Cultural probes are appropriate when you need to 

gather information from participants with minimal 

influence on their actions, or when the process or 

event you’re exploring takes place intermittently or 

over a long period. Additionally, when a topic or context might be too sensitive or personal to gain insight into, Cultural Probes offer a less intrusive way to learn about participants beliefs, desires, and cultural preferences. Furthermore, if the central research topic is one that a participant may find challenging to describe clearly, cultural probes can be creative, non-verbal communication methods for participants to provide insight into what the issue is. Typically, a pack of easily reproducible and low-cost cultural probes are provided by researchers directly to participants with instructions for how participants can or should use the cultural probes. This might include asking participants to use a disposable camera to take photos of anything that relates to the topic, to keep a daily journal about their experiences with the topic, to write a postcard to a friend about a daily experience, etc. It is important to offer participants clarity about what they are expected to do with the Cultural probes without overly determining exactly what they will record. Participants should be encouraged to do as much as they feel comfortable with and to use whatever means of expression they wanted. 

The activity is best done with stakeholders who have a close proximity or lived experience relative to an issue. For example, using cultural probes with citizens might offer useful insight into how a solution should be shaped or the needs it has to respond to.  

Each type of actor and stakeholder may not be engaged with cultural probes in a project, but each can be to gain specific insight into their experience relative to a particular issue. 

Cultural probes are appropriate when you need to gather information from participants with minimal influence on their actions, or when the process or event you’re exploring takes place intermittently or over a long period. Unlike direct observation (like usability testing or traditional field studies), the technique allows participants to self-report. Each individual time a participant self-reports can take anywhere from a few minutes to 30m. 

The amount of time necessary can be adjusted to fit the needs of the research and participants.