05-The Four Phases of A Design Ethnography Project

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of design ethnography. There are four phases of an ethnographic research project — planning, recruiting, implementation and analysis & storytelling.

Planning

• Why is ethnography the appropriate methodology for this project?
• Why will the specific ethnographic method or combination of methods get us the data we need?
• What are the boundaries of the work?
• What are we doing to protect participants from the risks of being involved with the research?
• What does the field guide for the project look like?

Recruiting

• Who should we include in our study? How do we find them?
• Who is intentionally or unintentionally being left out?
• Who will be facilitating the activities?
• Who are the power-holders and decision-makers in the process? How can we share power with the participants?
• How can we make the research process the most transparent and accessible for participants?
• How do we plan to exchange value with participants?

Implementing

• At what stage are they ‘invited’ into the process?
• Is the research activity being conducted virtually or in person?
• What time of the day and where are we conducting research activities?
• How are we compiling field notes?

Analysis & Storytelling

• What synthesis methods are we using to process the data?
• What does the data tell us about our research question?
• How do we share back stories from the field in a compelling way to relevant stakeholders?

In the coming days, I’ll delve deeper into each of these phases.

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