Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique

The Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) is a market research tool. ZMET is a technique that elicits both conscious and especially unconscious thoughts by exploring people's non-literal or metaphoric expressions. It was developed by Dr. Gerald Zaltman at the Harvard Business School in the early 1990s. As Zaltman described it, "A lot goes on in our minds that we're not aware of. Most of what influences what we say and do occurs below the level of awareness. That's why we need new techniques: to get at hidden knowledge-to get at what people don't know they know." The technique has been used by academic researchers and for marketing purposes to study a variety of topics related to both marketing and the social sciences.

Zaltman began thinking about the power of using imagery in research while on vacation in Nepal in 1990. Zaltman initially planned to bring his camera but at the last minute opted to chronicle the trip by giving local residents disposable cameras and asking them to take pictures that would explain what life was like in their villages. After developing the pictures, Zaltman returned to the village to ask residents to explain, through an interpreter, the meaning of the photographs. The imagery tended to reveal ideas that would have been difficult or unacceptable to put into words. For example, the photographers often cut off people’s feet in the photographs. This was intentional. In Nepal, bare feet are a sign of poverty. Zaltman believed that because of the stigma associated with poverty, the topic likely would not have surfaced had the villages been asked to describe life in their villages using just words. ZMET was patented in 1995 and the original patent expired in 2015.

Research study participants are usually asked to collect a set of pictures that represent their thoughts and feelings about the topic of interest. Zaltman cites prominent researchers like Steven Pinker and Antonio Damasio to support his claim that humans think in images – often in the form of visual images – rather than in words. The pictures that participants collect are important non-literal devices for uncovering deeply held, often unconscious, thoughts and feelings.

The goal of the ZMET interviews and analysis is to uncover the relevant fundamental structures that guide people’s thinking about a topic. These deep structures are unconscious, basic orienting frames of human thought that affect how people process and react to information or a stimulus. They manifest themselves in surface metaphors used in everyday language and conversation; when grouped they point to the deeper frames or structures a person is using to understand a topic (see framing). These frames can be used in a marketing context to help marketers communicate more effectively to consumers about a brand, product, or topic.

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