Ethnography Overview
Design Anthropology
Definition
Ethnography is the study of of what people do and why they do it, in relation to culture and social norms.
“Ethnography entails examining the behavior of the participants in a given social situation and also understanding group members' own interpretation of such behavior”
— Dewan M, Understanding Ethnography
Procedure
Preparation
Depends on what type of ethnographic methods you decide to deploy
As always bring a way to take notes and record
In person
Make sure that you create a comfortable space and address your participate in a kind manner to set them at ease.
Explain the goal of your research and let them know that you are interested in their cultural and social norms. So stress the importance of explicitly mentioning all social norms as your participant notices them.
Often it is helpful to have them walk you through a normal and a non normal day.
Analysis
Take the maps and overlay them. Find the commonalities and differences.
Then go back to the recordings and try to understand why the differences occurred between participants.
Try to understand where the physical structure of the community has influenced the way your participant moves through the community.
Lastly try to identify opportunity spaces in the maps.
Use Case
Ethnography is an umbrella term that is regularly used both consciously and unconsciously. We have all used it any time we evaluate a social setting.
Strengths
Often times the paint points that we experience are due to cultural and social pressures. This is what ethnography is great at uncovering.
Weaknesses
It can be difficult to figure out how social norms effect people. Especially because if someone is raised in a culture they take it to be the norm and often struggle to see beyond it.
