Ethnography is the descriptive study of people and cultures through qualitative research methods. It involves observing behaviors and interactions in their natural context over an extended period of time. Key aspects of ethnographic research include utilizing informants to gain access and insights, seeking the emic or insider perspective while also interpreting with an etic or outsider view, and allowing research to be responsive to emerging trends. The goal is generative discovery rather than testing hypotheses. When applied to design, ethnography can help reduce product failure by increasing understanding of user behaviors, uncover unmet needs, and provide opportunities for differentiation. It offers benefits for long-term user experience strategy by discovering the unexpected and disproving assumptions.

1. Practical Ethnography Applying ethnographic principals to the digital space.

2. WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY? (10 things to know)
• Ethnography is the descriptive study of people and cultures
• Ethnographic Research is...An approach not a specific method
• Ethnographic Research...Favors qualitative over quantitative - the ethnographer seeks to provide “thick” description
• Ethnographic Research is...Conducted in context, typically over an extended period of time, and holistic, seeking the wider picture
• Ethnographic Research is...Systematically (purposefully) conducted, but is responsive to emerging trends and themes (flexible).
• Ethnographic Research...Utilizes key informants who can act as guides and help provide access to the community (Also offer “reality
checks”)
• Ethnographic Research...Seeks out the insider (emic) perspective and layers in outsider (etic) insights and interpretations
• Ethnographic Research is...Generative - done to discover new information, not to test existing hypotheses
• Ethnographic Research... Seeks to tease out the implicit, not typically stated, features of a group “Making the familiar strange and the
strange familiar”
• Ethnographic Research...Is inclusive, typically including a participatory component

3. Ethnographic Research is
Systematically (purposefully) conducted, but is responsive to
emerging trends and themes (flexible).
Ethnographic Research...
Utilizes key informants who can act as guides and help provide
access to the community
(Also offer “reality checks”)
Ethnographic Research...
Seeks out the insider perspective and layers in outsider (etic)
insights and interpretations
Ethnographic Research is...Generative - done to discover new
information, not to test existing hypotheses

4. Design for cultural bias & preference

5. Design Ethnography
Is a way “...to increase the success probability of a new
product or service or, more appropriately, to reduce the
probability of failure specifically due to a lack of
understanding the basic behaviors and frameworks of
consumers.”
Avoids an over-reliance on self-reported data (what they
say is not always what they do)
Qualitative research, done in the context (environment) of
the intended users, seeking to discover and understand
their problems from their viewpoint, with the designer’s
viewpoint used to ideate potential solutions.

6. -Raymond A. Monaco
To understand the pen, you must understand the paper.

7. Design Phase
• Roles switch, and the Researcher assists
the Designer
• Key learnings are executed in the design
• Additional learnings, insights and value
based understandings also get “Designed in”
to the product/user experience.
• This is where innovation meets execution.

8. Value basis
Ethnographic research offers several key benefits for defining a
long term, multi-channel UX strategy, including:
• Identifying user needs that have yet to be met
• Testing market demand for products that do not exist
• Providing a holistic view of a problem space
• Exposing opportunities for competitive differentiation
The principal advantage of ethnographic methods is the ability
to see the impact of the physical world on factors that could
drive digital design. Ethnographic research is all about
discovery of the unknown—disproving assumptions about user
behavior and uncovering unexpected insights. Whenever
you’re in the field, something you see is going to surprise you,
and those surprises are almost always at the root of innovation.

9. Hypothesis formation
• – Ethnography provides an opportunity to find out
what people actually say and do.
• – Ethnography takes place within a natural setting
where relevant events and behaviors are
occurring.
• – Ethnographic sampling includes contexts as well
as people.
• – Ethnographic inquiry is participant-driven rather
than researcher-
• – Ethnographic insights focus on discovery rather
than validation.
• – The amount of time spent with an individual or
group is dependent on the nature of the problem.

10. The UX Guru {Thank you}
Twitter @raymondmonaco
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