What is ethnography and how does it aid customer understanding?

Simon does a wonderful job here describing the value of ethnography, getting past the typical arguments re: depth of understanding (where most explanations stop) to explain the enduring business value of the models of human experience that can result.
But perhaps the most significant advantage of high-calibre ethnographic work is derived not from its academic legacy, but more directly from its recent history as a business tool. Most of the pioneers of applied ethnography developed approaches that were tailored to innovation, decision-making and production processes. In practice, the focus on building models is what realises an ethnographic programme’s value to a business. A model can be applied to issues that weren’t part of the original research brief, and it can be updated and extended long after the original research programme has ended.
Full article: MyCustomer.com

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