Ethnography

What is ethnographic research?

Ethnography helps you get a deeper, more intimate understanding of people, and positions their behaviours within social and cultural norms.

Rooted in anthropology, it is an observational practice in which ethnographers spend an extended period in a person’s life, accompanying them and following their schedule for the day.

Not only does ethnography look at specific behaviour, it also explores the context of that behaviour. It examines people’s relationships with others, their environment, their emotions, and their culture – all of which create engrained attitudes that greatly influence how they think and behave.

Ethnography examines what people do alongside what they say. Together, this paints a holistic picture of people’s lives. Using trained ethnographers in the field is key to the methodology – for empathy, to direct the flow of the interaction, and to capture the most pertinent data needed for the research. Video is used to document fieldwork, for analysis and to bring findings to life in a report.

In the world of market research, there are many different ways of conducting ethnographic research, but when we talk about ethnography, we mean:

Behaviour

Going beyond what people say, ethnography allows for the observation of in-situ behaviours that are often habitual or routine. This is important because people are often unable to articulate things that they do instinctively.

Empathy

Empathy allows researchers to truly understand how a participant experiences the world: it allows the researcher to ‘walk a mile in their shoes’. A good ethnographic researcher can build rapport with a participant and make them feel comfortable opening up.

Observational

Ethnographic researchers are specially trained to closely observe participants’ behaviours, nuances in their relationships, and their wider environment.

Participant led

Ethnographic interviews are based around the participant’s daily routine. They lead the conversation, with the ethnographer asking questions where and when it is appropriate