Great question, Todd. I think "guerrilla" methods are more common than so-called "pure" methods. As a sociologist, I can tell you, 98% of what I've done in the private sector is NOT what I learned in graduate school!
I personally like the mini-ethnography. Some may consider it to be "real" ethnography, but I still think it's "mini." Rapidly planned and deployed, the mini ethnography is basically a toe-dip into the immersive ethno experience. Say your topic area is youth and mobile devices. Where are youth? And their mobile devices? How about the mall? Ok, let's go! Let's talk to a few of them at the Food Court. Let's watch them with their devices. Let's take some notes. Have a chat with each other, and then talk more to the kids outside The Gap. This can take an afternoon. Is it ethnography? No, not even close. Is it useful from a design perspective? Absolutely. It's a quick take on problems, pain points, contextually relevant themes. It's inspiring. It's fast. It's even fun. If you want, of course, you can validate your designs using either a survey (to quantify and test the general trends) or have additional users test the prototype. -- ~~~~~ Sam Ladner, PhD Sociologist Toronto ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
