build measure learn
Col­lect­ing data on tar­get groups and stake­hold­ers: how to con­duct a well-found­ed analy­sis

You’ve come to the right place if …

  • you want to found an impact start­up or are already in the mid­dle of it with your team.
  • you have car­ried out an ini­tial prob­lem analy­sis.
  • you have an idea of your tar­get group and stake­hold­ers.
  • you want to get to know the Lean Impact approach.

This chap­ter helps to …

  • check your assump­tions through a direct exchange with the tar­get group.
  • bet­ter under­stand the needs, inter­ests and influ­enc­ing fac­tors of the tar­get group.
  • ensure that your solu­tion is tar­get­ed.
  • suc­cess­ful­ly apply the Build-Mea­sure-Learn approach of Lean Impact.

There are var­i­ous meth­ods you can use to col­lect data on your tar­get group and stake­hold­ers. How­ev­er, hard­ly any approach is as effec­tive as talk­ing direct­ly to those affect­ed. This is the best way with the quick­est and clear­est results.

The focus here is on qual­i­ta­tive sur­veys of the tar­get group. With qual­i­ta­tive sur­veys, you col­lect descrip­tive data (open ques­tions) for deep­er insights into opin­ions, expe­ri­ences, needs and expec­ta­tions as well as asso­ci­at­ed chal­lenges. For a sup­ple­men­tary analy­sis, you can also con­duct quan­ti­ta­tive sur­veys and col­lect data with stan­dard­ized ques­tion­naires (closed ques­tions) for sta­tis­ti­cal analy­ses.

The aim is to find out …

  • whether the iden­ti­fied prob­lem is rel­e­vant for the inter­vie­wee,
  • how exact­ly the per­son and their envi­ron­ment are affect­ed by the prob­lem and what con­se­quences it has for them,
  • who else might be affect­ed.

Also hold one-on-one dis­cus­sions with stake­hold­ers who are direct­ly or indi­rect­ly affect­ed by your solu­tion or can influ­ence it. In this way, you will also get to know their needs and inter­ests bet­ter and deter­mine how they will be influ­enced by your solu­tion. Stake­hold­ers can be, for exam­ple, inter­est groups, activists, NGOs, self-help groups, influ­encers, researchers or pub­lic rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Data col­lec­tion with inter­views and sur­veys

1. select suit­able inter­view part­ners

This is cru­cial for mean­ing­ful results. Make sure that as many dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives, back­grounds and expe­ri­ences as pos­si­ble are cov­ered. In addi­tion to peo­ple from the tar­get group, you can also inter­view experts and peo­ple who work in a sim­i­lar envi­ron­ment, for exam­ple.

2. devel­op inter­view ques­tions for the tar­get group dis­cus­sions

Which ques­tions to ask the tar­get group or stake­hold­ers are suit­able depends on the path you have tak­en with your start­up so far. Have you already iden­ti­fied a prob­lem and want to find out whether the tar­get group you have assumed per­ceives this prob­lem as rel­e­vant (path 1)? Or have you already decid­ed on a tar­get group and want to find out which prob­lem you can solve for them (path 2)?

Typ­i­cal gen­er­al ques­tions about the per­son:

  • What is your name and job title?
  • What indus­try do you work in and how long have you been in this role?
  • What are the main tasks and respon­si­bil­i­ties in your posi­tion?

Typ­i­cal ques­tions for route 1:

  • Have you ever encoun­tered the fol­low­ing prob­lem in your work: [beschreiben Sie Ihr Prob­lem]?
  • How do you typ­i­cal­ly deal with [rel­e­van­ter Her­aus­forderung oder Auf­gabe]?
  • What do you think are the main caus­es of this prob­lem? Why (5x)?
  • How much does this prob­lem affect your pro­duc­tiv­i­ty or effi­cien­cy?
  • What impact does this prob­lem have on your work or your orga­ni­za­tion?
  • What mea­sures have you tak­en so far to deal with this prob­lem?
  • How would your work change if this prob­lem were solved?
  • If this prob­lem is not rel­e­vant to you, why do you think this is the case?
  • Do you know peo­ple in your indus­try or in sim­i­lar posi­tions who might have this prob­lem?
  • Who do you think is most like­ly to encounter this prob­lem?
  • Do you think this prob­lem could become rel­e­vant for you or oth­ers in the future? If so, why?

Typ­i­cal ques­tions about route 2:

  • Can you describe a spe­cif­ic prob­lem that par­tic­u­lar­ly frus­trates you? How often does this prob­lem occur?
  • What do you think are the main caus­es and con­se­quences of this prob­lem? Why (5x)?
  • What thoughts go through your mind when you are try­ing to cope with [Her­aus­forderung]?
  • What wor­ries or con­cerns do you have when you think about [dieses Prob­lem]?
  • How do you usu­al­ly feel when you try to cope with [Her­aus­forderung]?
  • How much does this prob­lem affect your pro­duc­tiv­i­ty or effi­cien­cy?
  • What impact does this prob­lem have on your work or your orga­ni­za­tion?
  • What role do exter­nal fac­tors (e.g. mar­ket changes, tech­no­log­i­cal devel­op­ments, chang­ing val­ues) play in this prob­lem?
  • What prob­lem would you have to solve first to make your work more effi­cient and enjoy­able?

5‑Whys tech­nique

Use the 5 Whys tech­nique for the ques­tions on caus­es and effects (see chap­ter “How do I car­ry out a prob­lem, tar­get group and stake­hold­er analy­sis?”). For each iden­ti­fied cause, ask “Why is this hap­pen­ing?” and repeat this step five times. For each iden­ti­fied con­se­quence, ask “What does this lead to?” and repeat this step two to three times.

3. write an appeal­ing cov­er let­ter for the inter­view

Clear­ly for­mu­late the expec­ta­tions of the par­tic­i­pants. Assumes that many peo­ple will ask them­selves in advance what exact­ly to expect and whether they need to pre­pare. Explain how long the inter­view will take, what its pur­pose is and empha­size that no spe­cial prepa­ra­tion is nec­es­sary. Thank the par­tic­i­pants in advance for their time and empha­size how impor­tant their con­tri­bu­tion is to the project.

4. cre­ates a pleas­ant atmos­phere for the con­ver­sa­tion

An atmos­phere of trust is the basis for an open and hon­est con­ver­sa­tion. Start the exchange with a short intro­duc­tion and explain what your project is about and why you are con­duct­ing the inter­view. Make sure that the par­tic­i­pants feel com­fort­able by cre­at­ing a friend­ly, relaxed envi­ron­ment and giv­ing them the oppor­tu­ni­ty to ask ques­tions or express con­cerns at any time.

5. select an addi­tion­al method for data col­lec­tion if nec­es­sary

If your tar­get group is not infor­ma­tive or you have dif­fi­cul­ties obtain­ing mean­ing­ful answers, there are oth­er ways to find out more about the needs and chal­lenges of the tar­get group: For exam­ple, you can accom­pa­ny the tar­get group in their every­day lives to see direct­ly how they deal with chal­lenges and what prob­lems actu­al­ly exist or hold a work­shop with the stake­hold­ers.

Next chap­ter: Real­i­ty check

You have com­plet­ed your data col­lec­tion — the results are also an impor­tant ref­er­ence point for lat­er impact mea­sure­ment.

In the next chap­ter is about how you can sub­ject the data to a real­i­ty check in order to val­i­date your prob­lem and tar­get group analy­sis.