Participatory Research to Understand Value and Meaning
Objective : Discovery the importance of agricultural practices in consumer purchasing behavior.
Role playing is a great thought experiment to explore the user’s mental models and create scenarios and use cases to develop a problem statement around.
In-context interviews
The project began with by conducting interviews in tasting rooms and wineries.
Direct from the participants
Important quotes highlighting key aspects of biodynamic wine and wine culture were captured.
A series of personas were created based on interviews and observations; these allowed me map anticipated behavior patterns as value systems.
Use cases
A series of uses cases were created to identify marketing and sales opportunities. The uses cases addressed the values of individual personas.
Sorting it all out
Quotes were sorted using the A-E-I-O-U method.
Methods
Direct observation and in-context interviews.
Existing product survey and analysis.
Card sorting to determine peoples’ preferences and preconceived ideas about wine.
Word/concept association.
Cultural probe/diary study.
Affinity diagrams to identify connections.
Concept & Construction
By interviewing vintners and consumers, the importance of agricultural practices in wine making was explored and related to marketing. Utilizing a variety of participatory methods with wine enthusiasts, I explored the topic and hypothesis at a deeper level than if only traditional observational methods were employed.
Wine culture matrix
A matrix was created to help map experiences and assure that the participants entire journey was captured.
Participatory wine diary
Participants were asked to complete a week long diary that included a variety of sorting and categorizing exercises.