Questionnaire Evolution as a Mirror and Device of Interaction in Socio-Technical Workshops

The paper examines how questionnaires evolved across a series of socio-technical decision workshops supported by Problem Structuring Methods (PSMs) and the MuVAM software. Rather than treating questionnaires as neutral tools for measuring workshop outcomes, the study analyses them as evaluative artefacts that both reflect and shape interaction. Questionnaires are considered part of the intervention architecture because they define relevant dimensions of experience, organise reflection, and influence how participants reconstruct the workshop. The research investigated twelve workshops’ questionnaires, in different technological conditions, including sessions involving generative AI. The findings show that questionnaires changed in response to shifts in the workshops themselves: from reflective and value-oriented reports to short surveys focused on group dynamics, and later to more structured instruments addressing AI-supported interaction. Accordingly, the study contributes to the PSMs literature by showing that questionnaire evolution can be used as empirical material for analysing changing interaction regimes in socio-technical workshops, pointing to a form of evaluative performativity in how workshops are assessed.