Applied Ethnography

(In Dutch)

For years and years consumer research has been carried out but more and more business is seeking for new consumer insights that traditional market research can not supply. The way business is approaching the consumer is shifting from ‘Make & Sell’ into ‘Sense & Respond’. Innovations are more and more consumer-driven.

Also P5 consultants notice this trend. More often we are asked to observe the consumer at home and to analyse the human-product relations in the context of use.

This type of research is called applied ethnography. It originates from the Social Science where it was used to understand other ways of life.

Applied Ethnography can be seen as an approach to uncover and identify consumer needs as part of the design research facilitating (new) product development.

The results of this research inspire and inform the design team and help to design products that really fit the consumer.

There is a range of research methods used, and still new ones are developed. It includes observations (video diaries) and participative observations (observations combined with in-depth interviews). As an example You and Kaltenbach (doing research for LG Electronics, a large Asian manufacturer of household appliances) used video diaries by filming appliances during a week to understand the European consumer.

Another example of applied ethnography is the research approach of Philips in their ‘Home Lab’ in Eindhoven and their ‘Inno Hub’ in Singapore (where they observe people in simulators of home, retail and healthcare). For the development of the Philips Woodstove applied ethnography ‘in the field’ was used.

It appears that understanding the context of use is becoming an important part of the design process. Ethnographic research is a way to capture this.

If you would like to learn more about Applied Ethnography, please do not hesitate to contact us.