Intro to Digital Ethnographies

Similar to traditional in-person ethnographies with both methods focusing on the observation of behaviors in the participant’s natural environment.

Valuable for capturing and observing participant behavior while in the process of doing certain things like shopping at the mall, booking tickets online, visiting different destinations, shipping a package, going through the steps of buying a home and more.

Leverages the participant’s use of tools such as an online platform, cameras and mobile devices to record themselves as they go through their day-to-day life where traditional ethnographies rely on a researcher being present and observing a participant’s behavior first-hand.

Self-recorded events provide rich insights - and often we are able to gain access to otherwise inaccessible aspects of a participants’ life.

What is a Digital Ethnography?

Digital Ethnography refers to ethnographic research that is facilitated by online tools or in a digital “space” rather than traditional in-person observation.

What are the Benefits?

Engaging with your target audience is always valuable. The flexibility of Digital Ethnography approaches often make it a more effective choice than traditional techniques

Eliminates typical dependencies such as geographic location and scheduled appointments allowing broader recruiting and participation at a more cost-effective price point.

Allows for observations over a longer time period with studies typically lasting 1 week. This longer duration is particularly well suited to studying multi-step processes and more complex or nuanced behaviors.

Reduces the effect of ‘observer influence’ as participant is left to complete the study exercises as they would naturally - capturing the experience with any combination of text, photos, video or screen recording that is required.

Puts participants at ease when discussing sensitive/personal topics or demonstrating these types of activities as their ‘relationship with the camera’ is often more comfortable than having multiple strangers in their home or workplace.

At Clearworks, we use our asynchronous online platform to conduct Digital Ethnography studies. The platform provides a balance of flexibility, features and ease-of-use for both researchers and participants.

Our Platform

How Does it Work?

The study exercises are developed according to the project objectives. Each study is unique and we believe that getting creative in the study approach is important and helps ensure that participants are engaged and happy to participate.

Once the study is designed the platform is programmed, tested and then launched. Screened participants are invited to participate in the study and a community manager tracks progress and engages with participants throughout the study.

The platform can be deployed on all device types, including Blackberry. Being able to use all of their devices makes it easy for participants to respond to exercises and capture observations anywhere. These mixed-media responses include video, photo, text, audio, images and screen capture.

Target Participants

You can use digital ethnographies with nearly any type of consumer, customer or prospect to gain insights more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional methods.

Sample Exercises

The sample exercises shown here are merely high-level descriptions to illustrate the types of activities that can be used to elicit responses from participants.

Day in the Life: Participants record themselves and their surroundings throughout the course of an entire day or while performing a certain activity of interest. Show and Tell: Participants show and narrate their step-by-step process for performing a particular task including the tools and resources that are used. Home Tour: Participants record their environment and can be directed to comment on or highlight areas of particular interest to the study.

Online Shopping: Participants use the screen recording capability to capture their process for making a particular online purchase. They are asked to show the steps they take as well as narrate the rationale behind their personal process.

The Output

Responses allow you to see and hear first-hand from participants how they view things, what matters to them, why they make the decisions they do and their processes for accomplishing any type of task.

You are able to get a view into parts of participants lives that are not traditionally available to researchers. The platform is with them during their day to day life and they are able to capture their observations as they happen in real time.

Powerful dashboard and coding tools within the platform make it easier to categorize responses, develop key findings and interpret results.

Engage in Customer Insights

We would love to chat with you about how you can use Digital Ethnographies to get into your customer’s world and capture deep insights. Shoot us a quick email to info@clearworks.net.