My MRIA presentation from February 24. What is ethnography? How is it best used in market research? What should research buyers expect?

1. Truth, Lies and
Ethnography
What to expect, how it’s done, and when you
should do it

2. εθνος ϒραφο

3. εθνος ϒραφο
ethnos grapho

4. εθνος ϒραφο
ethnos grapho
folk to write

5. Ethnography vs. focus
Paul Lazarsfeld
1901-1976
Bronislaw Malinowski
1884-1942

6. Ethnography vs. focus
Pioneer of
cultural
research
Founder of
applied
sociology
Paul Lazarsfeld
1901-1976
Bronislaw Malinowski
1884-1942

7. What is ethnography?

8. What is ethnography?
Understanding culture by
learning what’s
Understanding culture by important
looking
In at symbols
context
Understanding culture by
looking
at behaviour
Looking at
systems

9. Ethnography is...
• Immersive
• Focused on culture
- Values, beliefs and assumptions
- Behaviours and norms
- Symbols and (visual) language
• Holistic
• “Going native”
- Seeing it from participants’ point of view

10. When do you use
Sales
Optimizing
Surveys
Web analytics
Return to
ethnographic data
Focus Groups Marketing
Copy testing
Return to
ethnographic data
Personas
Focus Groups
Usability testing Prototype
Ethnography New Product Ethnography
Product
product design
reinvention
strategy
Time
New market Growth Maturity Decline
development
Product lifecycle

11. Who does ethnography?
Does ethnography Hires ethnographers
Client side research
managers ✓
Full-service
research companies ✓ ✓
Design agencies ✓ ✓

12. Why ethnography?
Understand what language
people use
Understand everyday life
and work
Understand what’s
important to them
Understand media and
technology use

13. Learn where
they are
and what it
feels like to be
there.

14. To get rid of your own
biases

15. What is a “good”
ethnographer?

17. Finds out what’s
important to
participants
Gets participants to
open up

19. Notices tools people have
and use

21. Decodes
rituals

22. What is a “good”
consumer
ethnographer?

24. Notices
media
Notices when
media channels
fail
Notices where
it’s used Sees how media are
changing

26. Notices tools Sees the system
shoppers use of tools shoppers
use

28. Notices
seasonality
Or
doesn’t

30. Sees details that are
relevant to study at
hand

31. Red herring critiques
Criticism Reply
We sample people,
Small sample size
places, and things
Seeks general
Can’t generalize principles, not
prediction
Underlying principles
Too general; not
cut across entire
tactical enough
brand

32. Deliverables
• Traditional
- Written reports
- Power Point presentations
• Design-based
- Personas
- Design concepts
• For brainstorming
- Value maps
- Process maps

33. Innovative Reporting
Techniques
It

34. Moderation v. Ethnography
Moderation Ethnography
Defines research Learns participants’
parameters parameters
Controls the context Observes the context
Guides participants Follows participants
Psychological and/or
Cultural theory
marketing theory

35. Costing and timelines
• Set aside 1 day per visit
• Recruiting always takes the longest
• Video adds to timelines and
budgets but alternatives exist
• Incentives are typically higher
• Save money on facilities; spend it on
expertise

36. Sam Ladner, PhD
sladner@copernicusconsulting.
net
http://copernicusconsulting.net
@_copernicus
@sladner