Research Journey

Pre-launch reviewers asked for clearer onboarding and a transparent view of how their data is used.

• Tool published at decision-making-influence-reserach.ansense.nz
• Public dashboard with anonymised aggregate statistics
• 30-day follow-up survey to capture productivity impact
• Opt-out and data-request flows for participants

Early users reported that slider defaults were being recorded as answers, that the individual-decision pathway was easy to miss, and that the unsubscribe link led nowhere.

• Sliders now show 'Not selected yet' and never save a value until the user moves them
• Continue is blocked until every slider on a step is explicitly touched
• Individual-decision pathway skips group questions, stores nulls (no assumed values), and requires a 'Confirm selection' acknowledgement that scrolls into view
• New /email/preferences page replaces the broken unsubscribe link, with toggles for stop-emails and anonymised-data consent plus a saved-confirmation panel
• Feedback email job re-checks consent per recipient at send time to respect the latest preferences
• Examiner section gated behind an unlock code with a persistent, encrypted session and clear error messaging
• Accessibility pass: aria-labels on sliders, textareas and search; semantic H2 headings on mechanisms and journey
• SEO: dynamic /sitemap.xml covering all public routes
• Footer version now driven by a single source of truth and stays in sync with this journey page

The advisor reminded that as an academic artefact, the sources must be navigable as a network of ideas rather than a flat list, so other researchers can trace lineage, spot clusters, and build on the work.

• New /sources/knowledge-map interactive graph rendering 135 sources and 168 relationships with Cytoscape.js (force-directed fcose layout)
• Sources structured as a single JSON source of truth with themes, decades, relationship types, and foundational flags
• Filters for theme, relationship type, decade and foundational works; search, re-layout, centre, expand/collapse, PNG export and fullscreen controls
• Node sizing by connection degree and colour by theme, with hover highlighting and an APA-reference side panel
• Sources promoted to a top-level header dropdown ('All Sources' + 'Knowledge Map') with active-state highlighting on desktop and mobile
• Mobile-friendly searchable list fallback for smaller screens

Converge attendees and peer reviewers asked for a clearer separation between the shape of the decision and the shape of participation, more transparent reasoning behind each recommendation, and public-facing explanations that did not require reading the white paper end-to-end.

• Introduced Minimum Sufficient Participation (MSP) logic as the backbone of the recommendation engine
• Restructured the diagnostic into a clearer Step 1 (decision context) and Step 2 (participation context) with LMH-scaled questions on urgency, risk, structure, accountability, expertise distribution, reversibility, coordination cost, implementation need, and legitimacy
• Rewrote the scoring layer to consume the new Step 1 / Step 2 fields, with legacy answers coalesced so historical data still contributes
• New public /how-recommendations-work page explaining the logic in plain language for participants
• New examiner-facing 'How the Diagnostic Calculates Recommendations' page describing the scoring model in academic language
• Preview-PDF modal so participants can review the Step 1 / Step 2 report formatting before downloading
• Recommendation output now surfaces the MSP band and rationale alongside each mechanism
• Stronger cross-links between the diagnostic, white paper, ethics, sources, and the new explanation pages
• Public dashboard updated to read the new Step 1 / Step 2 fields with legacy responses coalesced into the same categories
• Development-only link audit for the examiner explanation page to catch broken internal routes early