Ethnographic research can be tricky because you never know what to expect. You should do your best to prepare but remain open to change, and be flexible with your approach. My tips for success focus heavily on planning yet I’ve come to realize that there are always surprises, adaptability is crucial and sometimes the best stories come from the unexpected. This presentation will discuss ethnographic research and how it is done in industry. Attendees will receive useful tips on conducting ethnography and the preparation and planning required, such as communicating scope with the stakeholders, and setting expectations with the team and the recruiter. Despite careful planning, surprises will occur. Multiple examples of surprises on site will be shared to illustrate best practices. We will discuss how you can learn to recognize the unusual for the unmet needs that they are and conclude with the power of impactful storytelling to share results.

1. Best Practices for Ethnographic Research
Lessons Learned in the Wild
UXPA 2019
Christy Harper
End to End User Research

2. @christyy41
What is it?
Why do we do it?
How do we do it?
How to handle surprises.
Other tips on site.
Analysis and Presenting.
UXPA 2019
Intro and Agenda
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Defining Ethnography
Ethnographic research is observing someone in
their natural environment to understand
motivations, attitudes and behaviors.
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Ethnography vs. Contextual Inquiry
Are they looking for ethnography, contextual inquiry, interviews?
Ethnography-observing someone in their natural environment to
understand motivations, attitudes and behaviors.
Contextual inquiry-a semi-structured interview method to obtain
information about the context of use, where users are asked a set of
standard questions and then observed as they interact in their own
environments.
Consumer’s
natural
environment
(home, office,
retail, etc.)
To get a more realistic
understanding of
attitudes, behaviors,
motivations and
needs.
Analysis of
data
collected
Interacting
with the
consumer
What is Ethnography?
Also called: observational
research, fieldwork,
immersion, in-home,
anthropological research.
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The Name Doesn’t Matter
What does matter?
● You observe behavior in a natural setting
● You understand culture and context
● You learn about your participants
● You observe the environment, tools
● You understand the procedures and task flow through direct observation
● You learn the gaps in the process
● You learn about challenges or unmet needs
● You witness frustrations and delights first hand
● You understand the motivations behind behavior
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Why Ethnography?
Getting stakeholders on board
● Big data vs thick data
● Going deep vs going broad
● Why not surveys?
● How is this different from interviews?
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Tricia Wang
https://medium.com/ethnography-matters/why-big-data-needs-thick-data-b4b3e75e3d7

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Why Ethnography?
● Why do we do this type of research?
○ To design effective experiences we need to know specifically who we’re
building for and what they do.
○ We do site visits, observations and interviews to see real people, in real
settings, doing real work/activities, because understanding the audience is
essential
○ We do a deep dive to capture the behaviors as well as the motivations behind
the behaviors
○ We look for the anomalies, the work arounds and the surprises
○ We find the unexpected
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8. It’s all in the planning

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Planning Ahead
● Manage stakeholder expectations.
● Know what you are hoping to learn (general to specific).
● Document assumptions.
● Try to clearly spell out what you expect to happen (and why) to your main contact.
● There is a lack of understanding of what ethnography is so help frame it for them.
● Provide a sample email for the contact person to use to explain to others what is expected.
● If you are looking at a business and procedural documents exist, obtain them in advance if possible.
● Create a basic task flow from your main contact if you can.
● Allow for ample time between visits
● Don’t forget about rapport and courtesy
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Assigning Roles
Everyone has a job
• Videographer
• Photographer
• Note taker
• Facilitator
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Sometimes you are everyone.

11. Tips for Researchers

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Surprises: Barriers on Site
Be prepared but be flexible
● So glad you’re here, we brought the whole team to the conference room for the ethnography.
● We know you need 1-1 time, I will bring the participants to the conference room one at a time.
● Jim, the manager will show you what the workers are supposed to do.
● Lisa will show you her job during her 15 minute break.
● Kathy keeps explaining her job but won’t do it.
● You arrive for a family visit to find only one or two family members available.
● The original procedure you were given does not at all match what you are seeing.
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Tips for Researchers
● If you obtained a process document or someone described a task flow you have a good start
○ Try to build on their description and fill it in
○ Look for discrepancies in the expected flow
○ Notice what was left out
Receiving
Incoming shipments
must be scanned for
inventory
Storing
Inventory must be
stored in a specific
location
Picking
Inventory must be
picked for shipment
after a sale
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Tips for Researchers
● Look for the exceptions,
● Visit the most senior and least senior person
● Look at the novice and the expert.
● Recruiting on the fringe.
https://uxmag.com/articles/making-the-most-of-ethnographic-research
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Tips for Researchers
Start with the pretty but push on for the gritty.
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Tips for Researchers
● Sometimes people clean up for you
● Listen to what they say but look for what is put away
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17. Analysis and Reporting

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Analyzing
● Immediate debrief
○ You think you will remember it all but you won’t
○ Discuss the best quotes, pictures and mark them
● Divide and conquer
○ Transcripts, notes, images, video, brainstorm results
○ Then come together and dive in
● Look for themes then choose relevant materials to support them.
● Focus, beware of the agony of omitting
● Explore SW options for help with analysis
● Explore more formal methods (RADaR data reduction method)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1609406917712131
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Reporting
● Make clever use of visuals
● Pictures are important to show context
● Video can be powerful
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Credit: Gladys Rosa Mendoza, Big Design Dallas, Visual Storytelling

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Reporting
● Did you answer your primary questions?
● Know your audience
● Share surprises
● Explain workarounds and their causes
● Tell a story
● Share enough details to bring them along on the journey
● Pull them to the same understanding of the conflict
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Reporting
• The story is unfinished
• You’ve introduced the end users
• You’ve provided details and they understand the
conflict
• Now together you will begin to write the ending
• Villain, victim, hero. Your team is the hero
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22. Contact
Everyone’s email, LI/Twitter etc.
Resources
Articles
Rapid and Rigorous Qualitative Data Analysis: The “RADaR” Technique for Applied Research-https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1609406917712131
Why Big Data needs Thick Data-https://medium.com/ethnography-matters/why-big-data-needs-thick-data-b4b3e75e3d7
Best Practices for Ethnographic Research-https://uxdesign.cc/best-practices-for-ethnographic- research-lessons-learned-in-the-wild-ceb5bfc3bf
Making the Most of Ethnographic Research-https://uxmag.com/articles/making-the-most-of-ethnographic-research
5 things I learned about strategic storytelling from Michael Margolis-https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/design-storytelling/
Ted talks
Ethnography: Ellen Isaacs at TEDxBroadway - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=93&v=nV0jY5VgymI
Tricia Wang - The Human Insights Missing from Big Data - https://www.ted.com/talks/tricia_wang_the_human_insights_missing_from_big_data?language=en
Case Studies
https://www.endtoenduserresearch.com/ethnographic-research.html
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Prepare for the Future
● Explore smart home early adoption
● Understand how people are using these new technologies
● Look for unmet needs
● 12 total in-home interviews
● All participants had smart devices
● Major concerns were setup, energy use, security, privacy of information with a voice assistant, interoperability, adding
more devices and falling short of truly being useful.
● Delights were easy shopping, quality speakers, fun with the new “family member”, control from outside of the home.
● Understanding of unmet needs leads to a new product or new strategic direction.
● Insight leads to a patented idea.
● Understanding stops the current product idea and inspires a pivot.
Project:
Method:
Research
Findings:
Results:
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Questions?

25. Contact
Christy@e2eUserResearch.com
@Christyy41
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyharper1
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https://www.endtoenduserresearch.com

26. Thank You
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