I used to feel comfortable with numbers. Large datasets, statistical models, structured variables. They felt like a stable way to hold complexity, as long as I could find the right lens.
At CoA, the work feels closer to people. I still work with surveys and data collection, but much of it now happens in shared space, in real time, with informal caregivers who bring their own pace, their own weight of experience.
In focus groups, I notice how much is already happening before anything is asked. How people enter the room. Where they sit. Whether they speak or stay still. The way a space settles changes the way people settle into it.
And then there are moments that do not quite become “data” in the usual sense. In one discussion, a caregiver becomes emotional while speaking. Another participant quietly offers tissues and leans in slightly. The conversation continues, but the room feels different after that. Not louder, just… held.
Facilitation, for me, is often about noticing these small shifts. When to speak, when to pause, when to let silence stay a little longer than feels comfortable. Sometimes the most important part of a session is not in the questions at all.
What stays with me is not always what is said. It is the tone that lingers after. The way people leave the room. The sense that something has moved, even if nothing obvious has changed.
By: Nellie CHEN, Research Assistant
Email: nelchen@hku.hk