Ethnography

Problem finding and opportunity discovery.

The service
Ethnography is a complex method for studying people directly while they dwell in their daily contexts of activity. In the case of the ethnography we offer as a service, which is different from the academic method, it aims at identifying and structuring people’s latent needs, those needs that cannot be consciously expressed by individuals.

The reason to use such a method is because we know that it doesn’t make any sense to encourage idea generation and creativity using survey or focus-group findings, and hope that something new will happen. Traditional quantitative and qualitative market research techniques were not conceived to support innovation; they are better used for assessment and business monitoring. Ethnography, on the other hand, is able to produce actionable information to be used in creative thinking.

People to be involved and contexts to visit are defined in the opportunity space anticipated by the strategy. As soon as we identify people to be involved, we immerse ourselves in their contexts of activity and start observing (2) them. Here, we employ contextual tools and participatory observation. The aim is to produce a description that grasps the whole complex reality of the participants. The data produced will be the basis for a deep reflection (3), where insights are drawn from. These insights will be structured in an explanatory model (4) of needs. The model of needs becomes the most significant set of specific strategic opportunities that now becomes available to empower the creative capacity of the organization.

Wnen?
This service is for organizations that already know the strategic direction they want to follow and need actionable information to energize creativity. For organizations that need an in-depth knowledge about their customers, suppliers or employees. For organizations that need access to truly generative facts about their audiences.

If your organization finds itself in any of these situations, talk to us!

Phases
(2) Observation - data collection through a tailored mix of methods, depending on what you want to explore and know
(3) Reflection - assessment of observation data and insight extraction
(4) Explanation - developing a model of need

Possible deliverables
Identification of concrete opportunities for innovation.
Deep studies on the needs of different internal and external audiences.
Comparative studies between own offer and competitive offers.
Extensive analysis of customer journeys, product usage and key interaction moments (shadowing).
Behavioral mapping in space and time.
Relationship mapping, social networks.
Studies with photo diaries.
Material culture studies.