However, short ethnographic studies can be very useful for user-centred projects. For example: in order to understand the way in which a Merchant Bank trades and operates, a usability consultant might conduct an ethnographic study by working and socialising with its employees for a month. Individual methods which are available within an ethnographic study include: participant observation, interviews and surveys.
All of these ethnographic methods can be very valuable in gaining a deeper understanding of a design problem. Usability practitioners often make use of these in order to develop their understanding of the relevant domain, audience s , processes, goals and context s of use.
Ethnography is most useful in the early stages of a user-centred design project. This is because ethnography focuses on developing an understanding of the design problem. Therefore, it makes more sense to conduct ethnographic studies at the beginning of a project in order to support future design decisions which will happen later in the user-centred design process.
Ethnographic methods such as participant observation could also be used to evaluate an existing design — but their true value comes from developing an early understanding of the relevant domain, audience s , processes, goals and context s of use.
Equally, highly critical systems where failure or error can lead to disaster could also justify significant ethnographic research. For example: An insurance company wanted to re-design their system dealing with the processing of insurance claims. This system had evolved over many years and actually represented a patchwork of previous systems. In this example, ethnographic research should probably be considered.
In addition, there can be the issue of biased research outcomes. As a result of the relationship between the researcher and the group, the ethnographer may become less objective and this can lead to experimental bias which affects the research outcomes.
An ethnographic interview is a qualitative research method that merges immersive observation with one-on-one discussions in order to arrive at the most authentic research outcomes. In this research design, the ethnographer converses with members of the research group as they engage in different activities related to the research context. During this contextual inquiry, the researcher gathers relevant data related to the goals and behaviors of the members of the research group.
As the ethnographer observes the research subject in its natural environment, he or she has the opportunity to ask questions that reveal more information about the research group. An ethnographic interview is usually informal and spontaneous, and it typically stems from the relationship between the researcher and the subjects. The ethnographic interview often results from the participant observation method where the ethnographer actively engages with the members of the research group in order to find out more about their lives.
As a two-way research method, an ethnographic interview allows the researcher to gather the most relevant and authentic information from the research group.
However, it can also be affected by experimental bias as a result of the relationship between the ethnographer and the subjects. An ethnography survey is an inductive research method that is used to gather information about the research subject. This research design is also referred to as analytic induction and it involves outlining hypotheses in the form of survey questions and administering these questions in the research environment. Administering a survey will help the ethnographer gather relevant data, analyze this data and arrive at objective findings.
The aim of carrying out an analytic induction is to discover the causative factors of certain habits of the research group and come up with accurate explanations for these behaviors. In order to gather the most relevant responses using this, it is best to include different question types in your survey.
Likert scale questions , open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions , and close-ended questions are common types of ethnography survey questions. To make your ethnography survey even more effective, you can create and administer it online using data-collection tools like Formplus. Formplus allows you to build your ethnography survey form in minutes using the Formplus builder and you can easily share your survey with respondents via available multiple sharing options.
High survey drop-out rates and survey response bias are some of the major limitations of this research method. However, this method is fast and cost-effective especially when carried out online and if done right, it can reveal useful insights about a research group.
Archival research is a qualitative approach to ethnographic research in which the researcher analyzes existing research, documents and other sources of information about the research group in order to discover relevant information. This method can also be referred to as understanding.
Archival research adopts ethnography to a collection of related documents from the past which substitute for actual physical presence in the research environment. It pays absolute attention to every piece of information about the research variables.
As a method of data collection in ethnography, archival research reduces the chances of experimental biases since the researcher does not directly interact with the subjects. Also, it allows the ethnographer to have access to a large repository of research data that results in more accurate findings. However, because archival research is often subject to randomization, its findings may not accurately reflect the research group.
Also, archival data is not full-proof as there may be biases when the data is recorded and this will affect the research outcomes. Ethnographic research should be used in the early stages of user-focused systematic investigations. This is because ethnography research helps you to gather useful information about the dispositions, goals, and habits of the research variables in specific contexts.
Ethnography research is most suitable for complex research processes especially in markets and customer settings.
In market research, ethnography allows organizations to gain insights into consumer habits and receive first-hand feedback on the extent to which their product or service meets the needs of target markets.
This research design is also useful for examining social behaviors and interactions. It is extremely beneficial in the study employees' disposition to organizational work culture and policies. While ethnographic research helps businesses bridge product gaps and improve consumers' experience, there are certain situations where this research design is counter-productive.
Ethnographic research should not be used in processes that require statistically valid analysis, test-runs or group comparisons. Formplus is a data-gathering tool that allows you to create and administer online surveys for ethnography research easily while saving time and cost, and improving your research sample size. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to conduct ethnographic research with online surveys using Formplus:.
In the Formplus builder, you can easily create your ethnography survey form by dragging and dropping preferred fields into your form. To access the Formplus builder, you will need to create an account on Formplus.
Once you do this, sign in to your account and click on "Create Form " to begin. Formplus allows you to add unique features to your ethnographic survey form. You can personalize your form using various customization options in the builder. Here, you can add background images, your organization's logo, and other features. You can also change the display theme of your form.
Unlike other research methods, ethnographic research tends to be sporadic and extends for a long period of time. And although respondents can stop participating in the research process at any time, there are still a few risks they are likely to encounter during this research. During uncomfortable topics, respondents may feel psychological triggers like guilt, fear, sadness, etc This can cause them to lose interest in the research or pull out from participating. Without any prior discussion, each group member should take a moment to individually write down what it is he or she sees.
After a few minutes, compare notes. What do you find? Did everyone see the same thing? What color was the apple? Are there specific colors given to the apple? What about the type of apple on the table, did anyone acknowledge if there was a difference between a golden delicious and a Macintosh?
What about the size of the apple? Did anyone include size as a characteristic of the apple? What is ethnography? Studying our users in real-life scenarios uncovers issues that even the best-designed laboratory experiments can not present, which gives us a huge advantage. Ethnographic research is diverse, just as its major focus: culture.
It has lots of names: field research , site visits, contextual inquiry, to mention a few. Now, all that above sounds very interesting, but how do we apply it in product design?
In the following, let me tell you about the tips and tricks I heard from David Travis. Ethnography in the field of anthropology means that the researcher spends weeks, months, even years with the studied group. Things are going much faster in our processes: researchers spend a maximum of an hour with the users. In order to work out how you should change your product in terms of design, you need the kind of insights that you get from qualitative research. We at UX studio believe that the best way of doing user research is to use a mixed-methods approach qualitative and quantitative methods at the same time.
However, we all know about the power of numbers. When it comes to user research, we often tend to trust reports with more numbers: bigger sample, more user tests; something we can easily measure.
Usually, greater numbers comfort us. We tend to think that the study which involves 1. But let me tell you why this assumption is wrong. When it comes to research, data gathered from quantitative methods is very good at telling us what is happening in an interaction of our product and our users.
To avoid this situation and to test both the whats and whys , we use a mixed-method approach.
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