores). Markets were the place supporting grassroots to work or start their business, as public services. Inside a market, many small stores are supporting a diversified