Ethnographic Solutions

Ethnography is just one type of qualitative research. We also excel in conducting a broad range of "traditional" qualitative methodologies, including focus groups, individual in-depth interviews (IDIs), and telephone in-depth interviews (TDIs) for many different types of consumer and marketing research projects.  

Our high-level interpretive skills and analytic rigor extend to any type of qualitative data, whether collected during an ethnographic "shop-along" or in a mirrored central research facility. We do, however, introduce a unique ethnographic sensibility to traditional qualitative research conducted in research facilities—cautiously exploring how respondents' accounts of their thoughts, motivations, and decision-making may, in fact, differ when they are dynamically immersed in real-world situations.
 
For multiple projects, we have creatively blended an ethnographic approach with traditional qualitative methods through the inclusion of varied research phases. Beginning a project with IDIs, for example, can be a cost-effective way of increasing the overall study sample, eliciting focused feedback on specific research stimuli, and allowing for the preliminary identification of key insights. The subsequent ethnographic research phase then not only provides a more grounded verification of and elaboration on these initial findings, but also produces a fresh set of insights that could not be discovered in a research facility.