I need you to complete a 1,000-word report on an Australian social issue using the assignment instructions and empathy map template I provide.
Use the following direction unless the research strongly shows that a minor adjustment is necessary.
Core requirements
The final report must:
- Be approximately 1,000 words.
- Remain within the permitted range of 900–1,100 words.
- Use Australian English.
- Focus on a social issue in Australia.
- Include two clearly different customer personas.
- Apply empathy mapping and the customer profile section of the Value Proposition Canvas.
- Use credible and current research.
- Include APA 7 in-text citations and a complete reference list.
- Include completed empathy maps in the appendix.
- Acknowledge all generative AI use.
- Include the relevant AI prompts and outputs in an appendix.
- Be written as a compelling and evidence-based report rather than a general essay.
The title page, table of contents, reference list and appendices are not included in the word count.
Privacy requirement
Keep my identity anonymous.
Do not mention or attempt to identify:
- My employer.
- My university.
- My graduate program.
- My workplace team.
- Internal workplace projects or systems.
- Specific colleagues.
- My salary.
- My exact suburb or address.
- Any information that would make my workplace or place of study obvious.
You may use my background only in general terms when shaping the personas and analysis.
Selected Social Issue
Use:
Cost-of-living pressures in Australia
The report should focus specifically on how rising housing, food, transport, utilities and other essential expenses affect people’s ability to maintain financial stability and wellbeing.
Do not make the topic too broad.
The central problem should be framed around:
Increasing essential living costs are forcing financially vulnerable Australians to make trade-offs between housing, food, transport, health, education, savings and social participation.
The report should examine how the same issue affects two different customer segments in different ways.
Two Customer Segments
Use the following two customer segments.
Persona 1: Young renter and early-career worker
This persona should represent a young adult who:
- Is approximately 22–28 years old.
- Lives in a major Australian city.
- Works full-time in an entry-level or early-career role.
- Rents alone or shares accommodation.
- Has a regular income but limited disposable income.
- Faces high rent, groceries, transport and utility expenses.
- Is trying to progress professionally and build financial independence.
- Wants to save but finds that essential expenses consume most income.
- May also have education, training or professional development expenses.
- Appears financially stable from the outside but feels ongoing pressure.
This persona can be shaped using general aspects of my experience, but must not contain identifying information.
Do not name my employer, industry, university or exact role.
Persona 2: Low-income single parent
This persona should represent an adult who:
- Is approximately 30–45 years old.
- Has one or more dependent children.
- Relies on part-time, casual or lower-paid employment.
- May also receive government support.
- Faces high rental, childcare, food, transport, healthcare and education costs.
- Has limited flexibility to increase working hours.
- Regularly prioritises their children’s needs over their own.
- Is vulnerable to unexpected expenses.
- May experience food insecurity, financial stress or housing instability.
- Requires affordable, accessible and practical support.
The personas must be clearly different. Do not simply change their ages and give them identical problems.
Report Structure
Title Page
Include:
- A clear report title.
- The selected social issue.
- The student’s name and required submission details.
- One appropriate and professional image connected to cost-of-living pressures.
A suitable title is:
Living Under Pressure: Customer Profiles of Australians Experiencing Rising Living Costs
Use imagery legally and acknowledge the source where required.
Table of Contents
Include all headings and accurate page numbers.
Suggested headings:
- Introduction
- Customer Profile One: Young Renter and Early-Career Worker
- Customer Profile Two: Low-Income Single Parent
- Reference List
- Appendices
Introduction
Target: Approximately 400 words
The introduction must define the problem and provide broad Australian background.
It should not discuss the two personas in detail yet.
Required content
1. Define the issue
Explain what cost-of-living pressure means.
Discuss the relationship between household income and the cost of essential goods and services.
Make clear that the issue is not simply that prices are increasing. The problem is that many household incomes and available resources are not keeping pace with essential expenses.
2. Explain the Australian context
Research recent Australian evidence on:
- Inflation or consumer prices.
- Housing and rental costs.
- Food prices.
- Electricity and utility costs.
- Transport expenses.
- Household spending.
- Financial stress.
- Food insecurity.
- Differences between income groups.
- Differences between renters and homeowners.
Use the latest credible figures available.
Do not overload the introduction with statistics. Select evidence that clearly establishes the size and significance of the problem.
3. Explain why the issue is socially important
Discuss possible consequences such as:
- Reduced ability to afford essentials.
- Financial stress.
- Debt.
- Reduced savings.
- Housing insecurity.
- Food insecurity.
- Poorer physical and mental wellbeing.
- Reduced participation in education, work and community life.
- Widening social and economic inequality.
4. State the purpose of the report
Conclude the introduction by stating that the report develops two customer profiles to understand how cost-of-living pressures affect:
- A young renter and early-career worker.
- A low-income single parent.
Explain that empathy mapping and the Value Proposition Canvas are used to identify each customer’s jobs, pains and desired gains.
Suggested introduction structure
Paragraph 1
Define cost-of-living pressure and explain the broad Australian problem.
Paragraph 2
Present recent evidence regarding housing, food, utilities and household financial stress.
Paragraph 3
Explain the wider social consequences and why different groups experience the issue differently.
Paragraph 4
Introduce the two customer segments and explain the purpose and method of the report.
Customer Profiles
Total target: Approximately 600 words
Use approximately 300 words for each persona.
Each profile must contain:
- Customer persona.
- Customer jobs.
- Pains.
- Gains.
Support the profiles with research relevant to each specific segment.
Do not present the personas as entirely fictional stories. They are representative profiles constructed from Australian research.
Customer Profile One
Young Renter and Early-Career Worker
1. Customer Persona
Briefly introduce the persona.
Use a fictional name such as:
Daniel, aged 25, is a full-time early-career worker renting in a major Australian city.
The exact name can be changed.
Include only relevant details such as:
- Age.
- General location.
- Employment status.
- Housing arrangement.
- Financial priorities.
- Typical expenses.
- Career goals.
- Main concerns.
Do not include an employer, university, exact suburb or identifiable details.
The persona may:
- Earn a regular salary.
- Rent alone or with another person.
- Spend a large percentage of income on rent.
- Pay for groceries, transport, utilities, insurance and professional expenses.
- Try to save for emergencies, travel or a future home.
- Feel frustrated that full-time work does not produce a strong sense of financial progress.
- Reduce social activities or discretionary spending to manage expenses.
2. Customer Jobs
Customer jobs are the tasks, responsibilities or goals the person is trying to complete.
Include practical, emotional and social jobs.
Functional jobs
The persona is trying to:
- Pay rent and household bills on time.
- Afford healthy food.
- Travel to work.
- Maintain stable employment.
- Manage a personal budget.
- Save for emergencies.
- Build financial independence.
- Continue professional development.
- Avoid relying financially on family.
- Maintain health and fitness.
Emotional jobs
The persona wants to:
- Feel secure.
- Feel in control of finances.
- Avoid constant financial anxiety.
- Believe that working hard is producing progress.
- Feel optimistic about the future.
Social jobs
The persona wants to:
- Participate in social activities.
- Maintain relationships.
- Appear financially responsible.
- Avoid embarrassment about money.
- Maintain a lifestyle appropriate to a working adult.
3. Pains
Possible pains include:
- High and increasing rent.
- Difficulty finding affordable housing close to work.
- Rising grocery prices.
- Transport and fuel expenses.
- Utility bills.
- Limited savings after essential expenses.
- Unexpected expenses disrupting the budget.
- Pressure to reduce social activities.
- Difficulty saving for a housing deposit.
- Feeling financially stagnant despite working full-time.
- Fear of job loss or reduced income.
- Time pressure from balancing work and financial administration.
The analysis should explain which pains are most severe and why.
4. Gains
Possible gains include:
- Stable and affordable rent.
- Predictable household expenses.
- Ability to save consistently.
- An emergency fund.
- Affordable healthy food.
- Reduced financial stress.
- Access to budgeting support.
- Employer-provided transport, meals or wellbeing benefits.
- Confidence about long-term financial progress.
- Ability to maintain social relationships without overspending.
- Greater independence and control.
Explain that the persona is not necessarily seeking luxury. The main gains are stability, predictability and evidence of financial progress.
Customer Profile Two
Low-Income Single Parent
1. Customer Persona
Use a fictional name such as:
Sarah, aged 37, is a single parent with two school-aged children who works part-time.
The exact name can be changed.
Relevant details may include:
- Part-time or casual employment.
- Reliance on a combination of wages and government support.
- Renting in an outer suburban or regional area.
- Responsibility for children’s food, housing, transport, education and healthcare.
- Limited ability to increase working hours because of caring responsibilities.
- Little or no emergency savings.
- High exposure to unexpected costs.
Do not stereotype the persona or describe them as irresponsible.
The profile should show that their financial pressure results from structural costs, limited income and caring responsibilities.
2. Customer Jobs
Functional jobs
The persona is trying to:
- Keep secure housing.
- Provide sufficient food.
- Pay electricity and utility bills.
- Cover school expenses.
- Arrange affordable childcare.
- Travel to work and school.
- Manage healthcare costs.
- Maintain employment.
- Access government support.
- Respond to unexpected expenses.
- Protect children from the effects of financial hardship.
Emotional jobs
The persona wants to:
- Feel that their children are safe and supported.
- Avoid guilt about being unable to provide certain opportunities.
- Reduce anxiety about bills.
- Feel respected rather than judged.
- Maintain dignity and independence.
- Feel hopeful about family stability.
Social jobs
The persona wants to:
- Ensure their children can participate in school and community activities.
- Avoid social exclusion.
- Maintain positive relationships.
- Avoid being perceived as financially irresponsible.
- Provide a stable family environment.
3. Pains
Possible pains include:
- High rental costs.
- Fear of rent increases or eviction.
- Food insecurity.
- Expensive childcare.
- Limited ability to increase working hours.
- High energy bills.
- Transport costs.
- Medical and dental expenses.
- School uniforms, devices and activity costs.
- Difficulty accessing support.
- Complex government systems.
- Unexpected expenses creating immediate crises.
- Social judgement.
- Constant decision-making about which essential expense to delay.
- Personal sacrifice to protect children.
Research should support the claim that single-parent and low-income households experience greater financial pressure.
4. Gains
Possible gains include:
- Stable and affordable housing.
- Reliable access to nutritious food.
- Affordable childcare.
- Predictable income.
- Simple access to financial assistance.
- Reduced energy expenses.
- Affordable transport.
- Emergency financial support.
- Flexible employment.
- School support for children.
- Improved wellbeing.
- Confidence that children’s needs can be met.
- Less time spent navigating complex services.
- Greater dignity and independence.
Explain that the most valuable gains involve stability, accessibility and reduced risk rather than short-term discounts alone.
Empathy Maps
Complete one empathy map for each persona using the supplied template.
The template requires consideration of matters including the customer’s major preoccupations, what really counts to them, measures of success, public behaviour, environment, market offerings and what other people or influencers say.
Complete the following areas for each persona.
Thinking and Feeling
Identify:
- Main worries.
- Personal aspirations.
- Private fears.
- What matters most.
- How success would feel.
Seeing
Identify:
- What they observe in their environment.
- Increasing prices.
- Housing advertisements.
- Social media lifestyles.
- News about inflation.
- Friends or colleagues facing similar issues.
- Available services and support.
Hearing
Identify what they hear from:
- Friends.
- Family.
- Employers.
- Government.
- Media.
- Influencers.
- Schools or childcare providers.
- Service organisations.
Saying and Doing
Identify:
- What they publicly say about money.
- How they change spending.
- Whether they compare prices.
- Whether they avoid certain activities.
- Whether they ask for help.
- How their public behaviour may differ from their private concerns.
Pains
Identify the most significant barriers, fears and frustrations.
Gains
Identify the outcomes they value and their measures of success.
Do not fill the empathy maps with single generic words. Use concise but specific statements.
Place both completed empathy maps in the appendix.
Research Requirements
Use credible Australian research.
The final report should include approximately six to eight strong references.
Suitable sources include:
- Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- Australian Institute of Family Studies.
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
- Reserve Bank of Australia.
- Australian Council of Social Service.
- Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.
- Foodbank Australia.
- National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling.
- Productivity Commission.
- Australian Government departments.
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal articles.
- Recent university or research institute publications.
The introduction should use broad national evidence.
The customer profiles should use evidence specific to:
- Young adults.
- Renters.
- Early-career workers.
- Low-income households.
- Single-parent families.
- Food insecurity.
- Housing stress.
- Childcare and essential expenses.
Do not use overseas evidence when current Australian evidence is available.
Do not rely heavily on news articles. News sources may provide context, but the main evidence should come from government, academic or recognised social research organisations.
Source rules
- Prefer sources from the past one to three years.
- Older sources may be used only where they remain authoritative or represent the latest available data.
- Verify every statistic.
- Do not invent publication dates.
- Do not invent authors.
- Do not invent report titles.
- Do not include sources that cannot be accessed or verified.
- Every in-text citation must appear in the reference list.
- Every reference-list entry must be used in the report.
Presentation Requirements
The report should be visually clear and engaging.
Use:
- Clear headings.
- Consistent fonts.
- Page numbers.
- Appropriate spacing.
- A professional title page.
- Tables or small visual elements where useful.
- Consistent persona formatting.
- Appropriate imagery.
Do not make the document look like a poster or presentation.
The written analysis must remain the main component.
Avoid:
- Excessive colours.
- Decorative graphics with no analytical value.
- Large images that replace written content.
- Informal language.
- Long bullet lists in the main report.
- Dense paragraphs without headings.
The customer profiles may use small persona information boxes, but the analysis should still be written in paragraphs.
APA 7 Referencing
Use APA 7 for:
- In-text citations.
- Reports.
- Government webpages.
- Organisation webpages.
- Journal articles.
- Images where required.
- The Strategyzer Value Proposition Canvas source.
Paraphrase research rather than copying sentences.
A typical organisational citation may appear as:
Renters have experienced significant pressure from rising housing costs (Organisation Name, 2025).
The exact organisation and year must match the source.
Do not leave raw URLs inside the body of the report unless specifically required.
Generative AI Acknowledgement
AI is permitted, but all use must be acknowledged.
Include a separate appendix titled:
Appendix C: Generative AI Use
The appendix should include:
- The AI tool used.
- The date it was used.
- The purpose for which it was used.
- Every relevant prompt.
- The relevant output.
- A brief explanation of how the output was checked, changed or used.
Use wording similar to:
Generative AI was used to assist with brainstorming, report planning, persona development and identifying potential research areas. All factual claims were independently checked against credible Australian sources. The final report was reviewed, edited and referenced by the student.
Do not claim that AI was used only for proofreading if it was used for planning, persona creation or drafting.
Include this brief or the relevant original prompts and outputs if they materially contributed to the assignment.
The AI appendix is not included in the word count.
Recommended Appendix Structure
Appendix A: Empathy Map — Young Renter and Early-Career Worker
Insert the completed empathy map.
Appendix B: Empathy Map — Low-Income Single Parent
Insert the completed empathy map.
Appendix C: Generative AI Use
Include:
- AI acknowledgement.
- Prompts used.
- Relevant outputs.
- Explanation of verification and editing.
Add additional appendices only where necessary.
Final Quality Check
Before returning the completed assignment, confirm that:
- The report is between 900 and 1,100 words.
- The social issue is Australian cost-of-living pressure.
- The introduction is approximately 400 words.
- The customer profile section is approximately 600 words.
- Two clearly different personas are included.
- Each persona includes customer jobs, pains and gains.
- Each persona is supported by relevant Australian research.
- Two complete empathy maps are included.
- The empathy maps match the written profiles.
- The report uses the Value Proposition Canvas terminology correctly.
- APA 7 citations and references are consistent.
- Sources and statistics are real and verified.
- The title page and table of contents are included.
- The AI use is fully acknowledged.
- Relevant prompts and outputs are included in the appendix.
- My employer, university and identifiable personal information are not included.
- The report is written in natural Australian English.
- The document is compelling, clear and professionally presented.