Exploring the Most Significant Change Technique: Strengths, Limitations, and Its Underutilization in Social Work Research

Background

To align social work research with our profession’s anti-oppressive values and goals, the literature has increasingly called for research that co-creates knowledge with marginalized groups by including citizens and communities as partners—not only as providers of information, but also as interpreters of information (e.g., Flanagan, 2020; Lilly, 2023). The Most Significant Change (MSC) technique (Davies & Dart, 2003) is a participatory research tool that strongly aligns with these goals by exploring impacts of an intervention from the community perspective and centering citizens in data collection, analysis, and reporting of results. Yet, it has been underutilized in social work; a recent literature search identified no published studies using MSC. This presentation will introduce the MSC technique, discuss its relevance for social work research, and assess its strengths and limitatations to support potential future use.

Method

MSC is a unique qualitative technique that elicits personal reflections on experiences of change over time by asking respondents to tell a story in their own words about what changes occurred, when and how they occurred, and why they perceive those changes as important (Polet et al., 2015). MSC is conducted in seven steps (Dart & Davies, 2003): (1) Provide participants with an overview of the MSC process, (2) Participants establish domains of change, (3) Establish a reference group, (4) Collect stories, (5) Participants review stories and select those most significant, (6) Stories are shared with the community, and (7) Secondary analysis of stories.

Results

A key strength of MSC is its participatory nature which engages stakeholders at all levels in both collecting and analyzing the data to democratize the research process. Additionally, the MSC process can deepen researchers’ understanding of intervention effects from diverse perspectives which can empower participants and enhance the relevance and acceptability of research findings. Moreover, MSC provides timely feedback that can be used to inform ongoing program design and implementation (Dart & Davies, 2003). Finally, a growing body of research documents the utility of MSC in low- and middle-income countries, including recent studies in Uganda (Akatukwasa et al., 2023), Nigeria (Belaid et al., 2021), Columbia (Pimentel et al., 2021), Indonesia (Budiawan et al., 2020), and Zimbabwe (Connors et al., 2017).

Despite these advantages, MSC has several limitations. Similar to other qualitative approaches, MSC may not be suitable for projects in which scalability or quantification of impacts is the primary goal (Willetts & Crawford, 2007). The reliance on personal stories may introduce bias in selecting and interpreting significant changes, particularly if selection and analysis processes are not adequately facilitated (Davies, 2008). Finally, success of the MSC technique depends on the commitment and skills of those implementing it, necessitating significant training to ensure methodological fidelity (Serrat, 2017).

Conclusion and Implications

MSC’s focus on voice, agency, and community participation aligns closely with social work values and supports calls for anti-oppressive research approaches (e.g., Waller et al., 2022). The technique's ability to capture nuanced impacts of interventions on individuals’ lives offers insight into its utility for strengthening global impact through collaborative research.