Evolving with Ethnography: W5's Journey into Deeper Insights
At W5 we’ve been conducting ethnographic studies for 20 years. We’ve always seen the value in observing people in their natural environments and leveraging anthropological techniques to get to core insights for our clients. As time has gone on technology and societal issues have contributed to opportunities and challenges with various ethnographic approaches. Where our teams may have spent time with people in their homes or offices even just a few years ago, these spaces are becoming harder and harder for traditional researchers to enter:
The home has become the castle more than ever. It’s the safe place for families and individuals to escape the world and feel less on guard. Additionally it often doubles as office/workspace further reducing access.
The office has changed to that flexible schedules, coworkers with hybrid arrangements, concerns about health have made it even harder to gain permission.
The increased stranger danger has meant that if W5 wants to conduct ethnography in people’s important and intimate spaces we need to adjust.
Before the pandemic W5 was looking for ways to gain ethnographic insights from consumers during the moments or times we couldn’t realistically expect people to let us into their lives. Times like early morning routines, or hectic weekday dinners, or late nights when the buzz of the day had died down. We also didn’t see sending cameras or recording devices as a solution. Yes it might capture movement through these spaces but would be lacking in insights.
As a result, we began combining approaches already in our tool box to get a wide array of insights: asynchronous digital diary platforms and live interviewing. These approaches allow for a bevvy of data to be collected, including:
Photos and videos of spaces and routines such as the pantry, fridge, lunch preparation, etc. or meaningful personal objects (such as a favorite piece of art or beloved book)
Thought out responses where consumers often answer a question or probe and come back to revise their responses because they’re at home or work and able to check/observe how they do things and what is in their spaces
Screenshots of resources, websites, apps, they use
Photos and videos of family members and their environments
We then supplement these diaries with what we call All-Star interviews. These are live video interviews with individuals who are the most interesting, articulate, relevant, etc. within the study. The interviews provide an opportunity for us to not only hear their responses but probe them on elements we notice during the diaries and behaviors which may be more reflexive or habit-based.
These conversations allow them to further elaborate on key topics, tell stories, introduce W5 Consultants to pets or family members, etc.
The goal behind combining these approaches is multifaceted. The combination allows W5 to do several things, including:
Engage people using different forms of communication styles and allow them to respond in kind
Encourage organic group interactions, such as commenting on other’s posts, to observe how thinking and expression may vary among participant cohorts
Burrow deep into lives to uncover reflexive and unnoticed behavior and read between the lines without bias through direct questioning
Extend the reach of a researcher to be present at times and places people will not allow us to be physically, providing more intimate insights
Give people time to reflect on responses and behaviors by cataloging them and asking them to examine them in ways they may not in their day-to-day lives
Share various forms of stimuli in a structured manner while uncovering more unstructured, ethnographic insights
At W5 we’ve been conducting ethnographic studies for years and adapting approaches to keep up with respondent and client needs. We are adept at applying proven approaches and methodologies in pursuit of answers to address our client’s objectives from exploration, to understanding, to helping them innovate new ideas.
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