Nick Head

On a recent trip to New York (my first in about a year) I decided to get reacquainted with the city even though I have been there a mind boggling 56 times before (I do count). I Walked here, stopped for a coffee there and observed pretty much everywhere. It was a good couple of days.

In doing these 3 things I started to gather an important picture of how New Yorkers actually use their mobile tech devices while out and about. I could see the brands they own, what they were looking at and what they shared with others. In short I was immersing myself in their culture for a couple of days before my fieldwork started. It was 2 days very well spent.

You see what I am saying here is nothing new, revolutionary or clever but it is becoming increasingly rarely done these days – stepping back and watching the world. I’m always in such a hurry to get to the facility, do the groups and get back on the plane home (I stress this in case my wife is reading this knowing that she is looking after the baby as I ‘swan’ around New York). But you know what I shouldn’t hurry, I should take a day to be curious, I should spend a few hours outside of the facility with ‘consumers’ as it arms me with such important contextual understanding of what real consumers do in real spaces.

There is so much talk of innovation in research techniques that sometimes we forget the fundamentals; great research is about understanding how people react and behave in the real world

So I now have a renewed agenda and I pledge to do  3 things every time I have groups to do (and I did this in London this week and it works just as well in your own backyard as it does elsewhere)

1. Arrive early to your destination – a day if an international project, a few hours if in your home city
2. Visit the key places that are relevant to your group discussion – coffee shops are a must for almost any subject you can imagine but otherwise shops and specific parts of the city work well
3. Record notes of what you see. Even if not directly relevant to that project it may well be relevant further on down the line. With notes collect artefacts – flyers, pictures, brochures, newspapers – all will help you put together a cultural picture of the place you are in

I am an advocate of ethnography and always have been. Since 1998 I have both trained in and trained others on how to conduct anthropological methodologies. There is nothing new in what I say here. But  I now have a renewed vigour and sense of ethnographic worth. And you know what, (re) discovering something makes you feel great!