Principle 2: Understanding Issues in Context

Note: This article is part of a series. I recommend reading the intro and principle 1 (part 1 and part 2 ) before continuing below.

I’m often asked to review and comment on questionnaires and interview guides in social issue and movement research. As part of this practice, the researcher and/or organization are usually seeking to understand at least one of the following:

• How important is their issue to other issues?
• Would the individual take an action if they were asked (such as participate in a march/rally, sign a petition or give money)?
• Would the individual share content and information about the issue to their network (including friends or family)?

When reviewing research materials, I often encounter two common issues. First, many organizations are prone to asking leading questions to get the answer they desire. In a lot of interview guides I review, it’s clear what the organization wants as the outcome. Some questions lead the participant to likely answer yes (a form of confirmation bias) or attempt to draw a yes when asking about a future state that is still too unknown or unpredictable. (Such as: “One year from now, will you do X?”)?

The other common issue—one that should be a top reminder to anyone designing social issue research studies—is forgetting (or ignoring) that the target audience doesn’t live in a vacuum. At any given time, there are myriad factors that impact a person’s opinion about an issue, and their likelihood to engage with it (or not).

It’s this issue that I want to dive into today. As researchers, we must understand and ask about issues in context of three major environmental factors affecting the participant/consumer:

• Lifecycle
• Immediate needs
• Other social issues

Let’s break each one down.

Lifecycle

At the onset of each survey questionnaire, I like to understand the real life situations the individual is going through. What is their economic condition? What major life events are they dealing with—like health and wellbeing, job security or potential shifts/changes in employment??

As individuals, our interest in social issues are not solely based upon our own belief systems, passion or willingness. It’s also based on our capacity to actually take action in light of other things we’re dealing with, including major life changes. As a person’s life changes, their attitudes and perceptions of social issues may also change—along with their capacity and ability to take action. These include:

• Financial independence: When an individual becomes financially independent (such as when a young adult leaves the home), they have a new sense of responsibility for managing finances and everyday expenses that they may not have had to do before (such as food, rent/home, insurance, vehicle and more). This shift in responsibilities can impact how a person views finances overall - from how they choose to spend their own personal money (which may result in more or less financial contribution to a social issue) to how they perceive the economy on a larger/national scale.
• Managing people in the workplace: When an employee becomes a manager, they’re given a unique window into the lives of others as they try to balance their team’s personal and workplace issues. This may lead to an increased sense of empathy for the lives and issues of others, particularly if a person has never been in a management position before.
• Children/caretaking/dependents: Caring for others can impact both a person’s finances and their perceptions of social issues. For example, in parents/caregivers of children, we often see changes in the issues they care about as their children’s needs shift. Caretakers of adults will likely shift their interests to the issues that impact the person for whom they’re caring (e.g., healthcare).

Immediate Needs

I often call immediate needs the THE list. THE list is all the things that are necessary for everyday life for average Americans: Transportation, Health, Employment.?

Transportation: Getting from one place to another is key to productive health, employment and relationships. We all need reliable transportation to attend school to prepare for life, maintain our own health, get to work to earn an income, and care for others. When the cost or reliability of transportation is altered—for example, by higher gas prices, fewer bus routes, or a broken-down car—our attention necessarily shifts away from social issues to how we will get from point A to point B.

Health: Our ability to maintain a healthy state of well-being allows us to hold a job, be with our families, and provide the support necessary for everything that requires our attention. Our health is crucial to our lifestyle and livelihood and enables us to help others who may not be as healthy. When we or our loved ones are dealing with health issues, everything else takes a lower priority. Health insecurity inhibits our ability to remain active and engaged.

Employment: Income from our jobs provides the resources to handle everyday needs for ourselves and those who depend on us. Similarly, changes to our work lives affect how we engage with one another, especially our loved ones. Employment challenges—from getting and keeping a job to earning a fair wage and meeting employers’ demands—require more of our time and attention than the social issues we care about.

Social Issues

When asking about social issues, we often do so in isolation. Survey questions are designed to keep the participant focused on that social issue without regard for the other issues above or other social issues they may care about in general. But that’s just not how people work.?

Therefore, in addition to the items detailed about (life changes, immediate needs) you must also understand how the issue stacks up against other social issues in terms of awareness, interest and likelihood to act in the moment. That means we must know first how important this issue actually is to an individual. If not, you risk creating false campaign strategies that are built upon consumer insights in a silo.?

So when asking about social issues, ask participants to rate or rank how much they care about the issue and/or would take action for it: Would you sign a petition for this, or that? Would you volunteer for this or that? On a typical Saturday, would you go to a local march for the social issue you care about? All these position social issues in the reality of daily life.?

In my next article, I’ll explore how to approach and design interview guides and questionnaires with questions that will lead to better/more informed answers—and not just the answers you’re hoping to get. Stay tuned.