10
Practical Ethnography Applying ethnographic principals to the digital space.

Practical ethnography

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Practical Ethnography Applying ethnographic principals to the digital space.

WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY? (10 things to know)• Ethnography is the descriptive study of people and cultures

• Ethnographic Research is...An approach not a specific method

• Ethnographic Research...Favors qualitative over quantitative - the ethnographer seeks to provide “thick” description

• Ethnographic Research is...Conducted in context, typically over an extended period of time, and holistic, seeking the wider picture

• Ethnographic Research is...Systematically (purposefully) conducted, but is responsive to emerging trends and themes (flexible).

• Ethnographic Research...Utilizes key informants who can act as guides and help provide access to the community (Also offer “reality checks”)

• Ethnographic Research...Seeks out the insider (emic) perspective and layers in outsider (etic) insights and interpretations

• Ethnographic Research is...Generative - done to discover new information, not to test existing hypotheses

• Ethnographic Research... Seeks to tease out the implicit, not typically stated, features of a group “Making the familiar strange and the strange familiar”

• Ethnographic Research...Is inclusive, typically including a participatory component

Ethnographic Research is

Systematically (purposefully) conducted, but is responsive to emerging trends and themes (flexible).

Ethnographic Research...Utilizes key informants who can act as guides and help provide access to the community(Also offer “reality checks”)

Ethnographic Research...Seeks out the insider perspective and layers in outsider (etic) insights and interpretations

Ethnographic Research is...Generative - done to discover new information, not to test existing hypotheses

Design for cultural bias & preference

Design Ethnography

Is a way “...to increase the success probability of a new product or service or, more appropriately, to reduce the probability of failure specifically due to a lack of understanding the basic behaviors and frameworks of consumers.”

Avoids an over-reliance on self-reported data (what they say is not always what they do)

Qualitative research, done in the context (environment) of the intended users, seeking to discover and understand their problems from their viewpoint, with the designer’s viewpoint used to ideate potential solutions.

-Raymond A. Monaco

To understand the pen, you must understand the paper.

Design Phase

• Roles switch, and the Researcher assists the Designer

• Key learnings are executed in the design

• Additional learnings, insights and value based understandings also get “Designed in” to the product/user experience.

• This is where innovation meets execution.

Value basis

Ethnographic research offers several key benefits for defining a long term, multi-channel UX strategy,

including:• Identifying user needs that have yet to be

met• Testing market demand for products that do

not exist• Providing a holistic view of a problem space

• Exposing opportunities for competitive differentiation

The principal advantage of ethnographic methods is the ability to see the impact of the physical world on

factors that could drive digital design. Ethnographic research is all about discovery of the unknown—disproving assumptions about user behavior and

uncovering unexpected insights. Whenever you’re in the field, something you see is going to surprise you, and those surprises are almost always at the root of

innovation.

Hypothesis formation

• – Ethnography provides an opportunity to find out what people actually say and do.

• – Ethnography takes place within a natural setting where relevant events and behaviors are occurring.

• – Ethnographic sampling includes contexts as well as people.

• – Ethnographic inquiry is participant-driven rather than researcher-

• – Ethnographic insights focus on discovery rather than validation.

• – The amount of time spent with an individual or group is dependent on the nature of the problem.

The UX Guru {Thank you}Twitter @raymondmonacoPortfolio www.raymondmonaco.comHire a UX Professinoal 702-858-4479