| Keywords: | Analytical tool; Differentiation of target groups |
| Objectives: | Drawing a profile of a (fictional) group based on the target group’s challenges, dreams, attitudes and norms, living conditions and need in relation to goods, welfare services and education. Understanding the needs of the target group. |
| Target group: | Groups of people with something in common, such as people whose children attend the same school, people who work together and so on. |
| Duration: | 30 minutes for brief profiling of target group 180 minutes for more in-depth profiling It should be noted that this is a time-consuming methodology, and it takes several hours to draw a profile/persona. |
| Methodology step-by-step: | Discuss the themes of inquiry and create a questionnaire. This could include questions focused on: personal information, family and relationships, educational level, employment, leisure activities, hobbies, citizenship and attitudes and motivations. Collect the data. Process the data and draw up a profile of the group. To describe the group and its members, you could talk about a man or a woman who belongs to that group; give them a name, describe their personality, say what job they have, talk about their likes or concerns, their hobbies and what they do in their free time, using the data collected. NOTE: It is important to be aware that the persona should be constructed as a conglomerate of several real people within the same target group, for instance a young migrant women aged 18-35 without a job and without education. |
| Resources needed: | Powerpoint |
| Challenges: | A potential risk may be that the descriptions of the personas are too general and schematic, thereby not close enough to the actual needs and requirements of the given target group. This may raise a fear of stigmatization. |