How we used images to get teenagers to talk about sexuality
Use of the Collaging method during exploratory interviews
For one of our healthcare industry clients at WeDigital.Garden, we conducted a qualitative study in order to understand adolescents’ relationship to their sexual health. The objective was to learn what health means to them, how they define it, what it means to be and stay healthy and how they consider sexuality and sexual protection.
Quantitative studies have already been carried out but through this qualitative study, we have sought to break the bias of the declarative induced by closed-ended questions. We wanted to get honest feedback on how they currently address their sexuality, what kind of fears they might have, their behaviors, their needs…
We decided to conduct face to face interviews with teenagers. To do so, we designed a conversation guide with open-ended questions and with the five Ws method in mind to be able to dive right in (basic questions to information gathering: Who, What, When, Where, Why).
Sexuality is not an easy topic
Have you ever had to discuss a subject such as sexuality with someone? not always easy, huh? and with a teenager, it’s a lost cause, is it not?!
Yes, we were supposed to talk about sexuality with teenagers.
With young men and women who are still discovering their body, maybe their sexual preferences, who are just understanding the implications of it or who’ve already had good or bad experiences.
We were wondering how they would react to our first questions on the subject. Even if these questions were open and carefully asked. Our question was then: how to get true feedback on such a sensitive subject?
« A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words »
As we are using the AXE method for some time now, we knew that using images allows the users to express feelings and emotions in a more easy way.
The AXE method (Anticipated eXperience Evaluation) is used in pretotyping to test really quickly raw scenarios in text format. It then uses coupled images to trigger participants to express their feelings and acceptability of a new concept and specify in what direction the concept should go.
By the way, we are conducting a Workshop on this method during Euro IA in Dublin at the end of the month.
AXE is part of techniques called projective methods. Coming from psychology as a way to trigger people on a given topic, it is a practical method to study advertising, management, sociology, and even UX now. Marketing teams have been using these techniques to assess feelings and reactions to campaigns or products for some decades now.
Images have the power to create stimuli of all kinds and turn it into strong responses. It can trigger a memory, allows association and draws out feelings that are laying down in the subconscious mind of a person.
“95% of our thoughts and feelings are unconscious” said Gerald Zaltman in How Customers Think.
When using it for UX interviews, it allows us to let the participant drive the conversation (almost) wherever they want. Indeed, when we use a set of pre-defined questions, the scope of the conversation is limited and we then can’t get answers beyond those we expected. You’ll agree that is is not a good way to do exploration.
Using images to address sensitive subjects
Given we had no input material for this study, we couldn’t use the AXE method, and needed a more exploratory approach.
That’s where Kyle Soucy comes in. She proposed a method called « Collaging » that stand on projective methods and helps in starting a conversation on sensitive or personal subjects.
See how she’s presenting the method:
« Collaging is a projective technique by which participants select images that represent how they feel about a particular topic. The participants then explain to the moderator the reason they chose each image. The collage becomes an instrument through which participants are able to express needs and feelings that they might not otherwise have been able to articulate. This information enables us to better understand the user’s world and how to design for it. »
And she goes on saying that it can be a great help when you don’t know how to ask the right questions. Yes, I’m sure that this has already happened to you. And remember, we had to talk about sexuality with teens who might have some difficulties to open to a complete stranger. Whether « the topic is too personal, controversial or sensitive […] the collage becomes a catalyst for discussion, an ice-breaker. »
Perfect, that is exactly what we needed.
And the best part is that it was really easy to set up.
1. Define the topic
It can seem obvious but it is really important that the exercise focuses on one topic only as you will ask the participant to tell you how he/she feels about this.
« Select image that represents the most your relationship with… »
« Select images that reflect your experiences with… »
So, for us, we asked them to select images that would reflect their attitude regarding their sexuality.
2. Find images
Then you have to find a certain amount of images that could be linked to the subject, closely are not. As we did, we mapped all the dimension that would exist around adolescence, sexuality, health, education, family… Yes, we still had to choose based on our gut feeling, but we had to start somewhere!
We chose images that show a family, a couple, a girl running, someone holding someone’s else hands, one with a stop sign… Kyle advises to take 200 images, we used 30. Not because we were lazy (it can happen, sometimes) but because we thought that it could be too much for them.
3. Lay it down
After the usual presentation, we presented the exercise and put all the images in front of them. In her version, Kyle proposes to use a big board and asks participants to literally glue the images on it. In the context of our project, we decided to ask the interviewees to choose only 4 to 5 images and to put aside those they had not chosen.
An important thing is to give them space and time to think. It’s also a way to respect their privacy and not pressure them. It’s important to remind them that they only talk about what they want to talk about. As suggested in the method, we left the room for several minutes (sometimes, only 2 minutes was enough).
4. Let the magic begins!
Then you come back and ask them to explain why they chose these images.
And it is magic. The discussion started by itself and they choose the topics to discuss. We had the discussion guide in one hand, to avoid missing a subject that we wanted to discuss, but it is surprising how they can go to talk about things that you didn’t think about. Like they were helping you building the following interviews.
Looking back on our approach
During our interviews, we used the method for two purposes: as an ice-breaker to engage the conversation around their relationship with their health and as a starter to address the sensitive and personal subject that is sexuality.
It was the first time we used this method but it was a success. Some images were selected almost everytime, others weren’t and some of them showed different perspectives on the same topic. Throughout our week of interviews, some things became clear very quickly, others were further explored with some people. We also adjusted the conversation guide to address topics that appeared with one person and that were interesting to check with others.
It was a success because it confirmed some of our hypothesis and also broke down others. But it was above all a success because our fear of not being able to address this sensitive subject with adolescents was totally removed by the method.
And it was such a relief to start the conversation smoothly!
What about you?
Have you ever used this kind of method during your interviews?
Have you ever had to discuss sensitive topics during research or user testing? How did it go?
We are curious to know more about your experiences.
