Posts tagged as:

ethnography

What does ethnography give you that statistics don’t?

by Sam Ladner on March 26, 2010 · 2 comments

in Blog, ethnography, home, market research, qualitative research, quantitative research, surveys, time

Roger Martin has a great post on Harvard Business Review that summarizes how ethnographic research differs from quantitative surveys.
Martin writes:
Qualitative, and especially observational or ethnographic, research enables us to delve much more deeply into the relationship between our firm and its product/service and the customer. Because we aren’t obsessed about adding all the responses together [...]

2 comments

Tagged as: customer experience, ethnography, market research, qualitative research, quantitative research, statistics

Categories: Blog · ethnography · home · market research · qualitative research · quantitative research · surveys · time

The Birth (And Death) of Market Research: Why Design Research Will Prevail

by Sam Ladner on January 28, 2010 · 9 comments

in Blog, Qualitative Research & Design, Research Methods, design, ethnography, home, market research, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, survey, surveys

Few would disagree that fundamental economic change is upon us. Business models are crumbling daily. From the auto industry to the banking industry, it is clear that old ways of doing things are no longer working. The market research industry is just as vulnerable to this shift, yet, like the auto industry before it, it [...]

9 comments

Tagged as: design research, ethnography, linkedin, market research, qualitative research, quantitative research

Categories: Blog · Qualitative Research & Design · Research Methods · design · ethnography · home · market research · product design · qualitative research · quantitative research · survey · surveys

Designers are from Venus, Six Sigmas are from Mars

by Sam Ladner on September 25, 2009 · 4 comments

in Research Methods, anthropology, design, discourse analysis, ethnography, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, surveys

DT has a great post over at Design Sojourn that discusses Six Sigma methodology and how it relates to design. He cites Tim Brown at IDEO who argues that Six Sigma is essentially Newtonian, while design thinking is quantum. In his own design work, DT expressed doubts about using Six Sigma:
After studying the Six Sigma [...]

4 comments

Tagged as: design, ethnography, linkedin, organizations, qualitative research, quantitative research

Categories: Research Methods · anthropology · design · discourse analysis · ethnography · product design · qualitative research · quantitative research · surveys

How can an organization design social capital?

by Sam Ladner on August 19, 2009 · 0 comments

in bourdieu, ethnography, qualitative research, social capital, social networks, sociology

New research finds that there are seven key factors that promote social capital. In his book, Unanticipated Gains, Mario Luis Small did an ethnography of New York daycare centres. What he finds may surprise you: daycare centres are great “brokers” for social capital. I describe his findings on the Social Capital Value Add blog:
Small argues [...]

0 comments

Tagged as: book review, ethnography, innovation, linkedin, organizations, social capital, social network analysis, social networks

Categories: bourdieu · ethnography · qualitative research · social capital · social networks · sociology

Design thinking’s big problem

by Sam Ladner on March 4, 2009 · 0 comments

in Blog, Popular

So-called “design thinking” is the new It-Girl of management theory. It purports to provide new ways for managers and companies to provide innovative, creative solutions to old problems. But design thinking alone will not solve these problems because a lack of creativity was never the issue.
The real issue is one of power.
Design is attractive to [...]

0 comments

Tagged as: design, design thinking, ethnography, information architecture, innovation, interaction design, linkedin, management, organizations, power, product design, qualitative research