The approach
Self-report describes how someone sees their experience. A knowledge check captures what they demonstrate on the questions asked. A decision scenario shows a choice in a defined situation.
If those signals point in different directions, the useful next step is investigation. It is not to average away the difference or label the person from a single answer.
U Impact brings these signals together so customer-insight and product teams can form a more focused question about a defined group. The work can inform explanations, support conversations and interventions to test.
Keep each signal attached to its source
An insight team should be able to trace an interpretation back to the question or scenario that produced it. A confident self-description, an answer to a knowledge question and a hypothetical choice each have a different meaning. Combining them should preserve those distinctions.
When they disagree, consider whether wording, familiarity or the scenario context may explain the difference. A follow-up conversation can help establish what the participant understood. The resulting interpretation should guide a research question or support hypothesis, not become an immutable label attached to the customer.
Questions for your team
- What exactly did each question measure?
- Could interpretation of the question explain the difference?
- What follow-up evidence would change the team’s view?
Evidence and interpretation
This article describes a research or event-design approach. Illustrative examples are not participant findings. Self-report, knowledge checks and hypothetical scenarios provide different kinds of evidence; they do not by themselves establish observed investment behaviour or the effect of an intervention.
Read more about our methodology and investment competence and confidence.
Put the question to work
Have an investor cohort that your current segmentation does not explain well? Tell us the decision and the signals you already collect.