Method guide · Arrange people and ideas
Evidence Market
Carry evidence to other claim tables so it can challenge or support positions beyond your own.
- People
- 8–60
- Base procedure time
- 45 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Generate ideas; Make a decision.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A moving conversation in which participants carry evidence cards to claim tables other than their own. Use it where opinions are plentiful but evidence only reinforces people’s own positions and does not reach opposing proposals. Participants may not put cards on their own claim table and briefly explain the evidence at another table. The table’s custodians retain an accepted, pending, or counterevidence status for each card, so evidence that is not accepted does not disappear. The result is evidence with recorded statuses and gaps to fill before a decision. Do not decide acceptance by majority vote; connect the evidence to the checks the decision-maker needs. Do not use it where information cannot be sourced or confidential evidence cannot be shared.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Open claim tables0–7 minutes from the start (7 minutes)
Action: Open. Participation: Groups of 4–6.
Shared record
- Write evidence7–15 minutes from the start (8 minutes)
Action: Write. Participation: 1 person.
Individual record
- Carry evidence15–27 minutes from the start (12 minutes)
Action: Carry. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
- Assign a status27–37 minutes from the start (10 minutes)
Action: Assign. Participation: The group responsible for each table.
Shared record
- Choose a gap37–45 minutes from the start (8 minutes)
Action: Choose. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 7 minutes, open tables with different claims and assign each participant to one claim table.
- For 8 minutes, each person writes up to 3 pieces of evidence based on observations or documents, one item per card.
- For 12 minutes, carry cards one at a time to other claim tables, not your own, and explain them.
- For 10 minutes, table custodians assign accepted, pending, or counterevidence status to each card and write a one-word reason.
- For 8 minutes, everyone visits the tables and selects one evidence gap per claim for additional confirmation before a decision.
If something changes
If
Six minutes after transfer begins, at least half the evidence cards are still held by their authors.
Then
Carry one card to the most distant claim table and explain only whether it weakens or strengthens that claim.
If
One table has 6 or more counterevidence cards and no accepted cards.
Then
Check the sources of the counterevidence and bundle cards from the same source rather than counting them as separate evidence.
If
Five minutes into choosing gaps, each table still has 3 or more candidates.
Then
Keep only evidence obtainable before the next decision date and narrow it to one gap per table.
Preparation
Materials
- One claim card per table, approximately A3 size
- 3 evidence cards per person, approximately A6 size
- Acceptance-status cards equal in number to evidence cards: equivalent to 3 per person, in 3 colours
- One dark-coloured pen per person
Room and setup
- One market table per group, with different claims; 2–10 tables, with 4–6 people at each
- A passage at least 1 m wide connecting all tables, where people can walk with evidence cards
Adjust for people and time
With fewer than 8 people, open only 2 tables and have everyone carry evidence to the other table. With 8–60, provide 2–10 tables and divide participants evenly, with 4–6 per table and table sizes differing by no more than 1. Circulate within those table groups. Above 60, divide participants into markets of no more than 30. Each market passes only 3 evidence gaps to everyone. Do not recreate the claim tables at the whole-group level; merge duplicate gaps and assign people to check them.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not decide evidence acceptance by majority vote or count cards from the same source as independent evidence. Retain evidence even when it is not accepted. Do not use the method when sources cannot be identified or confidential evidence cannot be shared.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Taiwa no Fumen editorial team: Evidence Market
Original description and illustrations
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
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Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.