How do you conduct UX Research Ethnography?

Hey there! Super important thing: informed consent. It's not just about getting a quick signature on a form anymore, like back in the day when we did in-person data collection. Now, it's all about making sure that the folks you're studying truly understand what they're getting into. We creating an environment where participants feel safe and trust being part of the study. Nobody likes surprises, right? Another cool aspect. Imagine stepping into the shoes of a curious kid. You're there to observe, listen, and learn – without any preconceived ideas or personal biases. It's like having a fresh pair of eyes and ears. The goal is to blend into the scene without stirring the pot. No pushing, no influencing – just soaking up everything around you.

Check points to be consider while planning: 1. Be clear about your research goals. 2. Choose the right research methods. 3. Be flexible and adaptable. 4. Build rapport with your participants.

The most important thing for any research study is to be very clear with the objective. Below are the few steps which can be followed to conduct an Ethnography Research - 1. Know the Research objective. 2. Write down the aspects that you want to understand from users in order to achieve the research objectives. 3. Decide on the target audience based on the Research objectives. 4. Decide the number of participants required for the study and how are you going to recruit them. 5. Decide the date and time of the study. 6. Prepare the screener to select the participants. 7. write down a discussion guide with clear and concise questions. 8. Divide the roles of moderator, observer, Note taker and Time keeper. 9. Conduct the Research and Debrief.

One thing that I have personally found helpful is trying to live the life of my users. Spending a day with them makes sense, gives you observations and insights but in addition to it, simulating an experience similar to theirs actually gives us the opportunity to experience what they do. This is called immersion.

It's particularly important to plan the research with the core team within your team. Core team members come from diverse backgrounds. It should include Developers, Product manager, Product owner, Testers, Business Analysts, Sales etc. Once you have onboarded the core team onto the research project, include them in the planning and defining different type of users you want to talk to. Do not forget to review the list of questions with the core team. Ask them to add/remove/edit any question that they feel is important for research. It's not only yours but everyone's responsibility to conduct a fruitful research. Including more people in planning eliminate the risk of conducting ineffective research.

Utilizing secondary research can enhance our comprehension of the context, aiding in the definition of our research objectives and the identification of the most suitable research methods.

In addition to providing a consent form, it's good practice to offer a mechanism that allows participants to give feedback or voice concerns during the study.

Having a digital mechanism that allows the users participating in the research provide you with feedback and observation data in real time has been a great help.

Ethnography is more a estate of mind that a collection of artifacts. That said, it is important to you to have the right instrument for the right occasion. In urban areas, we don't normally need survival kits, but as an urban ethnographer you will need tools that bring you as much information as you can. Cameras, microphones notes, and other things like GPS, are all in our pockets. But sometimes you will need different tools, like the ones you population target uses. Got a baker fieldwork to do? what they have there? do You know the names of their instruments? Note that during conversations is key to understand how people uses things.

If the research is being conducted by a team, collaboration tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or project management software can be useful.

This section should make it clear that user researcher should treat it as Master-apprentice relationship. It's important to keep in mind that researcher is there to learn about how user performs their day-to-day activities. They should always capture in their notes if they do not understand something. They can ask these questions later.

Avoid allowing personal biases to influence your approach. Maintain objectivity in the interest of the project, and be proactive in asking questions. Never interrupt the user; allow them and others to express their thoughts fully before introducing new inquiries.

I’ve found that it sometimes pays to ‘play dumb’… this makes the participants feel even more comfortable and willing to let you in. You’re there to learn from them and you’re just sooo amazed by everything they do.

The most valuable thing an ethnographer do is to listen and observe. You are in the filed to learn and, as much as possible, to do it as well. So in order to get this experience you need to listen. Here one trick, ask twice. Yes, that's it, ask twice everything and make notes of all. By doing this you make sure what you see is confirmed by people who are doing. Saw something you don't know the name. First ask what, and then, asking ask again, this time, how it is made it. Observation in ethnography is a matter of time and space. People spread and cluster differently for different things. How are the values they express compared with their individual practices?

Observation brings a goldmine of insights about THE CONTEXT... and framing possibilities for later experience and communications designs.

This step is very important stage of the research. Suggest you to take detailed notes. This will help you to remember the details of your research and to analyze your data more effectively.

Ethnography is a field study. It involves only observational activity. It doesn't involve any interactions with the users. Observing users in their real environment along with Interaction comes as a blended model process called "Contextual Inquiry"

One tip for asking open-ended questions is to follow the W3H method. Questions starting with "Who, Why what, and how" - help to dig deeper into the thoughts of the users.

There is a concept that I learned in anthropology that changed me as a researcher, it is called "Ethnocentrism", which means the tendency to observe the world from the particular perspective of the people and culture to which they belong. When conducting ethnography research, step out of your designer shoes and try to be part of that context. There is always a cultural reason or a mental model created for how people do what they do and there is meaning within that narrative. The most fun part of empathy for me is understanding how this happens.

In ethnographic jargon, "participant observation" means that you observe by doing. So you are collecting information by the perspective of a person who is actually using the product, service or experience you are interested. Make sure to separate in your notes what you do and what you observe. Later you will need to compare both. You have a notepad for annotations, digital equipment, and you are not invisible. So with all that keep in mind that the more ethical and transparent you are, more you can register, more you can collect.

This section should make it clear that there is no right or wrong way to analyse data. Researchers should feel free to create sketches, cartoons, comics, flows diagrams or any other kind of pictorial representation which conveys what they found. Analysis is not limited to only journey maps and affinity diagrams. Including your team members in analysis is always better because it allows team members to get a better understanding of users that they are building for and also makes them feel included in decisions.

Analysing data will come for problem-solving and solution recommendations under Analysis in the phase of Formative. Research under the Generative phase involves studies only. Analysing data is an incorrect process activity in the research.

There are a myriad of data you come from a fieldwork. Text, image, artifacts, you name it. So for each item, you probally will need a specific tool. But, most important than that is to have all you coding, tagging, labels and dates tight, meaning you know where everything you collected are, and that all that is properly labelled. Once you checked your terms, your legal documentation ( you don't want to analyse people you don't have consent about.) you can start clustering, types of hierarchy and status, rituals. Is always nice to think in terms of culture, how what is observed is translated to the group. Sometimes you just have the facts and is up to you to formulate a explanation of why it happens.

Data Analysis can be done in so many ways depending on the type of data. Some general steps to data analysis are - 1. Organize the data 2. Simplify it by finding similar information. 3. Group/cluster data based on similar patterns. 4. Find insights from each of these groups. 5. Collate your insights. 6. Make sure there is no redundant information. 7. Use tools like Excel, tableau or ChatGPT.

Stay open to diverse interpretations, challenge assumptions, and use your imagination for innovative solutions. Seek feedback to gain new insights and switch methods as your data understanding deepens.

The best way to present your findings will depend on the specific audience you are targeting and the goals of your presentation. However, the presentation should be clear, concise, and effective. Here are some guidance based on my experience: 1. You could create a presentation that includes slides with your key findings, visuals, and quotes from your participants. 2. You could write a report that summarizes your findings and provides recommendations for how to improve the design of the medical device. 3. You could create a video that tells the story of your research and its findings. 4. You could give a talk at a conference or workshop to share your findings with other researchers and designers.

STORYTELLING! Storytelling is an art to communicate any information in an interesting way. The goal is to make stakeholders listen and when we talk interests/benefits of each stakeholder and weave a story out of it, they have no other option but to listen :) We as humans love to listen to stories rather than boring PPTs and Pie charts but some interesting characters in between those charts and Information can truly change the way our findings are being perceived. Storytelling always!

Once the study is complete, it's good practice to share a summary of the findings with the community or organization that participated, unless there are privacy concerns or other compelling reasons not to.

You will present you data to people who was not there. Make them feel they are. This is possible trough narrative. Use as much storytelling as possible to not present the data only in bullet points. Make you audience understand your point of view, sharing with them the target information goal you was aiming there. Video, with short clips, maps, and all types of information that is relevant, not too much, not too little, s the audience needs a sense of immersion from your experience.

Presenting user findings as more than neutral blocks of data by combining with quotes of their interviews to give a narrative weight to the slide. It stops being just data. Is important to preserve the human aspect in research and present it when possible.

A very important aspect of ethnographic studies is that you have to act like you have no previous knowledge, no desires and needs - just be there as a child, observing, listening and learning. trying not to influence in the environment.

I am working in medical device company. Here are some additional guidance that are specific to conducting user research ethnography in the medical device industry: 1. Get approval from the appropriate ethics committe to ensure that your research is conducted ethically. 2. Be aware of the regulations that apply to medical devices. This will ensure your research is compliant. 3. Work with a qualified medical expert. This can help you to understand the medical context of your research and to ask the right questions of your participants. 4. Be sensitive to the needs of your participants. Many patients who use medical devices are going through a difficult time, so be sure to be sensitive to their needs and emotions.

Researcher should keep an open mind. Some people are experts and others are beginners. Researcher should make sure that they do not show any signs of being an expert in their field. They are there for research and not to teach users how to do something.

One common mistake when conducting ethnographic research for UX is the lack of attention to the elicitation of implicit user feedback. Although users can express their concern, they may not be fully aware of the causes or the ideal approaches to the problem. Ethnography is particularly effective at identifying these tacit features because it takes place in the user’s context. When you listen to how they speak and what they say, you get a deeper insight into what they require and how they think.

Self analysis to uncover our biases is very important for researchers. As a human being and being in the field of Research, I realized how knowing our own selves can make us empathetic and compassionate human beings. Knowing our own flaws and biases help us understand and accept people who come from different backgrounds, cultures, age, gender, fields, etc. From my perspective, to be able to look at things just the way they are is the true nature of life. Self awareness is the key to live the life of a researcher effortlessly :)