Talking Stick - March/April 2019 - 39

collection of images can be a potent
tool in helping individuals speak more
freely and at length regarding particular topics. Zaltman gave disposable
cameras to Nepalese villagers, so as to
capture life through their eyes. In the
years following his trip, he expanded his observations into a complex,
interdisciplinary interview marketing
protocol called the Zaltman Metaphor
Elicitation Technique (ZMET).
Like many other colleges and
universities, St. Cloud State University
(SCSU) in central Minnesota faces a
rapidly shifting environment regarding the recruitment and retention of
first-year residential students. Many
students seek to move off campus
because of the perceived increase in
personal freedom that comes from
living alone or, rather, not under the
watchful eye of residence life advisors.
Others desire the increased comfort
of newer amenities. Based upon these
insights, the ZMET could be translated
into a targeted marketing campaign
aimed at encouraging students to live
or to stay on campus.
The use of ZMET at SCSU began
by targeting the specific population of
on-campus residents that we needed
to learn more about. University data
indicated that a large percentage of
students moved off campus after the
end of their first year. The university's
student life and development office
and residential life concluded that the
study should focus on the factors that
influenced this decision for first-year
residential students. We started by
sending an email describing the study
to all first-year students living on campus. A $100 incentive was offered,
and student response was good.
Participants were selected on a first
come/first serve basis. Past ZMET
research has indicated that population
sizes as small as eight are sufficient
for repetition of significant factors
to occur. In line with this, our study

. . . AN INTENTIONAL COLLECTION OF
IMAGES CAN BE A POTENT TOOL IN HELPING
INDIVIDUALS SPEAK MORE FREELY AND AT
LENGTH REGARDING PARTICULAR TOPICS.

ended up consisting of eight first-year
students (four males and four females,
all 18-19 years old) finishing up their
first year of living on campus.
As mentioned above, the ZMET is
an image-driven interview protocol.
Therefore, we asked our participants
to collect images of anything that
reflected their experiences of living
in the residence halls, to collect these
images on their smart phones, and
then to upload them to a secure site
hosted by the university. Basing the
parameters of our project on past
ZMET research, we limited our participants to collecting 10-12 images
over a period of one week. After they
collected their images, they connected
with us via email to schedule their

interview, which we tried to conduct
within one week of images being collected so that participants could best
recall the meaning in their pictures.
Before each interview, we printed
the participant's images and brought
them to the interview to help facilitate
the conversation.
First, we asked the participant to
share the story behind each image
they collected, and we captured every
main theme they offered on a Post-it
note. For instance, if Student A said,
"This was a picture of my roommate
studying on her bed in our room
for this stressful test," the research
would capture the words "roommate,"
"studying," "bed," "room," "stressful,"
"test," each on its own Post-it note.

IMAGE 2.0
Student B Individual Participant Construct Map

MARCH + APRIL 2019

39
Talking Stick - March/April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - March/April 2019
