By Simon Pulman-Jones, GfK NOP
Ethnography may differ from what is traditionally regarded as ‘normal’ ressearch, but it is far from the dark art that it is sometimes perceived as. Indeed, it’s high time to dispel some of the myths that have sprung up around ethnography so that organisations can understand its true nature.
The first myth to dispel is that ethnography is not a method; it is a research approach that uses a wide selection of methods:
– Secondary and semiotic analyses: understanding the systems behind all the things that you “˜just know’.
– Informal observation: used as a “˜first pass’ research tool, to generate questions, focus issues or confirm choice of venue or target audience.
– Formal observation: expert researchers in the natural, day-to-day setting, observing what people do, how they interact, the kinds of things they use, etc.
– Interviews: in-context, narrative interviews, which try to elicit the participant’s view of the world.
– Self-documentation: where the participant is given the tools and structure, and then records their own critical and open-ended self-reporting, logging the things that they see as most important to the question, rather than being led in any way.
– Groups & events
It does not aim to study people, but instead uses the techniques above to observe people in order to examine every day experiences, situations, environments, activities, relations, interactions and processes in very rich detail.
Despite often being perceived as a bit of a black art, ethnography is rooted in the disciplined treatment of data. By far the most important part of “˜doing ethnography’ is the rigorous analysis of all the data gathered and interpretation of key data patterns. The participants are experts on their own experiences and the ethnographers are experts at translating those experiences into a descriptive and analytic account that clarifies business issues and reveals the cultural basis for consumer experiences. The goal is to produce a consistent body of data that can have utility beyond the study’s original scope.
WHY USE ETHNOGRAPHY?
The commercial benefits of using ethnography are that it provides:
– A clear understanding of any given experience from your customers’ point of view and entirely true-to-life.
– A remarkable richness of data.
– Highly actionable information with long shelf life.
The unique value of ethnography is that it reveals not just what people say or how they think, but also provides a clear understanding of how experiences work, so that businesses can see what actions they need to take to support, improve and change those experiences.