from Living By the Book, Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks.
An Application on Applying the Six Keys to Observation - Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How.
Geography
- Where is the culture, geographically?
- What is the land and climate like, and how does it affect them?
- How do people travel across their land?
- How long do families stay in one place?
- What land has been inherited for generations?
- Who have been displaced?
- What locations feature prominently in the culture's history?
- Where have the wars been fought?
- Where are celebrations held?
- What monuments and memorials are there?
- What geographical assets are there?
Power
- Where are the centers of power?
- Who's in charge?
- How do they get that way?
- How does it change?
- How effective are they?
- Who makes decisions locally vs regionally?
- Who exerts influence even though they're not in power?
Communication
- What are the means of communication?
- How is it distributed?
- Who controls the media?
- Why do they control, it and not someone else?
- How is credibility determined?
Economics
- What place does money have in a culture's values? Why?
- How do people earn a living?
- With whom does a society trade?
- What resources do they have, and what do they lack?
- How much of society has access to water, electricity, telecom, and the internet?
- Is there upward mobility?
- What tech do they have?
- How many are poor, and how does that influence the culture?
Ethnicity
- What people groups make up the culture, and where do they come from?
- What history, traditions, and values do they bring?
- How is society organized -- who is at the top?
- What racial barriers affect everyday life?
Gender Roles
- What do men vs women do, and what tensions accompany that? Why?
Family
- What value does the culture place on family?
- How are families structured?
- Who are the key families? Where do they live? What are their histories?
- How do they maintain influence? How do they pass down power to the next generation?
- How are the young educated and socialized?
- What do children represent?
- Who represents children?
- What are they taught?
- Who does the teaching?
- How long does adolescence last?
- How does one become an adult?
- What happens to the elderly?
Religion
- What are the dominant religions?
- Where did they come from?
- What is their current condition?
- Which groups are growing fastest, and why?
- What philosophical assumptions do people operate from?
- What outlook do they have about world and life?
- What exposure to the gospel has it had, and what was the response?
Arts
- What art is the society producing? What place in society does the artist have?
- What is art saying about the society? About the world?
History
- What legends and myths are passed down? Why?
- What stories are told? Why?
- What stories are not told? Why not?
- Who writes history?
- How do people measure time?
