Laddering

Laddering is another simple, powerful method that provides insights into the reasons why people do or think things and can quickly identify their core values.

Downward laddering allows you to unpack what people mean when they use technical or subjective terms.

Upward laddering allows you to identify the reasons why people do or think things.

Key features

•Swift, powerful and systematic

•Easy to learn at a basic level

•Often produces useful unexpected insights into misunderstandings and what people actually mean

•Unpacks vague or subjective terms into specific terms that other stakeholders can work with.

Information is elicited by asking the participant a series of questions such as:

•What do you mean by…?

•Why is that important to you?

•Why do you prefer x rather than y?

The sequence of responses to questions is called a chain.

Recording

Responses are recorded is in the form of a ladder with arrows indicating the relationships between responses. Lower levels are more specific; higher levels less specific.