Presented to:Séminaire international sur les méthodes d’enquêtes qualitatives

appliquées à la compréhension du consommateur

Faculté des sciences humaines et sociales – SorbonneParis, January 2007

The Use of Video Diaries in Ethnographic Consumer ResearchJournaux Vidéo d’Ethnographie réalisés avec des Consommateurs

Patricia L. Sunderland, Ph.D. and Rita M. Denny, Ph.D.

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What are Video Diaries?

• An extension of an ethnographic endeavor

• Respondent-created video products– Before or after another ethnographic encounter

• Stretching the time and place of our knowledge

• Making research a partnership

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What are Video Diaries?

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An Ethnographic Method

• A tradition in ethnographic film (Nanook of the North to Jean Rouch)

• Utilized by others in academic and applied realms, e.g., – Maria Pini with young women in UK, changing modes of femininity and

issues of social class, etc. (www.women.it/cyberarchive/files/pini)– VIA = Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment, diaries of asthma, cystic

fibrosis, overweight, diabetes, etc. Michael Rich, Richard Chalfen et al. (www.viaproject.org)

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An Ethnographic Method

Asthma – on the way to the hospitalwww.viaproject.org

Cystic Fibrosis – coughing bloodwww.viaproject.org

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A Contemporary Motif

• A method of power and promise, technology-enabled• Resonant with contemporary cultural practices

– YouTube– Video Blogs (vlogs)– Google video, etc.

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A Contemporary Motif

• Extension of the reality TV (ad, and everyday) world

L’Oréal adMay ‘05

Parisienne August ‘05

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Critical Possibilities

• Client concern: Are they performing? Is it ‘real’?

• Yes, performance and yes, it’s real– Performance a constitutive part of social life– Transmits/telegraphs cultural details– Frame of the performance itself informative– Infused with content and context of daily life

• Overall, like all data, a ‘text’ (or ‘sensa’) to be interpreted, not the ‘truth’

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For Example

• Investigating (the performance of) beer in the larger life of young men

Short Version Long Version

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Critical Possibilities

• Retains social worlds and relations

• Friends and family helping out (and hindering)– Joking, interacting– People (and products) do not exist in isolation

• Real life events (can’t help but) infuse diary-making

For instance,Dad et al.

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Critical Possibilities

• Video diaries provide micro-details

• Time and place extension to processes – Life in cars, cooking, cleaning, working, shopping, etc.

• Time and place extension to products– Existing products: What are the pluses, the minuses?– Trying out new products (purchased and placed)

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For Example

• For existing products and process

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Critical Possibilities

• One size does not fit all

• A word on ‘mistakes’– The blockbuster: Which movie should I watch?– Runner up: Am I waiting for water to boil or Godot?

• But, can be extremely good, when there is– Something new– Something to show, inherent action– Something to say

• About the category or brand• The brand/product relationship

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For Example

• Pickup trucks: inherent action in their use

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For Example

• Reflections on category and brand

Short Version Long Version

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In the End

• Respondent-created documentary…