ethnography: the secret everybody knows
TRANSCRIPT
January 1, 2014
Ethnography: The Secret Everybody KnowsESP Collective filling you in on their secret for your success.
Tired of declining returns on investment?
Tired of doing the same thing over and over again?
Tired of being told what to say to your customers without
knowing WHY?
Market Research !
Tells you people’s preferences today.
Ethnography
Tells you deeper insights about what makes people make decisions for the future.
V.S
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Ethnography goes to the collective life of human groups, all the way to the hidden code that guides
human behavior: culture.
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Ethnography tells you about human life, in the most comprehensive way science can; it builds the
foundation from which you can ask: what is my next big move?
Ethnography is not a method. It is definitely not a shortcut.
Ethnography is a philosophy of understanding human life, a total way of interacting with and seeing the world.
Ethnography is INDUCTIVEThat means we cast a wide net and stay open to the unexpected
Having a strong hypothesis works with molecules and electrons….but we study people, and people are endlessly surprising, always changing, always on the move.
Ethnography is open to movement and change
Are you open to ethnography?
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Ethnography is about CONTEXT
People do not live in labs or around conference tables. They live in the real world. !Ethnography goes to where people live and work, to where they actually use products and services, to discover how things we make and sell fit - or don’t fit - into their lives.
Ethnography is about PARTICIPATIONThe “fly on the wall” is a myth. Our presence alters what we see, period.
On our shared presence, we build positive relationships, to co-produce an understanding of what they are doing, thinking, and how they are living, working, playing.
We embrace the fact of our presence changes our participants’ lives.
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Ethnography seeks the collective, the social, and the cultural.
A psychologist can tell you why an individual or “demographic” twigs to an existing product or service. !
On our shared presence, we build
positive relationships, to co-produce an understanding of what they are doing, thinking, and how they are living, working, playing.
Ethnography seeks the insider’s perspective“What does the world look like from the point of view of another?”
It is the only approach to human life that consistently calls for ditching received wisdom, willfully forgetting one’s own preconceptions….
And instead, calls for serious confrontation with and understanding of other peoples’ viewpoints.
“You are not your customer”Ethnography lets you understand your customer from the inside out.
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You see a wink. We see one eye opened, the other eye closed. Then we ask…
What do you see?
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!
We ask…✤ Who is the sender, who is the receiver?
✤ What is their relationship? Do they love, hate, tolerate, or titillate each other?
✤ Is this wink sincere or sarcastic?
✤ Is this a sign of conspiratorial knowledge or a fakery of such? Is the real co-conspirator off-camera, behind the receiver, who is simply being duped?
✤ Is it even a wink , or is it just a neurological reaction - a twitch?
Knowing what this means depends on ethnography.
Knowing any of this depends on talking and listening, observing and participating with people in their natural context, finding out how the world looks to them and the people around them.
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Compared to ethnography, no other approach has the same proven track record of getting to the bottom of human life.
Shhhhhh!
So why haven’t you heard of it?
It’s the secret everybody knows
It’s the secret weapon for innovation in the world’s most highly successful corporations, from Intel to Proctor and Gamble, to Toyota.
Want to know more?
What do we do?Now you’re in on the secret, here’s the details…
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Ethnographers OBSERVE
Ethnographers ask and listen, survey and map. They compile and crunch data. They chart and graph.
! But above all else, ethnographers
observe.
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We watch, keenly and objectively. !
We record what we see in detail, without judgement. !
We code what we record. !
We crunch that data some more. !
We use our brains together with specialized software. !
We apply the latest ideas about human social and cultural life to interpret that data.
Why is observation so crucial?2007 study by Harris Interactive found that: ✤ 92% of Americans surveyed by telephone (n=1001) said they wash
their hands after using a public restroom. !
✤ 77% of individuals observed at public restrooms (n=6076) actually washed their hands. (88% of women, 66% of men).
What people say they do and what they actually do are different.
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!
Why the gap?
✤ We are embarrassed to report that we don’t measure up: who wants to be obscene?
✤ We lie to ourselves: “Oh, I am a clean person, yes I am.”
✤ Or most of our daily behaviors are taken for granted, forgotten, submerged: we don’t know how to talk about them.
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Intel researchers have done ethnography with green homeowners - in their homes - to find out how to make Intel products work in a future
transformed by new approaches to energy and sustainability.
Therefore, we observe; we go to the source
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After years of focus grouping and surveys, Proctor and Gamble invested heavily in ethnography and discovered insights that led to new product
features (e.g. color guard) that are now keeping P&G on top.
Observe Behavior
Gillette wanted to increase it’s presence in the massive Indian market, but razors were falling flat.
They sent ethnographers into the men’s homes, where they shaved.
They discovered that Indian men often shaved with a cup of water because a running faucet was rare or in use by a family member;
!
This meant multiple-blade razors were always getting clogged. Indian men also valued a close shave less than not getting cut.
In response, Gillette quit trying to sell Indian men super-sharp, multiple blade razors (which clogged up easily) and instead created a very inexpensive, single-blade razor just for India.
!
With its new razor, Gillette saw market share in India go from 37.3% in 2007 to 49.1% today.
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Go to the source
So, how can you use ethnography to get to the source of your solution and increase your value to your
customers?
