Ethnography

Many decisions arise in everyday life. Routinely. Unconsciously. Often in areas that people can hardly articulate. Where traditional surveys meet their limits, the view of real life is absent. How do you understand the routines, shortcuts, frustrations, and desires of your target groups so that products, services, and communication can be precisely targeted?

Ethnography means being right in the midst of consumers' daily lives. Researchers accompany them for one or several days, observing routines, actions, and use situations in detail. In addition to observation, they conduct interviews, questioning actions and clarifying motivations. This way, unconscious patterns become visible that rarely emerge in traditional conversations. The logic behind automated behaviors is recognized, and one understands what influences decisions in everyday life.

In mobile ethnography, this view of everyday life is captured differently. Participants document their own world. They film, photograph, and comment on situations where they use products or make decisions. These recordings are then combined with interviews on attitudes, habits, and usage contexts. The visual impressions complement the verbal statements, making connections clearer. This creates an authentic, everyday image that shows how people truly use and experience products.

Ethnography is based on anthropological principles. It involves engaging with target groups where behaviors emerge. It observes practices and patterns that elude self-reporting. This method uncovers implicit motives, everyday logics, and barriers. It reveals what a product needs to achieve and the actual role it plays in daily life. Mobile ethnography combines this classic approach with digital documentation, creating a broad, holistic understanding of use, motivation, and context.