Ethnography

See how people really live, shop and use your product

What people say and what they do are often different. Ethnography closes the gap: we go into homes, stores and workplaces to watch real behaviour in context.

What we run

• Home visits: a few hours with a household, including fridges, bathrooms, wardrobes and the products people actually use
• Accompanied shopping: following a shopper through a store or mall, filmed discreetly with concealed cameras so store staff don’t intervene
• Day-in-the-life and diaries: respondents record their routines on their phones before or after a visit
• Workplace visits: for B2B and professional products

Watch through the respondent’s eyes

A small camera worn by the respondent gives your team their own view, wherever the visit goes: along the shelf as they compare products, into the kitchen and the wardrobe, even the bathroom as they go through their routine. In stores it stays concealed; at home it can be as discreet as the visit needs.

An interpreter listens in throughout and translates simultaneously, so your team watches live and hears every word in English while the respondent walks, talks and handles products. You can send questions to our researcher as it happens, from anywhere in the world.

An accompanied shop, streamed live from the shopper’s point of view.

More on how we stream fieldwork: video streaming.

Recruitment that opens doors

Getting people to let researchers into their homes, especially affluent consumers, takes trust. We often recruit through personal networks, as on our luxury jewellery and watch study, where wealthy collectors showed us their watch safes and jewellery boxes on camera.

Practicalities

• Bilingual researcher and, where needed, an interpreter at every visit
• Respondents give informed consent for filming and photography
• Time to build trust is part of the plan, so people open up in their own space