Source: Kumeugirl
Genevieve Bell from Intel said, “It’s based on the idea that you can best absorb a culture by being there and doing it. An old professor of mine called it ‘deep hanging out.’” AQR defines ethnography as “Originating in anthropology, this term traditionally refers to a practice in which researchers spend long periods living within a culture in order to study it. The term has been adopted within qualitative market research to describe occasions where researchers spend time - hours, days or weeks - observing and/or interacting with participants in areas of their everyday lives.” Depending on where you are - ethnography is either the ‘in’ thing or the ‘old’ thing. ( Maybe once it’s in HBR it’s possibly not the new new things anymore). At its best - it leads to an understanding of people in context. At its worst it can lead to some surreal circumstances. Let me paint you a picture - you turn up at someone’s home in Jakarta which is now very very clean. There is a participant, some very well dressed family members keen to see what is happening. There is a camera person, a local researcher, a translator, an international researcher, and six people from interested parties (could be six Americans, Koreans, Japanese etc). Whatever it is - natural behaviours are not going to happen. There are a wide range of methods used under the name of ethnography- shadowing, diaries, lead user research, immersion, passive video camera recording, day in the life, intercepts, observation, user led documentation or video, sms interactions and blogs.
Genevieve Bell from Intel said, “It’s based on the idea that you can best absorb a culture by being there and doing it. An old professor of mine called it ‘deep hanging out.’” AQR defines ethnography as “Originating in anthropology, this term traditionally refers to a practice in which researchers spend long periods living within a culture in order to study it. The term has been adopted within qualitative market research to describe occasions where researchers spend time - hours, days or weeks - observing and/or interacting with participants in areas of their everyday lives.” Depending on where you are - ethnography is either the ‘in’ thing or the ‘old’ thing. ( Maybe once it’s in HBR it’s possibly not the new new things anymore). At its best - it leads to an understanding of people in context. At its worst it can lead to some surreal circumstances. Let me paint you a picture - you turn up at someone’s home in Jakarta which is now very very clean. There is a participant, some very well dressed family members keen to see what is happening. There is a camera person, a local researcher, a translator, an international researcher, and six people from interested parties (could be six Americans, Koreans, Japanese etc). Whatever it is - natural behaviours are not going to happen. There are a wide range of methods used under the name of ethnography- shadowing, diaries, lead user research, immersion, passive video camera recording, day in the life, intercepts, observation, user led documentation or video, sms interactions and blogs.
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