The Social Norms Exploration Tool (SNET) can be modified to render the findings more useful and more actionable, as well as to make the tool more straightforward to implement for future users.

Our experience will help other programs and researchers adapt the tool for more generalizable qualitative research and recommendations.

While the SNET has been used for program teams, it is also useful for thinking through full-protocol formative research on social norms.

The SNET provides a structure for identifying reference groups, but this article provides guidance to ensure all important populations are captured and highlights the different roles that different reference groups may play.

Project implementers or donors doing formative research on social norms can learn from the practical, on-the-ground experience of applying the SNET.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), male engagement, social norms, and social networks mitigate family planning behavior. We discuss the adaptation of the Social Norms Exploration Tool (SNET), which identifies relevant social norms and community members upholding these norms, to inform the development of family planning interventions in the DRC. The SNET provides activity tools and templates to guide users through the following steps: (1) plan and prepare, (2) identify reference groups, (3) explore social norms, (4) analyze results, and (5) apply findings.

The SNET approach resulted in discussion of social norms, particularly around birth spacing and gender norms framing the man as the decision-maker. However, despite applying a methodology specifically designed to identify social norms, other factors limiting use of contraceptive methods were identified in the process, including lack of education, rumors, and misconceptions. Adaptations were needed to include the full range of reference groups due to narrow phrasing of primary questions, and some of the participatory methods were overly complicated. Feedback from experienced data collectors suggested that the social norms framework is not intuitive, is difficult to apply correctly, and may require that data collectors have a stronger foundation in the relevant concepts to produce valid and actionable results.

Although the SNET provides language for discussing normative factors and techniques to identify reference groups and social norms, modifications to the implementation process are recommended when adapting the tool for research.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly cited. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. When linking to this article, please use the following permanent link: https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-24-00058