Ethnography Centre of Excellence
Ethnography is based on participant observation, meaning that the researcher is in the subject’s environment, observing actual behaviour for an extended length of time, capturing all of the interactions and activities involved in daily life. Ethnography allows deep insight into the contradictory nature of much of human behaviour. Thus, the focus is on what people really do (actual behaviour) vs. what they say they do (reported behaviour).
Each ethnographic interview is filmed, producing on average 40 – 50 hours of film to review, log and analyse. The written and visual data is analysed for a number of things: rational responses and ideas; emotional and behavioural information and patterns; how the environment communicates; the content and nature of the relationships in the space; and the ways in which culture impacts our respondents, consciously and unconsciously. From our focus on the individual, we then move to review the data of all the participants to look for patterns of behaviour across individuals.
Our ethnographic projects cover the spectrum of Ipsos MORI clients - covering both public and private sectors, including the NHS, the Financial Times, Ofcom, the National Audit Office, KPMG, Lewisham Council, and the Metropolitan Police. Our expertise further extends to a wide range of subject areas, behavioural studies, customer journeys, health and compliance intervention, hard-to-reach audiences, segmentation and profiling and community-based experience.