Week 3 · Adaptive Planning Program

12. Empathy Mapping

30 min

By the end you'll be able to

Construct empathy maps using the four-quadrant framework
Identify contradictions between stated preferences and observed behaviors
Extract insights from empathy mapping exercises

To design effective health solutions, you must first walk in your user’s shoes. This lesson introduces the Empathy Map, a four-quadrant tool that categorizes what a user Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels.

We delve into how to use this tool to spot critical contradictions, such as why a user might say health is important but avoid visiting a clinic, to uncover deep behavioral insights.

Practice quiz

Question 1
Which set correctly lists the four quadrants of an Empathy Map?
- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
- Says, Thinks, Does, Feels
- Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Outcomes
- Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver
Question 2
A patient tells you that her health is her top priority but has skipped her last three clinic appointments. According to the lesson, this is an example of:
- An invalid empathy map entry that should be discarded.
- A signal that the persona work has failed.
- A contradiction between Says and Does that reveals deeper behavioral insight.
- Evidence that the patient is not a good candidate for the intervention.
Reflection 3
Why does spotting contradictions across empathy map quadrants matter for designing a public health intervention?

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