Ethnography - Explained
What is Ethnography?
Written by Jason Gordon
Updated at September 28th, 2021
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What is Ethnography?
A challenge for marketers is understanding consumers and our customers. One research method that we have is ethnography. Ethnography is immersing oneself in the culture or lifestyle of others in order to understand how they behave and live. For marketers, this can be a valuable source of information.
Another way to think of ethnography is walking a mile in someone else's shoes. That's an old saying that expresses how you can understand why people feel a certain way or behave a certain way
Another key aspect to ethnography in today's world is that we don't have to do this in person. We can go and shop with other people or hang out in stores and and kind of get a feel for how people act. But, we can also do it online - either in discussion forums or more often in brand communities or online communities dedicated to different hobbies.
In summary, ethnography is a useful tool for getting a clear understanding of how different customers or consumers think, feel, and behave.
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