Pretest Audience Profiles

Involve Beneficiaries

Audience profiles are developed to identify how best to reach and motivate audiences to engage in protective behaviors. They therefore need to be representative of the audience segment being described. Although profiles should be developed using evidence-based data, and ideally with the participation of one or two members of the audience group, it is recommended that you pretest the profiles once they are complete to ensure they represent the audience they describe.

To do so, gather a group of people from the intended audience and go through the profile with them, and ask some key questions that will provide insights as to whether the pretest participants can relate to the profile or not. Make sure you focus the attention of the participants on the fact that the person is experiencing the emergency being addressed, and that all the aspects being described relate to how the person is reacting to the emergency.

Examples of questions to ask during the pretest include:

• Does the person being described sound like someone you know?
• Do you relate to the experiences being described in relation to the emergency?
• Can you relate to the person’s knowledge, attitudes and practices described? What, if anything, is missing or should be improved?
• Does the person’s lifestyle and typical day resemble your own? If so, in what way? Is there anything missing or incorrect? Is this representative of a typical day even during the emergency?
• Can you relate to the person’s likes, dislikes and aspirations?
• Are the emotions being described about the person’s response to the emergency realistic? Can you relate to these? Is there anything you would add or change?
• Is there anything about the description of the person that you think is incorrect, should be removed or changed? Keep in mind this person is being described in relation to the emergency.
• Is there anything else you think is missing that can be added to the description?

Once the audience profiles have been pretested and improved, as needed, you will have a precious tool that can inform behavioral objectives, communication activities and messages.