Virtual Floorspace

Usography conducted shopalongs with millennial females to determine possible access mobile commerce access drivers in common shopping experiences. As I mentioned in previous posts, we discovered interesting dimensions of decision-making. The clip below highlights one area of findings: the personality of clothing.

Retail Ethnography by Usography

Uncategorized customer research, e-commerce design strategy, e-retail, ethnography, methodology, qualitative research

I’m conducting a millennials shop along research project this week. I am really enjoying it, as millennials (Gen Y, echo boomers, 18 – 29 year olds) is a frequent and favorite research topic of mine. The one thing that surprises me is how small of a role mobile technology plays in the shopping habits of these 20-somethings.

On the university campus, which is 5 minutes from my home, I see them on their mobile devices constantly. But in the shopping process, they refer very infrequently to mobile technology, and when prompted, they do not envision a significantly larger role. They seem far more likely to use mobile technology for social contact than for shopping (duh!), but I’m surprised at the extent to which that is true. I expected some inkling of a comparison shopping usage pattern using mobile devices.

Uncategorized customer research, e-commerce design strategy, ethnography, methodology, qualitative research

Some of the more common data capture techniques in ethnographic research include:

• Depth interviews
• Participant observation
• Informant debriefs
• Context mapping
• In-context interviews
• Artifact analysis
• Participant diaries and collages
• Webcam diaries

Participant observation is the method that set ethnography apart. But this method has given way in market research to observation, i.e. the researcher does not actively participate in the behavior being observed. Informant debriefs refer to conversations that the researcher has with insiders who understand the behavior being observed, and who can explain phenomena that the researcher finds puzzling. In retail ethnography, this is typically a salesperson.

We use context mapping for nearly every project. We draw a map of the area being observed, include stations at which people pause or interact, and develop codes that allow us to quickly note behaviors and timeframes. Overlaying context maps helps us understand frequently observed patterns.

I enjoy the diary and collage methodologies. They provide a lot of insight into the mindset of participants, although that insight is sometimes difficult to translate into design recommendations.

Copyright 2010, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, e-retail, ethnography, methodology, qualitative research

Web sites and other technology-based information systems satisfy needs related to a particular task, goal, or need. There is an activity context that is larger than the system’s role in customer satisfaction. That context is usually tied to a location, and that location is where the ethnographic study should take place. It is usually a simple matter to determine the best location.

For example, suppose you are responsible for a web site that sells women’s shoes. An ethnographic approach to researching the needs of women buying shoes online could be to visit the shoe closets of a sample of women in the target demographic, asking them about their current shoes, why and how they purchased the shoes they have, their total spend, their tendencies in terms of style, materials, cost, etc. If there are retail stores associated with the web site, you would probably want to conduct observation and shop-alongs in stores. This research could be conducted more easily in a lab or meeting room setting, but the data captured on site is likely to be much richer in terms of emotions, decision-making criteria, and purchase case histories, giving the work contextual authenticity that is difficult to generate from interview data alone.

It is usually a straightforward process to determine the best location for ethnographic research. Admittedly, it is not always easy or financially feasible to set up a study in that location.

Copyright 2010, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized design strategy, e-commerce, ethnography, methodology, qualitative research

Ethnographic research is broad in scope, so the questions it answers are equally as broad. Ethnography is often used in the discovery phase of a project. Some examples of questions that ethnographic research can answer include:

• How long do people typically spend at each of the resort’s amenities?
• How is length of time for an activity influenced by age? By psychographic type? By total spend?
• Which guest types tend to eat on-site at the resort vs. eating out every night?
• What are the typical traffic patterns through the resort of a young family?
• Where do guests appear to have the most needs for small products that could be delivered instantly by staff?
• What attributes are observed in guests that tend to require the most attention by staff?
• How could better information resources play a role in satisfying guests?

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, e-retail, ethnography, methodology, qualitative research

Ethnography fieldwork can be expensive. Part of the expense is due to the time it takes to get significant results, and the travel that is often required. Another expense factor is that ethnography studies require skilled, experienced people to guide the effort. In addition to cost considerations, the results of ethnographic research are sometimes difficult to translate directly into systems design.

Ethnography becomes relevant when design teams need to innovate, rather than incrementally improve an existing design. Ethnographic research is worth the cost when the success of a design is dependent upon being very different from current existing solutions, for example, a completely different way of supporting a real-life activity or exploring a new market opportunity that didn’t exist before.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Henry Ford

“The future has already happened, it just isn’t very well distributed.” William Gibson

“The future will soon be a thing of the past.” George Carlin

Copyright 2010, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, ethnography, methodology, planning user research, qualitative research, research methods

This continues a recent post, in which I first stated that it’s not really “vs.” but a matter of deciding which research method will provide the design guidance that you need for an acceptable expense. I was discussing some of the advantages of conducting field research.

Another advantage of conducting user research in the field is the presence of cues and artifacts related to the interactive behavior. These cues and artifacts, such as cheat sheets or a constantly running television or crying children or a nearby expert or magazine tear sheets or people brushing behind the user, can dramatically impact usage of a particular web site, but are missing from the lab setting. In one case, a participant had her woot.com alarm set, and it went off during a session. She ran upstairs to see what the sale was, and she allowed us to follow her. She explained that her most recent purchase was a “bag o’ crap,” which was a miscellaneous set of items for $5. She could have told us about this in an interview in a corporate office or lab, but it wouldn’t have provided the same context for her lifestyle that being in her home at that time provided.

Finally, field research lends itself extremely well to multicultural settings, whether they be within one country or within many countries. A lab setting tends to be localized to geographies where such labs exist and are available. The field setting is literally anywhere the researcher team can go. Ethnography was literally developed to understand the unique aspects of different cultures.

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, ethnography, methodology

Ethnography is the best research method to use when you need to discover the fundamental factors that influence the customer experience. Not the attributes of a given design, but the underlying framework that determines the quality of the customer or employee experience. Ethnography takes you to the source of the experience, and gives you tools to discover the most impactful factors.

Another situation that Ethnography deals with especially well are when you are seeking innovative design solutions for daily life situations. Ethnography is a structured approach for leaving behind current solutions and going back to the life context that the design serves.

Another situation in which ethnography is uniquely capable to provide answers is when the key concepts involved in an activity are not yet well defined or operational. For example, suppose we are trying to design a mobile app and one of the key success factors is convenience. Convenience is not a simple concept. It involves location and time and fulfillment. Until we can break this concept down into operational or observable components, we are stuck with a vague notion of what we need to do to succeed. Ethnography helps discover and operationalize concepts like convenience.

Of course, the bottom line is, that the value of the research has to outweigh the expense.

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, e-retail, ethnography, methodology, personas

6. Researchers add data collection methods as appropriate.

Ethnography is very flexible in terms of data collection. Some ethnographers develop their methodology in the field as events unfold. The primary data collection methods, observation and interviews, may be supplemented by a wide variety of field research techniques. Some additional data collection techniques commonly deployed by design agencies include passive video capture, video participant shadowing, photo elicitation, visual diaries, and concept collages. Research in archives as well as social media web sites can yield supplemental findings that are difficult to capture or observe in the field.

Results from ethnographic studies are often triangulated with quantitative methods, such as surveys or analytics, for corroboration, extension, or quantification purposes.

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized design strategy, e-commerce design strategy, e-retail, ethnography, interview protocol, methodology

5. Maps depict the activity domain, with representation of key actors, sites, artifacts, and behaviors.

When conducting ethnographic studies, Usography researchers sketch out a map or diagram of the observed space, whether it is a store, an airport, or an area of a home. The most significant elements of the environment are represented either literally or conceptually. Flows that represent activities or processes are designated by arrows or other directional visual elements. The map can be a snapshot in time, but more typically interactions and physical paths are timed and represented as a holistic view over time. We usually include a few codes at the bottom of the interaction maps that indicate common types of behaviors or expressed emotions, such as consulting a salesperson (S) or acting frustrated (F).

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized customer research, design strategy, e-commerce design strategy, ethnography, methodology, participatory design, personas