Structured Mapping of Obstacles in Persona Development: A Critical Analysis of Scientific Literature (2020–2025)

• Adriano Baptista Caldeira

  University of Southern Santa Catarina

  Author

• Fábio José Rauen

  University of Southern Santa Catarina

  Author

This article presents a structured mapping of methodological and contextual obstacles in persona development based on a qualitative content analysis of peer-reviewed scientific literature published between 2020 and 2025. Using Bardin’s (2022) Content Analysis and the five-step model proposed by Jansen et al. (2022), this study critically identified and categorized the main obstacles reported in the literature at each stage of the persona creation process. Our analysis revealed four intersecting patterns: subjectivity and lack of methodological rigor; structural limitations related to time, cost, and resources; bias and exclusion of minority groups; and low organizational utility of the artifact. This study provides a critical, evidence-based diagnosis of the underlying causes of these obstacles and proposes a set of guidelines aimed at enhancing professional practice and advancing research on hybrid methodologies, bias mitigation, and the practical validation of personas.

• PDF

1. Adriano Baptista Caldeira, University of Southern Santa Catarina

   A Postdoctoral Researcher in Language Sciences, Caldeira holds a PhD in Information Science from Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal. His research focuses on personas, market segmentation, and pragmatics. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and lectures at universities in the United States.

2. Fábio José Rauen, University of Southern Santa Catarina

   Rauen holds a PhD in Linguistics from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, with postdoctoral research at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Rauen is Professor and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Language Sciences at the University of Southern Santa Catarina, Brazil, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Linguagem em (Dis)curso.