Personal Network Analytics Enhances Culturally-Nuanced Market Research

If culture influences what we eat and how we think, perhaps it affects other things, like how we seek healthcare. Does it?  How might it impact Bicultural individuals who navigate two distinct cultures simultaneously? Does it impact care-seeking for mental health when they may feel most vulnerable?

Bazis Americas' team members are Biculturals. As described by Kumar and Steenkamp (2013), they are first-generation adults who emigrate to the U.S. and embrace U.S. culture, successfully navigating life here while maintaining deep connections to their home cultures. They belong to a 48 million-person diaspora; their top three birthplaces are Mexico, India, and China.

Market research shows that culture matters, as has Bazis Americas' cultural research in pregnancy and childbirth, diabetes management, and vaccine hesitancy. Would Personal Network Analytics add to culturally-nuanced mental health market research? We conducted a joint pilot project to explore that in relation to care-seeking depression.

Our Research Pilot

To “kick the tires,” two staff members—an Indian American bicultural and a Chinese American bicultural—volunteered to participate in two longitudinal IDIs to collect and analyze data. In the first interview, we used the structured format developed in NetworkSage research to identify their network connections in the eight networks common to working adults.

Personal Network Map: Indian American bicultural Respondent

Personal Network Map: Chinese American bicultural Respondent

Participants received the results as a Personal Network Map and were given time to review it before a second IDI, during which the map became a prompt to explore aspects of their culture, including:

• The impact of the Social and Community Network in general and in care-seeking for mental health.
• The impact of Family Network on care-seeking for mental health.

Personal Network Analytics Summary 

Both biculturals share characteristics relevant to their network connection workload, which can be a factor in care-seeking behavior, e.g., female gender, marital status, and homeownership. Only one is a parent, another connection workload factor.

Demographic Characteristics

Personal Network Analytics hint at cultural differences that may be relevant and merit additional research, especially:

• Network Connection Size. The Indian American bicultural had significantly more connections than the Chinese American bicultural; 334+ vs 138+
• Health and Vitality Network Connection Size. The Indian American bicultural had significantly more connections than the Chinese American bicultural: 85 vs 25

Network Connections

Social and Community Network Impact on biculturals 

Common to the experience of both biculturals, the Social and Community Network plays a major role, though for different reasons:

• For the Indian American bicultural, this network is open to diversity but most easily relates to other Indians, especially when they relocated initially. Recommendations from other Indians led them to housing near others who have researched good Education Network schools for children and good Health and Vitality Network physicians, making decision-making and network-building easier and more efficient.
• For the Chinese American bicultural, living near other Chinese was culturally comfortable because living close to others is common in China. In addition, Chinese Americans are less likely to have a Family Network in the U.S., so living near other Chinese helps them find friends and family-like support from their Social and Community Network.

In summary, and subject to confirmatory research:

• Reliance on the Social and Community Network is common for these groups, but for different reasons. For Indian American biculturals, it is for easy decision-making and access to resources. For Chinese American biculturals, it is for cultural comfort and family-like support since their Family Network is not nearby.
• Both groups rely on their Social and Community Networks to seek healthcare in two situations: when network members are medical professionals or when they do not yet speak English well.

Family Network Impact on Care-Seeking for Mental Health 

Common to the experience of both biculturals, the Family Network is highly valued.

• For the Indian American bicultural, as a cultural value, parents want children to be successful, and biculturals wish to keep parents, in-laws, and relatives happy by meeting expectations for their education, career, and relationships. This dynamic can cause stress and depression in biculturals. When someone becomes depressed, family support plays an important role in managing it: finding a therapist and using social support to avoid medication. Fearing it will impact marriageability, the family goal is to prevent others outside the family from learning about it.
• For the Chinese American bicultural, members of the “one-child generations” feel the stresses caused by parental expectations placed on them as single children. Wanting that network to see them as “good children,” biculturals are less likely to tell parents they are struggling with mental health conditions. They will seek care and may consider therapy, including medication, as a last resort but won’t involve their families.

In summary, and subject to confirmatory research:

• Both sets of biculturals value Family Network connections and feel stress from the expectations imposed upon them by that network.
• Indian American biculturals will receive family support to help deal with mental health conditions, but Chinese American biculturals will not and so must seek it elsewhere.

Personal Network Maps: Value for Ethnic Cultural Research

This pilot network-informed study showed us new ways to inform culturally-nuanced qualitative and quantitative healthcare research by providing:

• Useful quantitative data on personal connections we don’t otherwise capture or appreciate.
• Deeper understanding of how culture can shape motivators and barriers to seeking treatment.
• More engaged conversations and deeper probes at three levels – elaboration, clarification, and why probes – using network maps as prompts to provide the interviewer and respondent with a visual reference.
• Confidence that we addressed recency bias by reminding respondents to consider connections that may not immediately come to mind.
• An item of tangible value – the Personal Network Map – for the respondent after the first IDI, as a give-back alternative to interviews that take information from the respondent but do not reciprocate.

Personal Network Analytics: An IDI-Enhancing Methodology

Personal Network Maps enabled interviewers to tailor questions and make the market research topic more relatable. These led to deeper conversations earlier in the second interview. They helped respondents more easily, smoothly, and quickly shift from broad, initial responses to more specific and relevant insights.

Compared to traditional healthcare domain IDIs, which address one specific area or focus on a singular aspect of a respondent’s networks, Personal Network Analytics:

• Offers a more holistic view of the dynamics at work in a respondent’s life.
• Provides a structure for discussing any aspect of life by enhancing awareness.
• Provides market researchers with a more comprehensive view of behavior and choice dynamics.
• Facilitates our ability to gain greater depth of engagement in the second IDI.
• Highlights key themes and behaviors that guide more precise, culturally informed questions for other market research methods and, ultimately, solutions for patients.

Personal Network Maps uncover the hidden cultural forces shaping behavior. They help us ask sharper questions, provide value to the respondent leading to deeper respondent engagement, and find solutions that genuinely resonate with patients' lives and values.