3. Research Phase 2

Task: Undertake further primary research

Methods: Directed storytelling, love and breakup letters, music lyrics review

Team: Tanya Singh, Zuzana Galova, Roshni Suri

Timeframe: 28th August - 8th September

Song lyrics

We wanted to make sure our research included the latest, most up-to-date information on people’s attitudes towards money, so we decided to look at social media to identify any trends or themes arising in the last year, particularly in the aftermath of the financial crisis in late 2022.

Popular hashtags and searches on Instagram and X. Images by author.

Searching X and Instagram using hashtags initially seemed the easiest and quickest way to search by keyword. However, #money was vast, often throwing up wealthy people showcasing their lives, and other hashtag searches revealed very little in terms of trends. A Google search of ‘trending hashtags 2023’ brought up many critical topics for global events, news and celebrities, but there were no substantial money-related results.

Instead, we looked at music as a reflection of the broader feelings within society.

Selection of singles reviewed. Image citations at end of post.

Looking at lyrics from 1970-2023, we selected 2no songs per decade written about money to review any changes over time and reviewed the message the artist was trying to convey.

Love and breakup letters

To dig into people's emotions towards money, we requested people to write a love and breakup letter to it. This method is advantageous to get an emotional response as it requires some personification of money and is often written in a casual, personal tone.

The handwritten love and breakup letters were received from participants. Images by participants.

Whilst total letters were also valuable, to extend our reach beyond our contacts, we created a series of posts that could be shared on Instagram stories, where we could use the feature that allows people to send a response to a question asked.

The series of Instagram posts used to gain more responses. Images by author.

Although shorter and less emotional, responses were received from a broader range of people, making it worth undertaking.

Directed storytelling

Directed storytelling is always a preferred research method to understand at a deeper and more personal level why someone has formed their opinions. To conduct the directed storytelling, as a team, we agreed to continue our strategy of obtaining a broad range of responses. To facilitate this, I created a post on my LinkedIn feed explaining the project and asking volunteers to participate.

The LinkedIn post asking for participation from my network. Image by author.

My nine years in the industry gave me a vast network and a good way of reaching people outside my immediate circle of friends and family. The response was positive, and we managed to engage with 12 people, ranging from 24 to 52, with diverse experiences and backgrounds. Our directed storytelling was formed around four areas of interest:

• Money and power

• Money and privacy,

• Physical vs digital money,

• Money and its societal obligations and emotional impacts

These topics were founded on the literature review, broader research and conversation and intended as four potential ways the project could be narrowed down after analysis.