Rapid Ethnography- Uncovering trends and insights (undetected ROI)
57 minutes
Why has ethnography become one of the hottest research methods in the past five years? What is it and how does it apply to customer experience? Is ethnography an additional research technique or something you have to conduct to do ‘real’ customer experience? What yields higher ROI, a usability test, or a field study?
Topic:
Ethnography is a research technique used by anthropologists and behavioral scientists to understand and empathize with local culture or population. At its core ethnography seeks to figure out what people actually do, versus what they say or what they think they do. Ethnography is used in usability research as a means to identify the context surrounding product use.
Increasingly, advertisers and marketers have understood that to identify the ‘difference that makes a difference’, it is necessary to use non-traditional approaches to research. To accomplish this goal, ethnographic research profiles user behavior in its native social, emotional, and cultural environment.
Rapid Ethnography is the corporate application of the observational field study, conducted in real-time, with a mission to inject insights into new feature and functionality definition. Rapid Ethnography explores user tasks, goals, values, beliefs, perceptions, and artifacts. Artifacts are examined, explored, and mapped back to user requirements, design use scenarios, and personas.
This seminar we will explore Rapid Ethnography and its benefits toward recovering hidden ROI opportunities. We will look at those aspects of your software, product or website that are missing ethnographic insights. In addition, we will discuss how to determine if you need to conduct an ethnographic study, and how to prepare for one if you do.
Agenda
- Identifying the need (features vs desirability)
- Change hunting- mapping trends, insights, opportunities
- Context of Use beats Ease of Use any day: Why?
- Inter-CEPTing user behavior: Cognition, Emotion, Place & Time
- Tips for preparing for a field study
- Q & A
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Who You will Learn From
Frank Spillers
Founder - UX Inner Circle
Frank Spillers, MS, founded the UX Inner Circle in 2020 to support senior practitioners facing complex challenges. The community exists to sharpen thinking, increase your confidence, and pressure-test real decisions. It’s built for people doing the work, not just talking about it. Frank founded an award-winning UX and Service Design consultancy (Experience Dynamics) and now leads UX and Service Design at numerous organisations, including the UK Government Digital Service. He has worked with and led teams to deliver hundreds of products and services over several decades. His work spans government, enterprise platforms, nonprofits, and global brands. He brings 25+ years as a senior UX and Service Design leader. His focus areas include Inclusive Design, accessibility, emotion-led design, cross-cultural UX, VR/AR, and UX leadership. His work has directly increased conversion by 88% and revenue by 300% for organizations including Nike, Microsoft, Intel, Capital One, Global Disability Rights Now!, the World Bank, and the City of New York.
