Cultural Inquiry

the approach to understanding behaviour

Exploring two WHYs

Everyone has goals

To sway their consumers1 to do what they want them to do, organizations aim to understand how people make choices, what drives their decisions, and overarchingly, why people do what they do.

This, organizations expect, will help them tailor their products, services, or communications to reflect what consumers want.

Such seeking of input often uses time-tested research methods to elicit ‘voice of consumer’. Based on this, organizations build their strategies, make decisions and hope to see more support from their consumers.

All this is done because in all the research they conducted, this is what their consumers said they wanted.

companies wish to expand market share and increase revenues through consumer loyalty

politicians seek more votes and support from their constituents

small businesses aim for returning support from their neighbors

other organizations look for other things from their audience

NOTE: 1 For simplicity, the term ‘consumer’ is used to refer to all types of audiences: brand consumers, society as a whole, political constituents, or any other form of audience.

social organizations want more of society to understand their cause, support and abide by it

The question is…

There is a big difference. recognizes that the more encompassing method of

cultural inquiry can provide broader, deeper and more impactful insights about behaviour and behavioural influence.

The following discussion highlights WHY cultural inquiry is a more comprehensive method of understanding WHY people do what they do by exploring beyond rational reasons

is this what they really wanted, or is this what they said they wanted?

Traditional ‘voice of consumer’ methods follow an ‘ask’ & ‘answer’ approach

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These methods have stood the test of time

They provide answers to questions we want answeredThey provide answers directly from consumers we are studying

respondents choose from a selection of a

pre-defined set of answers with room for expansion of certain

responses

SURVEYS

already available data - e.g. shopping

patterns, browsing history, location data - is collected, reviewed

and analyzed

DATA REVIEW

researchers observe people in their

‘comfort environment’ to ‘watch’ their verbal

& behavioural response to questions

IN -HOME OBSER-VAT IONS

other methods (e.g. neuroscience for

marketing, AB tests, UX) are tested and experimented with

periodically

OTHERS: QUANT. &

QUAL .

a group of people with similarities in profile gathers in a

research facility and responds to

moderated questions

FOCUS GROUPS

Traditionally, consumer or audience input is sought when specific information is needed or questions are to be answered. These questions are posed to consumers for a direct response.

As with everything, these methods have limitations

A major assumption in the first two methods is that

{ people can accurately describe their thoughts and reasons for behaviour

rationally {But are people as rational as we think? Is it possible for us to think that rationally, act according to our rational thoughts, and explain those thoughts clearly when asked to justify a purchase?

Studies in behavioural sciences show that people have an inherent rationality bias. This tricks us into believing that, as smart human beings and with the brilliance of our complex brains, we ought to have made choices rationally and ought to be able to apply rational logic to explaining ourselves or our choices.

Herein lies the problem. Rationality bias misleads people into thinking that they were rationally thinking through options before deciding upon their choices. So, when they have a survey on their screens asking about why they made a purchase, a donation or took some other action, their rationality bias kicks in, and they start to describe the steps they went through in their minds to take that course of action.

This is the basis of major decisions in organizations

In reality, they may have chosen to take a specific course of action due to any of a multitude of unsaid or unrealized reasons

Decision trees are drawn, product roadmaps build, and marketing plans made - all based on what people said they wanted or did because they wanted to sound smart and rational in a survey or interview, and provided as reasons to justify purchases they made or actions they took.

With exclusive use of traditional research methods, what gets revealed are rationalised claims that people ordered salads because they wanted to be healthy, that they bought shoes before a big presentation, and that they preferred one brand of cereal to another, perhaps attributed to taste, packaging and other ‘rational’ attributes.

CURRENTIt takes supplementing traditional with other methods to evoke deeper value systems that dictated consenting to group behaviour, attributing meaning for material possessions or valuing shared social or moral principles.

RECOMMENDED

“all my lunch buddies ordered a salad, so I did too, because I didn’t want to be the only one eating fries, though I really wanted them”

? action influenced by social circle

action influenced by a shared value “I liked that their advertising supported marriage equality, so I bought that brand of cereal instead of the other”

?

“I was stressed that day and needed some confidence booster, so I bought a pair of high heels before my big presentation”

action influenced by perceived benefit of material possession

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The recommended method is Cultural Inquiry

SOURCE: 2 Meamber, L., & Venkatesh, A. (2000). Ethnoconsumerist methodology for cultural and cross-cultural consumer research. Interpretive consumer research: Paradigms, methodologies & applications, 87-108.; p.98

Cultural inquiry supplements traditional

‘ask & answer’ approaches with

‘ask, seek & identify’ approaches

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It recognizes that when information is directly obtained from people as study subjects, their stories about themselves, thought processes and actions are likely laced with personal or perceptual biases and values. Thus cultural inquiry aims to supplement or replace the traditional ‘ask & answer’ approach with an ‘ask, seek, & identify’ approach to tease these factors out from their stories to explain people’s behaviour in a more reliable manner. In other words, traditional research notes what people do, and cultural inquiry explains why people do what they do.

The method draws from various fields and angles of research to have an informed an understanding about behaviour and behavioural influence as possible. It is a discipline that carries qualitative and quantitative approaches to research and analysis that Culture& trusts for its advisory.

These elements are operative in a culture, developed as a function of current practice in conjunction with historical roots. The latter part is significant because most cultural practices have origins and histories that cannot be understood purely on the basis of current practices2.

Cultural inquiry is a narrative method of identifying cultural elements which influence behaviour. ‘Cultural elements’ could include any or combination of one’s ethnicity, geographic location, occupation, social circle, hobbies, beliefs, value systems, circumstances, need at a point in time or other factors that can dictate their behaviour.

What is Cultural Inquiry?

To understand Cultural Inquiry, first look at culture

Culture is a connection that

validates a shared interest or belief

system

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Culture is a connection that validates a shared interest, belief system or values. Any group of people that shares such commonalities as interests, beliefs, values, common goals, geography, mental status, age, gender, social status or other attributes belongs to a ‘culture’.What is

Culture?

SOURCE: 3 De Mooij, Marieke (2004); Consumer Behaviour and Culture: Consequences for Global Marketing and Advertising;Sage Publications;p.26

A culture is formed by social connections. The interest that this social circle shares may instil certain values or attitudes in people which influences their thinking and behaviour. Influencing one’s behaviour requires doing so within the bounds of cultural attributes.

This is why understanding culture in context is an essential part of the Culture& approach to cultural inquiry.

Examples of a ‘Culture’:

• People who use coffee shops as their office • Street artists • New mothers • Students • People who like new age music • Entrepreneurs • Introverst • Environmentally conscious people • People from the US • German-speaking people

Assess whether Cultural Inquiry is applicable

Cultural Inquiry applies to any

group of people to be studied by any

type of organization

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Cultural inquiry can be conducted:

To Whom Does Cultural Inquiry

Apply?

upon any individual or group of people studied for the purpose of: • simply understanding an audience or consumer group • exploring future trends • knowing reasons for their past behaviour • identifying areas of influencing future behaviour

by any type of organization such as: • corporations or for-profit businesses • social enterprises • non-profit organizations • universities

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This method of understanding people is involved, and would require input and strong partnership between Culture& the organization looking for answers.

Given that, it is recommended that this approach be used less for validating what an organization is already doing, and much more for exploring new or expanded territories of impact.

Determine when to pursue Cultural Inquiry

Cultural Inquiry should be used to deeply understand and aid expansion of organizational

influence

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Organizations commonly undertake research when there is an impending decision, a new product, idea or campaign launch, or at other critical points. Culture& recommends that organisations consider cultural inquiry not just at decision points, but at times well before arriving at a decision point.

What is happening with audience in society can be an intelligent source of valuable information, insight or even inspiration for organizations. Observing cultural shifts in the way in which people in a given cultural cohort are living, exhibiting values, using products, pursuing careers, etc. can have an impact on people’s behaviour and reasons for such behaviour. This will enable tapping into existing status or occurring changes to identify their audience’s needs or messages that will resonate with them.

In short: (a) use cultural inquiry to find answers to situations at hand

a situation at hand could be a specific question (e.g. “should our business enter the online education market?”) or an open exploration (e.g. in what direction is the education industry heading, where is it likely to be in the next 5-10 years, and who is likely to be participating in it?”)

(b)use deep knowledge gained to influence audience behaviour an audience could include any cultural cohort including self introspection of an organisation’s own self, such as org. processes or employees (e.g. “how can we motivate our employees to be more innovative, and how can the organization support innovation?”

When Should Cultural Inquiry

be Used?

Understand what it means to conduct Cultural Inquiry

Cultural Inquiry uses a set of on-

and off-beat approaches for

behavioural understanding

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How will Cultural Inquiry be Deployed?

Cultural inquiry uses the method of interpretive research. This refers to how the researching organization is able to ‘interpret’ behaviour and its reasons, relating to how people think and act within their cultural circles and society, and the relevance of this knowledge to achieving the organization’s end goal.

For proper understanding, Culture& looks at audience behaviour from three angles: 1. Individual behaviour

Observing how individuals respond to certain stimuli both rationally and irrationally (i.e. with their input not shrouded by a rationality bias), and comparing the differences to determine where the rational-irrational differences occur).

2. Social behaviour Understanding how people behave either in the direct company, perceived company or when reminded of their favoured cultural and social circles, and comparing the differences in thought and action when their social circles are actually present, thought to be present or simply present as a reference.

3. Existential behaviour Exploring how a specific group of people behaves in their day to day lives, with no overlay of parameters about consumption, social consciousness or any other specificity, and using this knowledge to learn about how an organization’s purpose can fit into these people’s lives.

For any of these angles, cultural inquiry in most cases, will involve behavioural environments in and off field. ‘Off-field’ becomes a critical space to the Culture& team during the analytical and strategic recommendation phases of the inquiry.

There are several approaches Culture& uses for Cultural Inquiry. Some of them are outlined below.

Approaches deployed for Cultural InquiryThe overarching approach Culture& uses for Cultural Inquiry involves qualitative data and narrative gathering, and converting them into quantitative models that can crystallize empirical evidence and abstract concepts into concrete, impactful insights and strategies for organizations.

To contribute towards this, a combination of approaches is deployed. Some are briefly outlined here.

DIR

ECT

Direct methods use the ‘ask’ portion of Cultural Inquiry’s ‘ask, seek & identify’ approach. They involve the audience studied being asked questions or to perform certain tasks, along with contextual review. It gathers input from them directly for their behaviour, thinking or ideas, and associates their contribution in the context of their cultural affiliation.

surveys

IATs

rapid prototyping

idea salons

quick fire surveys gather factual data in consumers’ view

EXAMPLES:

implicit association tests measure immediate association of objects or concepts and their meanings in people’s minds and are administered via very shortly timed programs

borrowed from design aficionados, rapid prototyping allows people involved to quickly construct rough and small models that visualize (in 2D or 3D) their thoughts or ideas

idea salons invite diverse groups of people to generate new ideas, by looking at an environment holistically without narrow focus on the problem or specific question at hand

Approaches deployed for Cultural InquiryIN

DIR

ECT

Indirect methods use the ‘seek’ portion of Cultural Inquiry’s ‘ask, seek & identify’ approach. They involve the audience studied acting in a natural manner with minimal external intervention. The researchers seek to discern attributes, patterns or other nuances of people’s behaviour in the given situation.

observation

social chatter

announced or discreet observation of people studied allows undeterred by the presence of a third party calls for observation from multiple points of view. this helps consider several angles of behavioural explanations that may be missed from only a singular point of view.

EXAMPLES:

social chatter listening involves scouring conversations posted publicly on social media platforms. these are highly relevant because many posts are made in the ‘moment of spontaneity’ without much analysis or thought behind the posts, reflecting people’s true thoughts or feelings at the moment of posting. the scouring will be of not only specific topic of conversation, but also elements surrounding it. analysis will include language, tone to understand emotions expressed

Segment studied

Observation by team that can relate to that culture (i.e. team from within the segment)

Observation by team that is foreign to that culture (i.e. team from outside the segment or can’t relate to that segment)

observation triangulation

Approaches deployed for Cultural InquiryIN

DEP

END

ENT

Independent methods use the ‘identify’ portion of Cultural Inquiry’s ‘ask, seek & identify’ approach. They look not at the audience, but for information about the audience. This approach involves secondary or desk research, where information already gathered about a cultural cohort or audience segment is reviewed thoroughly.

trendstrends determine what appeals to the audience segment at a given time. trends can pertain to the their social, technological, economic, environmental, political or legal (STEEPL) climate. trends generally remain for a longer period of time and will have an impact on people’s psyche and behaviour

EXAMPLES:

published sources published sources can include information from academic sources and industry examples.

expert discussions experts in the field or who are also studying the phenomenon under consideration are

consulted for insight

The above are a few approaches that are deployed. The three categories of direct, indirect and independent are more guidelines than mutually exclusive groupings. Depending upon the situation, any combination of approaches from across the three categories are used for the most impactful insights.

experimentationexperiments assess people’s reaction or lack of thereof to changes - subtle or pronounced - made in their environment. these experiments have a better shot at delivering purer insights if the audience does not realize that they are being experimented upon. A-B tests, primed scenarios, and visualizations are examples of experiments Culture& favours.

In essence, this is the take on Cultural Inquiry

WHAT is cultural inquiry?

Cultural inquiry is a narrative method of identifying cultural elements which influence behaviour. ‘Cultural elements’ could include any or combination of one’s ethnicity, geographic location, occupation, social circle, hobbies, beliefs, value systems, circumstances, need at a point in time or other factors that can dictate their behaviour.

Any group of people that shares a commonality such as set of interests, beliefs, values, common goals, geography, mental status, age, gender, social status or other attributes belongs to a ‘culture’. Examples are people who use coffee shops as their offices, street artists, new mothers, students, people who like new age music, entrepreneurs, introverts, environmentally conscious people.

Cultural Inquiry enables understanding a group’s behaviour driven by cultural values that are difficult to be elicited through other methods of research, because it identifies behaviour-driving elements of which people are not aware and cannot articulate by themselves.

Cultural inquiry can be deployed before major decisions such as market strategy, campaign development, fundraising launch, etc. are to be made. It is recommended that cultural inquiry be reserved not only during major decisions, but also be used to detect periodic ‘pulse’ of cultural cohorts of interest. Assessing such ‘pulse’ from time to time could elicit product development ideas, marketing thoughts, scope for competitive swoop and shifting value affiliation of cohorts.

Cultural inquiry examines cultural, social and economic angles of research, using principles of behavioural sciences, social psychology, cultural anthropology and behavioural economics. It deploys on- and off-beat approaches to examining cultures, considering problems and building recommendations. The approaches will be tailored to the question or situation being considered.

Cultural inquiry can be conducted upon any cultural group or cohort by any type of organization such as corporations, social enterprises, non-profit outfits, universities and others, which desire to understand and influence behaviour of cultural cohorts of interest.

To WHOM does cultural inquiry apply?

WHY is cultural inquiry relevant?

WHEN should cultural inquiry be used?

HOW will cultural inquiry be deployed?

For more on Cultural Inquiry, just say hello to us

hello@cultureand.net www.cultureand.net@culture_and