Ethnographic research has become something of a buzz in the market research world. It has been around for ever, used by anthropologists who observe their tribes and work out what is going on.
The video camera has made this tool much easier for us to use in market research and today’s article from the Financial Times shows how it was used by Unilever to test dental products.
The mind boggles at having a camera watch you doing your ablutions, but it shows what is possible. Although this is a consumer example, the principle can be adapted for b2b research. A video camera could watch people use a product in the office or factory. It could watch people buying products in merchants and distributors. It could observe buyers in negotiation. None of these ethnographic situations would be easy to set up, but all are potentially possible. Welcome to an interesting new tool for our kit bag.
‘Big Brother’ family pioneer research
By Carlos Grande, Marketing Correspondent
May 29 2007
A Sussex family have lived with round-the-clock cameras in their home as market researchers put techniques popularised by Big Brother, the reality television series, to commercial use.
The family had web cameras in their living room and kitchen for three months.
Footage was stored in a small computer server in the house, and retrieved daily over the internet by a team from Brainjuicer, an online research group listed on the Aim stock market. Researchers could watch events from the house live and telephone to make specific requests.
The couple, who were paid about £500 a month for the project, were permitted to switch off the cameras if they wanted or at the request of someone else entering the home.
But the domestic focus – researchers asked to see how the couple brushed their teeth or prepared a meal – was worlds away from the tabloid-esque Big Brother series that returns to Channel 4 this week.
The technique is part of the school of ethnographic research, which uses close observation of small groups to discover how people behave and interact.
Compared to surveys or focus groups, ethnographical research is expensive to conduct and difficult to expand practically. Sceptics also claim that the researcher’s presence changes people’s behaviour.
Brainjuicer, which is partly owned by Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of the consumer goods group, said the technique could be used to test new products. A Unilever dental product was given to the family during the project.
