DSU Professor Co-Authors New Book on Designing Sensemaking Studies
Designing Sensemaking Studies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026), by CarrieLynn D. Reinhard
and Ajay Reddy, guides researchers from a first question to action. Readers can claim
free access to Sensemaking Studio in the new release of Spryng.io (version 5).
DICKINSON, N.D. — October 11, 2026 — CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, Assistant Professor of Applied Communications at Dickinson
State University has co-authored Designing Sensemaking Studies: Research Methods for
Understanding Communities with Ajay Reddy, founder of Spryng. The book is available
now from Palgrave Macmillan in ebook and softcover. The authors and Spryng announce
its launch on Nov. 3, 2026.
The book is a practical guide to sensemaking studies: research in which people describe
an experience in their own words and then interpret it themselves. Across ten chapters
it follows a study from start to finish: discovering the question, designing the study,
running it, and exploring and using what is learned. It draws on Active Sensemaking
and on Brenda Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology; Reinhard studied with Dervin at Ohio
State University. It is written for researchers, evaluators and public-service teams,
and is organized so that beginners and experienced researchers can each start from
the question they have.
A line from Chapter 2 sums up the approach: “When interpretation is outsourced, context
is lost, and context is what makes human data trustworthy” (p. 24). In every study
the book describes, participants interpret their own stories.
“Too often, people's experiences are summarized for them by someone else. We wrote
this book so that students, researchers and community partners can design studies
in which people interpret their own stories, from the first question through to acting
on what is learned,” said Reinhard.
“We wanted readers to be able to practice the method, not only read about it. Sensemaking Studio gives each reader a small, real study to run, with the stories kept next to what participants say they mean,” said Reddy.
Book details
Title: Designing Sensemaking Studies: Research Methods for Understanding Communities
Authors: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard (Dickinson State University) and Ajay Reddy (founder, Spryng)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2026 · 10 chapters, xxxvii + 223 pages
Formats: Ebook ISBN 978-3-032-25166-4 · Softcover ISBN 978-3-032-25165-7 · DOI 10.1007/978-3-032-25166-4
Publisher page: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-25166-4
Softcover on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/3032251656
Review copies and cover image: Robin James, robin.james@palgrave-usa.com
Free Sensemaking Studio access for readers
Readers can claim a free Sensemaking Studio account, part of the new release of Spryng.io
(version 5), to practice the method on a small study of their own. Readers who bought
the book receive 365 days of access with proof of purchase: an ebook or softcover
receipt from any store. Readers using a library copy can request 90 days. Spryng reviews
and approves each request.
Studio includes one facilitator, up to 10 participants, up to 50 stories a month,
one adaptable instrument and one collection, plus Story Packs for dialogue. That is
enough to design a prompt, collect a first round of stories, let participants interpret
them, and explore the patterns while opening the stories behind each one.
Details and requests: https://spryng.io/designing-sensemaking-studies · Questions: support@spryng.io
About the authors
CarrieLynn D. Reinhard is an Assistant Professor of Applied Communication at Dickinson State University,
School of Education, and studied with Brenda Dervin at Ohio State University.
Ajay Reddy is the founder of Spryng, where he works in Active Sensemaking research.
About Spryng
Spryng is a story-based research platform for sensemaking. People share a short account of an experience, by link, voice, phone or paper, and interpret it themselves on simple visual scales. Teams then see patterns across many accounts and can open any pattern to read the stories behind it, so decisions trace back to what people actually said. Spryng is based in Lithia Springs, Georgia. https://spryng.io