The values and meanings we seek are relatively limited, including self-esteem, accomplishment, belonging, self-fulfillment, family, satisfaction and security. Different researchers have rarely come up with more than ten, as in Shalom Schwartz’s motivational types (see here) or Hugh Mackay’s ‘ten desires that drive us’ based on a lifetime of social research. When using the Laddering technique, the researcher ‘ladders up’ from physical features and characteristics of products to these higher level values, with the simple question, “Why is that important to you?” or variations of this. Through the repetition of directed questions, you can explore these links between Attributes, Consequences and Values: