Replication Data for: Group proximity and mutual understanding: Measuring on-site impact of a citizens' summit

To better understand the impact of deliberations during participatory policymaking events, we introduce and explore the concept of group proximity. An example of such events are citizens’ summits, during which many parallel groups deliberate on solutions for a policy issue. At the summit that was studied, each group followed a value deliberation process with the aim to increase mutual understanding among participants. They were asked to rank the solutions in their order of preference before and after the deliberation. From these rankings, group proximity can be calculated with a rank correlation, enabling a precise comparison of participants’ preferences in each deliberative group. High group proximity indicates very similar rankings in a deliberative group, low group proximity demonstrates the opposite. Comparing group proximity of the before- and after-rankings shows if a group ranked convergent, unchanged or divergent. This measure allows for a quantitative analysis of early stage public policymaking processes.为深入探析参与式政策制定活动中审议环节的影响，我们提出并探讨了群体邻近性（group proximity）这一核心概念。此类活动的典型代表为公民峰会，峰会期间会设置多个平行分组，针对某一政策议题的解决方案展开审议。在本次研究涉及的公民峰会上，各分组均遵循价值审议（value deliberation）流程，以提升参与者间的相互理解为目标。参与者需在审议前后，分别按照自身偏好顺序对各项解决方案进行排序。基于上述排序结果，可通过秩相关（rank correlation）方法计算群体邻近性，进而实现对每个审议分组内参与者偏好的精准对比。群体邻近性较高时，代表该审议分组内的排序结果高度相似；较低的群体邻近性则呈现出相反的态势。通过对比审议前后排序对应的群体邻近性数值，可判断该分组的排序结果呈现趋同、无变化还是分化态势。该指标可为早期公共政策制定流程提供量化分析支撑。