6. Balanced Information
So conclusions are informed by evidence and multiple perspectives, not by whoever controls the information.
Links to Principles: Well-designed Deliberation
Core
The non-negotiable minimum
Multiple perspectives and types of information, drawing on lived experience as well as other forms of expertise, in clear and accessible language, with trade-offs made visible. Where a process runs across multiple sessions or groups, all participants have access to the same core information. Participants have at least one structured opportunity to question specialists directly, drawing on more than one expert or perspective where possible, with speakers and presentations time-limited and moderated to support genuine engagement rather than one-sided input.
Desirable
Extra depth where resources allow
Participants have some say in which evidence or witnesses they hear from. Speakers and presentations are reviewed in advance by non-specialists for clarity, and by an independent advisory group for balance, with a glossary for technical terms.
Stretch
Context-specific, deeper power sharing, sustaining and embedding
Participants have direct, ongoing access to specialists to test and probe information themselves. Immersive or experiential approaches - such as lived experience storytelling, roleplay or visual methods are used to surface values and concerns that verbal discussion alone may not reach, and to actively disrupt hierarchies of expertise in the room. A diversity of inputs is ensured by named opportunities for non-participants to contribute or focused sessions with most-affected or marginalised groups, bringing their perspective in as evidence to tackle structural inequalities1.
The RSA’s Citizen Economic Council included an economic inclusion roadshow that reached less heard voices and brought their perspectives into the deliberative process. ↩︎