Feedback processes in the context of educational counseling

A working group in a city in North Rhine-Westphalia has entered into a cooperation with a university to research the effectiveness of its own counseling services. An interview study provided insights into those counseling processes that were considered effective from the clients' perspective. On this basis a feedback instrument was to be developed. The positive results of the study prompted the working group to present it to a wider audience at a symposium. This unplanned conference subsequently led to a further study on the public reception of the results. At the final cooperation meeting to follow up on the conference no further agreements were made regarding further joint action (development of a feedback tool). The change in the composition of the working group was assumed to have led to changes both in the cooperation within the working group and in the cooperation with the researchers. The indirect conclusion of the cooperation provided the opportunity to analyze the research process from a group dynamics perspective.