The “World Café” as a Participatory Method for Collecting Qualitative Data

TLDR

The authors aim to introduce and evaluate the World Café as a participatory qualitative method suitable for large groups, contrasting its strengths and weaknesses with semistructured interviews and focus groups. They propose using the World Café to collect data from many participants by facilitating structured, rotating small‑group discussions that allow participants to generate and refine themes collaboratively. The study finds that the World Café complements existing methods by guiding theme exploration, expanding the reference sample, boosting participation, and fostering dialogue that benefits both researchers and participants.

Abstract

We introduce and discuss “World Café” (WC), a participatory assessment tool widely used in community development and organizational change processes, as additional qualitative research method. We propose WC as a participatory method of data collection for a large group of participants, discussing its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to semistructured interviews and focus groups, two well-established methods in qualitative research. As a research method, we find that WC complements other methods in important ways. When there are many participants, it helps guide the exploration and verification of themes. Integrating the method into the research design may help increase both the reference sample and the level of participation. Furthermore, as a participatory method, it not only produces data for the researchers but also has the potential to benefit the participants, as it facilitates dialogue and mutual learning, thus motivating their participation and responses.