This document provides an overview of ethnography and its application in service design from the perspective of Anna Haverinen, a design anthropologist. It defines ethnography as "writing of the people" derived from anthropological study involving in-depth interviews and observations of people in their natural environments. Ethnography is described as a holistic and context-rich method for interpreting culture that provides insights below the surface through thick description and interpretation. The document cautions that not all qualitative research labeled as ethnography meets the standards of the method, and discusses how ethnography can be applied to inform projects in domains like product design, branding, and digital services.

1. 18.4.2018
ETHNOGRAPHY &
SERVICE DESIGN

2. NICE TO MEET YOU!
Anna has a PhD in Digital Culture research,
and a Master’s in Cultural Anthropology.
She specialises in applying anthropological
insight in service, business and UX design.
ANNA HAVERINEN /
DESIGN ANTHROPOLOGIST

3. @Ahaverine
Background: Memoria Virtualis
– death and mourning rituals in
online environments (PhD,
University of Turku, 2014)

5. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=0TSGUf1xbF8

7. 1. Ethnography is…

8. ETHNOGRAPHY IS DERIVED FROM
ANTHROPOLOGY
IT IS A RESEARCH METHODOLOGY &
THE WRITTEN RESULT OF THE STUDY

9. ETHNOS = PEOPLE
GRAPHEIN = DESCRIPTION, WRITING
ETHNOGRAPHY = “WRITING OF THE
PEOPLE”

10. HOLISTIC AND CONTEXT RICH
INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES
AND PEOPLE

11. Bronislaw Malinowski
(1884-1942)
Margaret Mead
(1901-1978)
Sir James George
Frazer (1854-1941)
Clifford Geertz
(1926-2006)
Marcel Mauss (1872-1950)Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009)
Ruth Benedict
(1887-1948)

12. Typically includes (several)
in-depth interviews,
real world observations
(sometimes) living with the people
being studied.

13. Good
ethnographer
is / has…

14. In service design context ethnography
is often stated as “a method”. It’s not.
It’s a collection of methods and a
specific way to deliver insights.

15. Ethnography is a complex method
for wicked problems.

16. THE ICEBERG OF INSIGHTS
EXPRESSED HOPES
AND DREAMS
Unconscious biases,
opinions, attitudes
and expectations
Spoken and written content
Observations, emphatic
understanding, co-designing,
contextual insights
“The nitty gritty”

17. 2. What is
ethnographic?

18. How long?
How far?
Why?
By whom?

19. Source: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/2538/4016

20. Source: https://idilgaziulusoy.com/2012/06/11/system-innovation-
for-sustainability-using-systems-thinking-and-design-thinking/

21. “It would appear that everything the
ethnographer turns his or her hand to is
ethnographic.”
(2014 | Hau: Journal of Ethnographic #eory 4 (1): 383–395 385 That’s enough about ethnography ethnographic.)

22. Anthropologies of cultures are always
constructions of anthropologists (Geertz 1975)
They are never pure objective mirrors
of the culture in question.
The key word is interpretation.

23. WHAT IF SOME SERVICE
DESIGN ETHNOGRAPHIES
ARE NOT ETHNOGRAPHY AT
ALL?

24. Qualitative
interview
is often
aiming for
comparability.
Ethnographic
interview
leaves room for
improvisation, the
new insight.

25. Qualitative
interview usually
has a theoretical
frame and a
hypothesis.
Ethnographic
interview is open and
the theory/hypothesis
is formed through
analysis.

26. Thick data
Applied
data
Interpretation

27. Interpretation, anyone?

28. POINT OF VIEW CAN BE A PROBLEM

29. Ethnography requires an
interpretation frame.
Ethnography requires
reflecting the process of interpretation.

30. INFLATION OF THE WORD
“QUALITATIVE” HAS LED TO
THE POPULARISATION OF
ETHNOGRAPHY

31. 3. Fail fast, fail
forward

32. THERE’S NO FAILURE
IN ANTHROPOLOGY.
OR IS THERE?

33. HUMAN(E) INSIGHT

34. Realities are as much
imagined as they are produced.

35. Measuring ethnographic impact?

36. Thick data Applied data
How the interpretation has been made?
How can we ensure that it is valid?
That it is ethical? That it is the right kind of insight?

37. • Burns (1994) indicates that reliability is based on two assumptions:
• External reliability: The study can be repeated by using the same
procedures of the original research.
• Internal reliability: Other researcher can have consistent interpretation by
using the same procedures.
• The accurate replication of ethnography is very difficult to achieve because an
event in natural setting cannot be reproduced.
IS IT VALID?
Source: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.559.5767&rep=rep1&type=pdf

38. THERE IS ALWAYS BIAS.
IT DEPENDS HOW YOU
HANDLE IT.

39. 3. Insight(s)

40. APPLYING ACADEMIC ETHNOGRAPHY

41. P2P CROWDSURANCE APP (FAIR & TAISTE)

42. CULTURAL DESIGN (HAVAIANAS & IDEO)
http://www.pro-design.com.pl/tl_files/casy/IDEO_Case_Study-5.pdf

43. MASCULINITY (GILLETTE & GEMIC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=U3Q8aCBRi9A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Wx73YN7HR24

44. LEGO & RED
‘The Moment of Clarity, Using the human sciences to solve your toughest business problems’, by
Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen, Harvard Business Review Press
Could you show us the
most valuable object you
own?

45. 4. To sum it up

46. ETHNOGRAPHY ISN’T…
• Group interviews at the service design/
research agency
• Random online surfing and browsing
websites (“onlin ethnography)
• Street surveys
• Statistical research
• Spending an hour with the interviewee

47. ETHNOGRAPHY IS…
• Requires the designer to be in the field
of study, doing e.g. observations in real
world contexts
• Provides a rich data material and
complex insight delivery
• Requires elaborate tools for
documentation
• Provides opportunities to involve
informants in the research process

48. ETHNOGRAPHY IS A
COMPLEX METHOD FOR
WICKED PROBLEMS.

49. THANK
YOU.
Anna Haverinen
Design Anthropologist
anna@taiste.fi
+357456308830