This workshops outlines approaches and tools for successful embedded industry research. Based in ethnography, it explores the do's and don't's of workmen with industry partners.

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The University of Sydney
Hanging Out or
Becoming
Native?
Embedded
industry
research and its
contexts
Dr Jonathon Hutchinson
jonathon.hutchinson@sydney.edu.au
@dhutchman

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The University of Sydney
– Senior Lecturer of Online Communication and Media,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of
Sydney
– PhD at ABC, embedded as an ethnographer (long term)
– Conducted ethnography with several Sydney based
digital agencies (mid term)
– Ethnography of several digital agencies around the
world including LA, London, Berlin, Munich, Estonia,
Montreal (Short term)
– What have I learned during that time? My research
generally isn’t as exciting to my participants as it is to
Who am I?

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Spend two
minutes now and
write some
detailed
observations of

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How might your ‘understanding’ of this
space differ if I asked you to write down
those same observations but asked you to
answer the question:
‘How could you define the relationships
between people within this workshop
space?’

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It comes down to thinking about how there are always
multiple perspectives to your research and how best to
position your work so others can benefit from your
engagement, observations and analysis

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Ethnography > Data > Translation

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The University of Sydney
– Field notes - how to write them/data collection
– Embeddedness - access
– Grounded Theory - analysis/iterative design
– supported with Additional qual methods -
Interviews, focus groups, etc
– Reflexivity - your role as the researcher/how you
effect the data
Ethnography – participant observation as a key to
embedded industry research:

8. The University of Sydney
Post-COVID World: Digital Ethnography
Now more than ever, the use of digital technologies
as research intermediaries are commonplace
‘digital ethnography practice that takes as its starting
point the idea that digital media and technologies are
part of the everyday and more spectacular worlds that
people inhabit’ (Pink, 2016, p.162)
“I don’t have time” arguments probably don’t exist
with digital ethnography

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Ethnography
collection of methods
participant observation
The length of time you spend
within your research field can
determine the depth of your
data
Iterations of
data/findings/knowledge are
crucial

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The University of Sydney
Stories from the field: Gleam Futures, LA &
London
What do you look for in Influencers?
“We want to know what they are beyond their online person. What is their
personal interest?” This is to build the authenticity angle, to understand that
they are attempting to look beyond landing the big contract – where do they
want to be in 5 or 10 years? What are their career goals? Who are they when
they are not behind the camera?
Participant A mentioned that often it is a snowballing effect. While they are
always on the look out for up and coming talent, they rely on word of mouth.
“Zoe (Zoella) mentioned to us that she was really into this one guy and that we
should check him out”. So the word of mouth capital works well here.
They look for interesting content – they started in the beauty video world, but
have extended to more spaces such as mummy blogging and family insights.

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Field notes…
“memo writing: at first a
proportion of them may be
operational (what data to
collect, where to go to do
this), or reminder notes
(don’t forget to…, or don’t
forget this point), or
scattered ‘bright ideas’ …
or just thinking aloud on
paper for purposes of
stimulation in order to see
where that thinking will
lead”
(Strauss 1987: 109)
1. Data is inseparable from the
observational process.
2. The field researcher should
give special attention to the
indigenous meanings of the
people.
3. Fieldnotes are for a broader
write up of a more coherent
account of people’s lives.
4. The fieldnotes should detail
social and interactive
processes of the subjects
(Emerson et al. 1995)

12. The University of Sydney
Grounded Theory
1. Research problem and opening
research [include sensitising concepts
and general disciplinary perspectives]
2. Initial coding and data collection
3. Initial memos raising codes to tentative
categories
4. Data collection Focused coding
5. Advanced memos refining conceptual
categories
6. Theoretical sampling seeking specific
new data
7. Writing the first draft
[Charmaz, 2006]

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Important Industry Partner Point!!!
This first analysis is the gold that they are interested
in…

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The University of Sydney
Stories from the field: Australian Broadcaster
Week 2, Participant X Lunchroom:
“It’s great. Everyone gets along and we have fun
Thursday lunch sessions. I think it’s a really productive
environment and we all love coming to work.”
Week 13, Participant Y Lunchroom:
“Management suck and they just want a pound of flesh
from us every single day. I think the’re a bunch of d*cks
and I can’t wait to either retire or leave when they give
me a redundancy.”

15. The University of Sydney
Identify the problems > integrate with the data

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The University of Sydney
Ethnographic Action Research
– ‘The ethnographic action research
approach for the research and
development of ICT projects is based
on combining two research
approaches: ethnography and action
research. Ethnography is a research
approach that has traditionally been
used to understand different cultures.
Action research is used to bring
about new activities through new
understandings of situations. We use
ethnography to guide the research
process and we use action research to
link the research back to the project’s
plans and activities’ (Tacchi, Slater &
Hearn, 2003, p.1)
– This is a unique
opportunity to contribute to
the industry you are
researching:
– What are their problems?
– How can help solve their
problems?
– What is the value-add from
your research?

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The University of Sydney
Ethnographic Action Research
– What are some examples
of activities that you have
done in the past with your
industry partner that
resembles action
research?
– What are some
contributions or activities
you could have done in
the past that follow the
lines of ethnographic
research?

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Extending ethnography beyond the ‘you-ness’

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Other Qualitative Methods
Beyond Participant observation, include:
• Focus groups
• surveys
• semi-structured interviews
This is an opportunity to integrate your grounded
observations to strengthen the research but to also
feed findings back to your participants

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Reflexivity
“reflexivity is a pervasive ineluctable feature of all accounts; it is not
something to be remedied; it is not a special problem of anthropology
at home” (Watson 1987: 30).
The truth is never an absolute, and reflexivity enables the researcher
to reject “nostalgic ideas of discovery” for “partial truths that help to
more faithfully represent the real world” (Madden 2010: 22).
Reflexivity, then, is a way of “managing the influence of ‘me’ on the
research and the representation of ‘them’” (Madden 2010: 23).

21. The University of Sydney
So then, what could our research toolbox
look like?

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What’s your offer/what’s your pitch?
You will seek out data that answers your
questions, but what’s in it for them?

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Access
The longer we have access, the better
(richer) the data we are going to extract

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Research Questions
Ours are important, but the industry partner
questions probably are, too

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The University of Sydney
Ensure you know names of people
Sounds obvious, but it makes a significant
difference

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The University of Sydney
Follow the actors
From a reflexivity perspective, avoids
“nostalgic ideas of discovery”

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Action Research
Greenwood and Levin (2007) note “[a]ction research is social research
carried out by … a professional action researcher and the members of
an organization, community, or network (“stakeholders”) who are
seeking to improve the participants’ situation” (p: 3).
“Action research means integrating your
research into the development of your
project”
(Tacchi et al. 2003: 12).

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You will never get the ‘real’
data first off. You need to
develop a relationship with
the actors.

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Break time…

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Who has done embedded industry research?
Who has done industry research?

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Break into small groups
Think through these three items:
1. How can your research questions be of interest for
your industry partner?
2. If you discover ‘problems’, how do you discuss with
your industry partner?
3. What might be good ‘findings’ for them?

32. The University of Sydney
Hanging Out or
Becoming
Native?
Embedded
industry
research and its
contexts
Dr Jonathon Hutchinson
jonathon.hutchinson@sydney.edu.au
@dhutchman