USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE TO DESIGN A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT TRAINING FOR MICROENTREPRENEURS Figure 2. Four-Stage Methodology 3.3. Methodology Used for the Qualitative Interviews For the research conducted as part of the CGAP research grant for Phase 3 of the Financial Heuristics scale- up project, ideas42 used the diagnose stage of our behavioral mapping process. The research agenda was to gain a deeper understanding of how microentrepreneurs approach, decide, and act on key business and financial management activities in their business. To gain a deeper understanding of how microentrepreneurs manage their businesses, we conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with clients. As part of the interviews, we asked clients specific questions about how they approached a particular financial management decision, such a giving credit to their customers, and what specific practices they followed. In the interview process, the ideas42 team emphasizes questions that help us understand “what clients are doing” and “how they are doing it,” rather than “why they are doing it.” This interview style is an integral part of our behavioral mapping process, and helps the team uncover how the particular context and features of the environment shape clients’ behaviors. Behavioral science teaches us that often clients don’t know why they are doing what they are doing. That is why we are not asking clients many “why” questions, but rather are using keen observation of the environment in which they are making decisions and acting on them, and pointed “what” and “how” questions to identify the key reasons for clients’ decisions and actions. We call the combined method of one-on-one client interviews and observations context reconnaissance, as it helps us decode the role of circumstances, social pressures, and context is shaping clients’ behaviors. We used the same qualitative interview methodology for our India interviews, although the research objective there was different. In Phase 2 of the project, we had already conducted the necessary research to understand how the India target population manages their finances, and how their context shapes their behaviors. That is why in Phase 3, we focused our qualitative interview efforts toward researching how clients who are already customers of the Financial Heuristics mobile-phone-based training are engaging with the content and the platform. The insights from the India qualitative research were instrumental in guiding the ideas42 team toward adapting and improving the content of the training and the features of the technology platform through which we deliver the training. This methodology helped us gain a stronger understanding of the context and behaviors of our target populations. Our findings from the context reconnaissance process were instrumental in helping us iterate and improve on the design of the Financial Heuristics mobile-phone-based training to improve its effectiveness for our target populations. 7