One of the most practical ways to direct your research is to figure out what your target audience is already paying attention to. Which news programs or outlets do they watch or read? What are their routines? How can you connect with them in ways that are consistent with the daily routines and habits they already have? Changing habits isn’t quite as hard as changing worldviews, but it’s close.
Thinking about how the people you most want to use the data you’re generating will actually consume it and use it in their work may lead you to thinking through very different formats. For example, for a project the US-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation led to help moderately conservative members of Congress engage with data about how factors like education and housing affect health, staff examined the habits of Washington, DC, staffers. One that emerged was that most commuted to work using the Metro system. The communicators designed short, small reports focused on a single data point. The printed reports were small enough that DC staffers could read them on the crowded Metro without sticking their elbows out.
You might examine which social platforms they maintain a presence on, and create content that will work especially well on those various platforms. Or look at reports that they produce and look at how your data might fit within their reports.
Use the worksheet you downloaded in the first question to help you develop a deeper understanding of the people you’re trying to reach. It will help you gain insights to their values, identities, objectives and habits, all of which are essential to building products that will move them and inform their decision-making.
After you’ve completed the four questions, you will be able to complete the empty spaces in this sentence: “To end child labour in _______, we need to make _______ happen. The people who are best positioned to do that are ________. They will only take action if they believe_______. They are currently paying attention to ______, and we can reach them by connecting to _______.”
The tripartite nature of the International Labour Organization means that you will likely find that you have multiple audiences you need to reach: ministry officials, advocacy groups, workers and employers. Completing the four questions for the actions you want each of these groups to take will help you identify where there might be efforts you could take that would reach multiple audiences.
After you’ve completed the four questions to identify your strategy, you’ll want to keep your answers handy, as you’ll find they evolve as you complete other pieces of the guide.
