It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them Watch people in their own environments
Ethnographic studies, also known as Ethnography, is a user research methodology that is done where a user interacts with the product. It’s amazing what kind of data you can collect when you’re observing a user in his or her natural environment. This can be done be going into the user’s home or office and watch them use the product. This is excellent when you’re interested in a user’s motivations, background, and living condition.
Open studies can occur in places like neighborhoods, malls, and restaurants—where access to public data is easy to spot. We have experience doing closed studies, which is usually done in a group. This is especially useful when the user is in a professional environment, like a hospital, a school, or a fire station—where collaboration among team members is critical. When designing software for industries that require working as a team, field studies can be an amazing resource for gather decision centered data—especially when doing such as a task involves saving someones life or spending a great deal of money.
Conducting an ethnographic study is easy when you have the right team behind you. The data analysis can be quite convoluted if done without a professional. Typical usability testing includes an in-depth interview and a cognitive walkthrough of a series of scenarios. This method of user research is also effective when paired with contextual inquiry.
These field studies are so important because they add context to usability findings and also give an insight to the problems users encounter in their organization. Watching someone in their natural environment is an excellent way of gathering qualitative data. If you’re interested in such a study, please don’t hesitate to contact us for more details.