SherryArnstein, an American scholar, once divided citizen participation into eight steps according to different levels: manipulation, handling, notification, consultation, appeasement, cooperative relationship, agency rights and citizen control. This ladder describes the type of continuous participation from the lowest level (citizens are "manipulated") to the highest level (citizens are controlled).
Andrew Froy Akram removed the non-participation stage in Arnstein's "participation ladder", that is, the stage where citizens were "manipulated", and divided the level of citizen participation from low to high into six steps: research and data collection, information provision, consultation, participation, cooperation and collaboration, and authorization.