Foster audience trust

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Introduction

Trust is an important component of your relationship with current and potential users of your services. Fostering trust in your brand can help you to disseminate your research and make sure it reaches the right audience. In this tool, our emphasis is on cultivating trust within your audience by ensuring that your organization is perceived as caring, consistently competent, and honest.

This type of trust is a crucial element both in convincing current non-users to engage with your organization and the evidence you create in the first place. Equally, trust is important in retaining previous users and building a lasting relationship with them. As such, this tool will ultimately provide you with the key strategies on how to present information in a trustworthy manner.

To get the most out of this tool, we recommend going through the sections in the order they are presented. For a lighter lift engagement on fostering audience trust, we recommend you explore the last two sections on strategies to foster trust and our comprehensive checklist.

At a glance

  • The four critical beliefs that bolster trust.
  • Identifying your organization’s trustworthiness.
  • Relevant strategies and exercises to boast trustworthiness (this section will be helpful even if you do not have the time to assess your organization’s trustworthiness first).
  • A comprehensive trust building checklist based on strategies from this toolkit.

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Drivers of Trust

There are four critical beliefs that bolster trust; these are beliefs in the benevolence, predictability, integrity, and competence of an organization.1 If your organization presents itself to current and potential users in a way that strengthens their beliefs in these four areas, this will go a long way in building a trusting and lasting relationship.

The belief that an organization cares about me and will act in my interest. Specifically, the belief that an evidence creator or curator will act in a school district’s best interest and has a genuine interest in promoting educators’ well-being.

The belief that the organization’s actions are consistent. Specifically, the belief that the evidence creator’s or curator’s methods are transparent and follow a clear set of guidelines and that past successes can be repeated.

The belief that an organization has the ability to do what needs to be done. Specifically, the belief that evidence creators and curators are aware of specific school district’s needs, their work is in line with the latest research and content standards, and the output is of high quality.

The belief that the organization will tell the truth and fulfill promises. Specifically, the belief that evidence creators and curators will fulfill their obligations to school districts use extensive high-quality data and are truthful and transparent in their communication.

Diagnostic Phase

To decide which trusting belief or driver of trust to focus on when designing measures to increase trust, there are three criteria you should consider:

  • What is the current baseline level of trust?
  • Which driver is most important to users?
  • Which driver has the largest impact on adoption probability?

The findings from the diagnostic phase will allow you to identify along which of the four driver – benevolence, predictability, integrity, and competence – your organization is already seen as trustworthy, where there is the most room for improvement, and understanding which area will be the most effective. The diagnostic phase can consist of running surveys, interviews and/or focus groups with current users and non-users of your services.

You can use our resources below to run a survey with both current users and non-users. The aim is to determine how your organization is currently perceived to perform along the four drivers and identify the largest potential for improvement.

Related tool

Understand Your Users

Guide to determine your users and their needs.

The two main benefits of running the diagnostic phase are:

  • Targeted Interventions: Understanding your users’ beliefs and perceptions will allow you to focus your resources and efforts on the most effective trust drivers and measures.
  • Measuring improvements: A baseline value of trust can provide a precise measure of the effectiveness of your efforts. This will allow you to make more informed decisions about which interventions to use again.

Exercise

Step 1 – Brainstorm Questions
Instructions
  • Along the 4 categories, Benevolence, Predictability, Integrity, and Competence, think of 2-3 questions you could ask in a survey to measure the baseline perceptions of trust in your users and non-users.
  • Use the following items to use as suggestions.

Benevolence


  1. I feel that [Organization X] would act in a school/district’s best interest.

  2. If a school/district is in need of support, [Organization X] would take a genuine interest in helping them.

  3. [Organization X] is interested in educators’ well-being, not just their own well-being. 

Predictability


  1. The methods of [Organization X] are transparent and follow a clear set of guidelines

  2. I feel that [Organization X] is likely to repeat past successes

Integrity


  1. [Organization X] is truthful in its dealings with school districts.

  2. I am personally comfortable relying on [Organization X] to fulfill its obligations to my school district.

  3. [Organization X] generally fulfills its agreements with school districts.

Competence


  1. [Organization X] is able to meet school districts’ specific needs.

  2. I feel that [Organization X] is good at what it does.

Exercise

Step 2 – Ask users to rank items
Instructions
  • Write questions to ask users to rank which items are most and least important to them in building trust – what would they need to learn about an organization to make them trust it?
  • In this way, you learn something about your (potential) users’ priorities in addition to their current perceptions
Out of this list, the characteristic that would make me trust ?[Organization X] the most is if the organization X tells me: ______
Out of this list, the characteristic that would make me trust ?[Organization X] the least is if the organization X tells me: ______

The outcome of the diagnostic phase can be used to inform which areas are most important to focus on when designing measures to increase trust.

Read more about the Importance
of Transparency
Read more about the Importance
of Social Proof

Implementation Phase

Once you have determined the most important and effective drivers of trust, you can develop strategies to increase perceptions of trust in that specific category.

Exercise

Step 1 – Create Trust Survey
Instructions
  • Think of strategies to foster trust along the four driver.
  • Use the guiding questions below to structure your thoughts

Benevolence


  1. What information could convince users and non-users that you have their best interest in mind?

  2. How can you demonstrate your interest in educators’ well-being?

Predictability


  1. How can you showcase past successful projects?

  2. How can you effectively communicate the processes and standards used in selecting and creating evidence?

  3. What might make people believe that your evidence is credible?

Integrity


  1. What might users and potential users want to know about your affiliations and funding?

  2. How can you convey honesty in your dealings with school districts?

Competence


  1. How can you showcase your expertise in what you do?

  2. What might convince users and non-users that you are experts in your field?

Important trust drivers in the
professional learning ecosystem
Past experiences as a factor in the
professional learning ecosystem

Strategies to Foster Trust

The remaining portion of this tool highlights four key strategies that you can use to foster trust. This is not a comprehensive list; however, it does reflect a validated set of recommendations based on key experiments and research in partnership with evidence creators, about district buyers.3 The four strategies are as follows:

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Communicate to Users Inclusively

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Increase Transparency of Evidence

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Emphasize Alignment with Standards

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Harness Social Proof

Communicate to Users Inclusively

Our interviews with educators have revealed that many districts, but especially low-income districts with a high proportion of Black/Latinx and English language learners, educators care about whether the instructional materials they use make students feel represented.3 

In the same vein, educators would like to see that your organization’s messaging reflect the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This resource covers strategies on implementing those principles in the process of evidence creation, presentation and dissemination.

Using Inclusive Language in Evidence Creation

Language carries weight. Used meaningfully, language can uplift, include, and empower. Used carelessly, language can subjugate, exclude, and maintain the status quo.

Inclusive language puts people first, their labels and struggles second. It is culturally sensitive, avoiding terms that could invoke historical oppression or present minority groups as “other”.

Inclusive language is important as language is closely connected with how someone perceives their own identity. For example, if someone called an individual with disabilities a “disabled” person, they’d feel as though their disability defined them, erasing other, more relevant, aspects of their identity. 

Evidence creators should ensure that the principles of inclusivity, equity and diversity are practiced at every stage of the evidence creation process; when it is first created, when it is then presented, and afterwards disseminated for widespread use.

Inclusive Language in Evidence Creation

Fostering Inclusion
In Evidence Creation

Language carries weight. Used meaningfully, language can uplift, include, and empower. Used carelessly, language can subjugate, exclude, and maintain the status quo. 

Before emphasizing your organization’s inclusive communication strategy, it’s important to actually enact inclusive research practices. Below are some ways to do so: 

Be Accommodating Towards District Leaders’ Needs 

While district leaders may be interested in participating in research, there can be roadblocks preventing them from doing so. For example, district leaders from rural districts may need assistance setting up the technology required to participate, or some districts may face language barriers. 

Remember: clarify these accommodations when requesting participation. See sample below.

Fostering Inclusion
In Evidence Presentation

Before disseminating your organization’s inclusive communications, it’s important to present evidence in a way that follows key principles for inclusivity and equity. Below are some ways to do so:

Inclusive language is language that is sensitive to the needs of specific groups. District leaders are more likely to trust your evidence if the language used to communicate this evidence considers and respects their culture.
In the next page, we’ve drafted a shortened list of principles from  The American Psychological Association’s (APA) guidelines for Inclusive Language.4

When districts look at evidence, they want to be able to quickly gauge the relevance of the evidence to their district’s context. Implementing a ‘sample summary’ section can make demographic relevance clear from the get-go.

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Fostering Inclusion
In Evidence Dissemination

Finally, principles of diversity, equity and inclusion should also guide evidence dissemination.

Crafting a diversity or equity statement can be an effective way to promote your organization’s mission alignment with districts in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).5 In general, an effective diversity statement should:

  • Summarize why DEI is important to your organization
  • Provide transparency on how DEI and/or de-biasing is incorporated in the evidence creation process
  • Communicate how the evidence can be used to benefit students from diverse communities

Some organizations make the mistake of catering their websites imaging to certain demographic (e.g. featuring only white educators in their banner or other images). Ensure that your website’s imaging features district leaders from minority populations.

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Boosting Participation from Underrepresented Groups

Barrier: While minority district leaders often want to participate in district research, they also have to weigh their participation against the costs incurred by stepping away from their job, especially since these leaders are often working in time-pressed, under-resourced environments.6

Solution: In addition to ensuring their travel costs are covered, provide compensation for minority leaders to justify their participation.

Barrier: Minority district leaders often fear that they may be participating in research that could be used to exploit their communities, even if the research isn’t harmful at face value.6

Solution: Ensure that at the beginning and the end of the research, there is explicit communication on how their data will be stored and protected, and how the research will be used to benefit the district leader’s community.

Barrier: Many district leaders from minority communities often don’t participate in research simply because they aren’t aware the opportunity exists.

Solution: Promote the opportunity through community-specific organizations or pages. For example, if you’re trying to reach out to district leaders of color, you could try the California Association of Black School Educators7 or the California Latino School Board Association.8

Quiz

Which of the following options are Do’s or Don’t for Inclusive Language?

  1. Use gender-exclusive language such as “mankind” or “you guys”

    a. Do
    b. Don’t

  2. Call minority students or educators “diverse” 

    a. Do
    b. Don’t

  3. Separate the person from their disability or mental condition

    a. Do
    b. Don’t

  4. Define income brackets and levels of person

    a. Do
    b. Don’t

  5. Use general labels when you intend to refer to specific groups 

    a. Do
    b. Don’t

  6. Use jargon or acronyms

    a. Do
    b. Don’t

Quiz – Answers

Which of the following options are Do’s or Don’t for Inclusive Language?

  1. Use gender-exclusive language such as “mankind” or “you guys”

    a. Do
    b. Don’t ✔

  2. Call minority students or educators “diverse” 

    a. Do
    b. Don’t ✔

  3. Separate the person from their disability or mental condition

    a. Do ✔
    b. Don’t

  4. Define income brackets and levels of person

    a. Do ✔
    b. Don’t

  5. Use general labels when you intend to refer to specific groups 

    a. Do
    b. Don’t ✔

  6. Use jargon or acronyms

    a. Do
    b. Don’t ✔

Increase Transparency of Evidence

Educators are constantly inundated with unsolicited requests from publishers or private organizations to test out or buy their products. This has led them to feel uncertain whether such determinations of quality come from authentic reviews or publisher-driven marketing.

Thus, this resource shows how to ensure transparency in the evidence creation process disseminated through your organization: making it unequivocally clear exactly where the reviews come from and  how judgements of quality are obtained. 

Gain Users’ Trust by 
Maximizing Transparency

Disclose Commissioned Studies
While commissioned research is common, this often leads evidence users to struggle with transparency issues. While funding sources make professional research no less valid, disclosing the affiliations of the study gives the necessary information evidence users need when evaluating resources.224

Use of Impact Assessments or Reflection Protocols

Impact assessments promote transparency and collaboration in decision-making. When available, link these assessments alongside the resources.

Transparency of Core Competencies
Purchasers care about how an organization goes about producing the content and/or products they create.

Publish background information on how frameworks, standards, and processes are established for resources. When evidence users understand the organization’s core competencies and how or why they promote the resources available in their platform, trust in the evidence is fostered.

Further, having this information readily available facilitates discussion among evidence users on potential or actual impacts of applying the resources from your organization in their classrooms, schools, or districts.

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Transparency of Review Process and Panel of Reviewers
Adding to organizational transparency, a deep dive of the evidence selection process not only adds to trust and goodwill but also secures credibility among evidence creators, curators users and other stakeholders.

Information on assessment rubrics, review panel, and collaboration with publishers may be items of tangible concern for evidence users. Publishing these may help clarify questions about bias and agenda.

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Emphasize Alignment with Standards

Decision-makers highly prioritize or exclusively seek out evidence aligned with established standards for quality. Aligning with standards signals to purchasers that a solution meets a minimum level of quality along a certain dimension. 

Common standards include grade-level standards for a subject area, which articulate the minimum level of student achievement. However, new standards have emerged in response to market signals. These include standards for Social and Emotional learning (SEL)10 and standards for EdTech products such as interoperability and privacy standards.11 

Evidence creators and curators can promote evidence based purchasing by promoting existing standards, and showing how standards can complement each other. 

Emphasize Where Evidence Aligns
with Standards

Evidence creators and curators are increasingly forming partnerships to cross-promote their evidence resources and show how their signals of quality interact. For example, some organizations are experts in setting standards for interoperability and others for privacy.

Another way is by bringing different established and trusted standards together, which can help buyers make more holistic and ultimately better decisions.

While Common Core is the most prevalent educational standard used by many districts, State Education Agencies are primarily in charge of state educational standards.

Beyond the state, there are different standards that may be used per subject (mainly Mathematics and English Language Arts or ELA) and per grade (from K to Grade 12).

Further, there are also voluntary national standards for other major subject areas aside from Maths and ELA, which include: Science, Social Sciences, Physical Education and Health, Fine Arts, and Technology.

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Harness Social Proof to Increase Trust in Evidence

Resources discovered or acquired through social networks often benefit from the perception that they come from respected peers in the community, thus providing external validation and credibility.

This appraisal by peers, whether through formal or informal means, lends credibility to evidence. This resource features concrete steps to implement social proofing in order to signal to users that evidence may be valuable.3

Using Peer Influence and Social Proofing

Social proofing is a powerful tool for evidence users, as people are more likely to believe relatable testimonies. In the face of uncertainty, especially in the case of new or conflicting evidence, social proofing encourages the adoption of resources.

Three ways Social Proofing plays a role in evidence use12

Moments of
Uncertainty

Evidence users can look to the experience of their peers if they are unsure of the use or application of a new tool or evidence. Further, other people’s experience help demonstrate a resource’s value in a relatable real-life setting. Testimonials can nudge other evidence users to adopt new resources.

Reliance on Shared
Experiences

Social influence can persuade evidence users to adopt tools and methods as it provides validation by allowing purchasers to relate to the experiences of others, particularly those of peers operating within similar contexts, and use their past successes as a surrogate to calibrate their own expectations.

Pressure to
Conform with
Established Norms

Expert recommendations, or those coming from a position of authority, allow for smoother adoption of new material or tools. These perspectives leverage expert power and provide validation to potential adopters.

Using Peer Influence and Social Proofing

Facilitating the sharing of personal testimonials through social networks can increase the visibility and appeal of evidence. Evidence users are social beings; trust and adherence to a piece of evidence may be more likely with the use of social influence.

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Ratings are straightforward recommendations that provide quick and easy insight into the quality of evidence sources.

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Evidence creators and users may attend events where they participate in information exchanges with peers and other professionals in adjacent industries. Attending those events, such as conferences, seminars and workshops, can help to facilitate conversations around evidence.

Having an opportunity to leave reviews allows evidence users to share their experience on using specific resources and leave feedback on how to make the resource and/or experience better, providing real-time social proof.

Share positive and verified feedback gathered from community reviews, personal testimonials, and even from anecdotes shared in social networks. Other users are more likely to trust and engage with your evidence, if it has been helpful for others.

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Checklist

Harness Social Proof to Increase Trust in Evidence

Enable and encourage users to share evidence sources found on your platform via social networks

Enable users to rate sources of evidence on the basis of their usefulness and quality

Prompt feedback-seeking messages to encourage users to leave reviews after going through resources

Collate positive testimonials and feature the reviews in the homepage and/or relevant pages within the platform

Ensure that any prompts for user action clearly articulate the value to the user (e.g. reviews help us improve the platform to better serve users like you)

Increase Transparency in Evidence

Disclose affiliations with evidence, particularly if they are commissioned or funded by public or private organizations/institutions

When available, link impact assessments of an evidence for more information on its significance and/or effectiveness

Publish background information on the frameworks, processes, and standards are established in selecting evidence 

Publish information on the assessment process: rubrics, panel, and collaborations/affiliations to further inform the decision-making process of the organization’s evidence selection

Emphasize Where Evidence Aligns with Standards

Provide information of alignment to established standards from the introduction of the evidence or tool.

Where applicable, provide information on evidence validated through collaborations with established and trusted organizations.

Publish background information on the frameworks, processes, and standards are established in selecting evidence 

For exploratory purposes, provide contextual information of other established standards by providing a standards directory by state, grade level, and subject.

Communicate to Users Inclusively

Involve underrepresented district leaders and ensure their representation needs are met (e.g. filling gaps in technology, language, distance, associated costs, etc.)

Boost participation from underrepresented groups through outreach and transparent communication Before disseminating evidence, use this checklist to evaluate that your web platform, evidence and other messaging of your organization reflects the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. 10 Creation

Use inclusive language in all forms of communication

Be transparent in your demographic inclusion by providing indicators in sample descriptions Presentation

Craft a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement in your organization’s portal (and/or where else applicable) 

Ensure images used in your organizations collaterals (i.e. beyond the website) reflect multiple demographics, particularly from underrepresented groups

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Summary

This tool provides a framework for understand trust and how to foster it with your users. To enhance the credibility and user engagement on your platform, encourage users to share evidence sources via social networks and introduce a rating system to assess source quality. Actively seeking user feedback, featuring positive testimonials, and transparently disclosing affiliations and assessment processes are crucial steps in building and maintaining user trust. Furthermore, alignment with established standards and validation of evidence through collaborations with trusted organizations are essential practices. Consider providing a standards directory for easy reference, reinforcing the commitment to quality and reliability. To foster inclusivity, it is important to address representation needs, increase outreach to underrepresented groups, and integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into all communication and collateral materials. This holistic approach ensures a trustworthy and inclusive user experience on your platform.

Key Takeaways

  • Transparently disclose affiliations and assessment processes to enhance user trust and engagement.
  • Ensure alignment with established standards and validate evidence through collaborations with trusted organizations.
  • Prioritize inclusivity by boosting outreach to underrepresented groups, and incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in communication and collateral materials.

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  • 1 McKnight, D Harrison, and Norman L Chervany. “What Is Trust? A Conceptual Analysis and an Interdisciplinary Model.” ResearchGate, August 2000.
  • 3 The Decision Lab (2022)
  • 3 The Decision Lab (2022)
  • 3 The Decision Lab (2022)
  • 12 Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: Collins, 2007.