Ethnographic Research: When and How You Should Use It

Let’s take a closer look at ethnographic research and develop a deeper understanding of when and how you should use it in your marketing process.

What is Ethnographic Research?

Ethnography might be the oldest form of market research. Ethnographic research is a type of qualitative research that emerged from anthropology and emphasizes detailed observations of people in their natural environments. At its core, ethnography is the study of people as they move through their daily lives.

Ethnographic observation is often conducted with people at their homes since that’s where they spend the most time. But depending on the product or service and the research objectives, it can also be conducted in a location where they would be making a purchase (such as a store) or where they would be using a specific type of product (say, at a soccer field, if you’re doing research for a sporting goods company), or any other location they might naturally find themselves in.

What Are Common Ethnographic Research Methods?

When we determine ethnography is the most appropriate methodology for a research problem, we have a multitude of options to ensure we can discover the best insights to help answer our questions.

Ethnographic Interviews

Interviewing is the simplest method of doing ethnography. An ethnographic interview is similar to a standard, in-depth interview (a cornerstone of qualitative research) but with some added elements. In an ethnographic interview, the researcher interviews the participant in one of their everyday environments (say, their home or their office) to get a view into that environment. The interviewer might ask the participant to give them a tour of their house or workspace to show them how they use certain products, etc.

For instance, if we were conducting research for a breakfast bar brand, we might ask the participant to walk us through their wake-up routine, showing us where and how they do each task. Because of these added elements, ethnographic interviews are typically at least an hour long, but sometimes they can go up to 3 hours or more. At Campos, we conduct ethnographic interviews both in-person and virtually using video chat technology.

Ethnographic Observations

Observations are the bread and butter of ethnography. In this methodology, instead of directly engaging with the participant, the researcher observes the participant doing something in their natural environment—e.g., getting ready for school, selecting a health care plan in their office, or trying out a product for the first time. The ethnographer takes detailed notes on everything the participant does but tries to fade into the background to avoid influencing the participant’s actions.

Depending on the subject we’re observing, the observation might run anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. Observations are more challenging to conduct virtually, but it is possible with the right technology. Researchers can easily combine observations with interviews—for instance, you might conduct an observation that ends with a short discussion to ask questions about what was observed.

Variations on Observations

There are several unique subtypes of ethnographic observations that are worth mentioning:

• Shop-Alongs: This refers to any ethnography in which the researcher observes a participant as they shop and try to purchase something. Traditional shop-alongs are conducted in person—i.e., the researcher tags along with a participant at a grocery store, a mall, etc.—but “virtual shop-alongs” are increasingly common, with the researcher observing the participant as they browse and buy things online.

• Usage Testing (a.k.a. User Testing, User Experience/UX Testing): This is an ethnography in which the researcher primarily observes the participant using a product or service, whether in person or virtually. For instance, Campos has observed how consumers interact with a voice-assisted health assessment tool. The goal is usually to identify ways to improve the product or service, but it might also bear on marketing. (UX testing refers to observing how someone uses a virtual environment like an app, website, or software.)

• Simulated or Virtual Environment: When it’s difficult to observe people in an actual setting, sometimes the best alternative is to create a setting mimicking it. These spaces can be physical environments created in the real world—for instance, Campos has built artificial sets in our facility to replicate a grocery store and even a person’s bedroom. But it can also be a virtual environment that the participant explores on a computer (sometimes called “virtual ethnography”).

Diary Studies & Photovoice

In a diary study, participants are asked to record their thoughts, feelings, and experiences over a specific period, often a few weeks or months. This type of study is perfect for tracking changes in behavior or attitudes over time and identifying consumption patterns. Diaries don’t have to be limited to just the written word—often, Campos will ask participants to submit photos and videos of themselves or their experiences, a method known as “photovoice.” We typically supplement this open-ended qualitative info with quant survey questions the participant answers regularly.

When Should You Use Ethnographic Research?

Like most forms of qualitative research, ethnography is most applicable when the research goals are open-ended. Ethnographers generally are not trying to test hypotheses. They are observers and documentarians who present insights based on what is happening, not what could or should happen. So ethnography should be used when your research questions are big, broad, and exploratory.

Advantages of Ethnography

• Deeper, Richer Understanding: Ethnography reveals certain types of information that are very difficult, if not impossible, to gather through other research methodologies. Specifically, ethnographic methods capture consumers’ natural environments or lifestyles. While it may be possible to learn about these things by asking participants directly (e.g., in interviews or focus groups), often, people won’t mention these aspects of their lives because they simply take them for granted.

• Open-Ended: Because ethnography is generally open-ended, it can be done when you don’t have a clear idea of what you are trying to learn. One of its key advantages is ethnography’s unstructured and unguided nature, allowing completely unexpected insights to surface. One way of thinking about ethnography is that it helps you discover the “unknown unknowns”—the insights you didn’t even know you were missing.

• Avoids Biases: Ethnography also helps avoid many of the pitfalls and biases of other forms of research. For instance, in standard focus groups and interviews, the moderator may unintentionally bias respondents’ answers by asking questions in a certain way or displaying a reaction. In ethnography—especially in observations or diaries—the moderator is out of the way, allowing the participant to respond without being influenced.

Disadvantages of Ethnography

• Small Sample Size: The information gathered through ethnographies is anecdotal in nature—a disadvantage it shares with all types of qualitative research. To generate more confident findings, ethnography is often paired with quantitative research (e.g., surveys) to confirm the insights on a larger scale.

• Personal Privacy: By definition, ethnographic research gives researchers more of a first-hand glimpse into participants’ everyday lives and divulges more personal things. Because some might feel it’s too invasive, recruiting participants for ethnography can be a greater challenge requiring higher incentives. Ethnography may also require even more stringent data privacy protocols than usual.

• Time and Cost Effectiveness: While ethnographic research is more intensive, allowing us to go several layers deeper than standard focus groups or interviews—but for that same reason, it often takes more time and labor to complete, making it more expensive. (But not always!)

Examples of Ethnographic Research

Campos has conducted many ethnographic research projects over the years using the abovementioned methodologies. Here are a few recent examples:

• To help a large healthcare organization learn how best to develop solutions to improve the lives of people living with chronic illnesses, we conducted a combination of virtual in-home ethnographic interviews and diary studies with individuals who had various chronic health conditions.

• For Pittsburgh Regional Transit, we conducted ethnographic observations of bus and light rail train operators and riders on routes around the city to assess opportunities for improvement of the rider experience.

• We conducted in-home user testing to help a startup smart-mattress company improve its product offering and learn how to market it more effectively. Campos recruited participants, shipped a prototype mattress to their homes for a 4-week trial, and engaged them in in-depth ethnographic interviews and a diary study.

• For another startup sleep technology company, Ebb, we created a “sleep lab,” a simulated bedroom environment in our focus group facility. We brought potential customers in to test the company’s new technology and conducted home trials over extended periods.

• We’ve also created simulated environments, including most recently a virtual grocery store shelf for a packaged meats company to test how new branding and packaging would affect customers’ choices.

• In another project for a large healthcare organization, we used a combination of shop-alongs and user testing. We recruited customers to be observed as they shopped for over-the-counter products and tested out a new barcode-scanning app.

9-Step Process for Conducting Ethnographic Research

1. Specify your objectives. Like any type of research, the first step is identifying what you’re trying to learn. Your objectives should be as clear as possible—but not too specific. One of the benefits of ethnography is open-ended discovery and exploration.

2. Identify the target population. Determining who should be the focus of the research goes hand-in-hand with identifying your objectives. For instance, are you trying to learn from potential, current, or lapsed customers? Maybe you already know your target segments (if not, we can get you there with a segmentation study), but even so, do you want to conduct research with all of them or just a key segment?

3. Determine the best methodology. Even if you already know ethnography suits you, you still have to figure out what type of ethnography will work best for your research goals—interviews? At-home observations? Diaries? Campos’s strategists will work with you to understand what you’re trying to learn and then recommend the methodology that we think fits best based on our decades of experience.

4. Recruit participants. Often one of the most challenging steps is finding people (even a small number of them) who fit the specific target audience and are willing to participate. Campos’s recruitment experts pair innovative and traditional recruitment methods with creative engagement tactics to ensure our clients’ research goals are met using the best possible group of respondents.

5. Secure a Moderator. Having an excellent moderator is critical. Observing people and engaging with them in a specific environment is a unique challenge—it requires the ability to tease out the nuances of meaning while observing and picking up on non-verbal messages. A moderator must be an interpretation expert who can unpack messages and discern patterns. Moderators must now also be skilled at conducting qualitative ethnographic research virtually and overcome all the challenges that entails.

6. Construct the research instruments. This step can be done before, during, or after recruitment, but at some point, you’ll need to develop the exact research tools you’ll be using. This process includes a discussion guide for interviews, a note-taking guide for observations, diary questions or prompts for diary studies, any stimuli or simulated/virtual environments, etc.

7. Conduct the research. The fun part! Finally, you get to see all your hard work pay off and the study come to life. Get ready for more than a few surprises and insights to come your way.

8. Analyze the data. Ethnographic research typically produces a ton of data to sift through—video, transcripts, notes, diary responses, etc. Someone has to sift through all that information and sort out the signals from the noise. That’s where Campos’s strategists make a difference. Instead of a massive data dump, our strategists ensure you get a concise, insightful, and actionable deliverable.

9. Implement the findings. There’s no point in doing research that doesn’t get put to use! The final step is translating insights into action. Campos’s strategists make a point to identify clear action items based on every study and work with our clients to help them socialize the research effectively within their organizations.

Getting Started with Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research is a powerful tool, opening doors to deep insights into consumer behavior in natural settings. It reveals the unknown unknowns and unearths the answers to      broad, exploratory questions. If you’re ready to dive into the richness of consumer behavior, to discover new avenues and opportunities for your business, the Campos team is ready to guide you.

Interested in learning more about ethnographic research? Let’s talk.