What you need to know about ethnography

Ethnography is a long-form method in which you immerse yourself in a community or culture to study its behaviors, interactions, and shared values firsthand. It prioritizes observation over direct questioning, which produces deeper and more authentic insights than shorter-form like focus groups or depth interviews.

That immersive depth comes at a price: ethnography requires a significant investment of time and expense. This article covers what ethnography involves, its benefits and drawbacks, and how to apply it in your business.

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What is ethnography?

first became popular among anthropologists in the 1800s. They used it to classify specific cultures and ethnic groups based on their behaviors, interactions, perceptions, and shared values.

These researchers sometimes lived for years within the culture they studied, building a systematic understanding and representation of that culture to later aid interaction and communication.

Today, the concept is used more broadly across many social science fields and business contexts—and it can be completed in days, not years. That means you can get actionable business takeaways based on authentic insights from a specific audience segment you want to learn about.

We’ll define ethnography as the descriptive (or qualitative) study of a group of individuals who share enough common characteristics to be considered a cohesive group.

The technique typically involves immersing yourself in that group. You gain insights into their behaviors and group dynamics using anything from interviews to observations. It prioritizes over elicitation (asking direct questions or analyzing text)—this is how it differs from other qualitative methods.

For example, a brand like Apple may use ethnographic research to better understand how its loyalists use its products in real-world settings. The technique lets researchers compare how users say they use the products with how they actually do.

The word “ethnography” refers both to the study itself and the report that summarizes the research findings.

Advantages of ethnography

The biggest advantage of ethnography lies in its in-depth, observational nature. Few research tools provide more valuable or nuanced insights into the group you’re studying.

The immersive approach also allows for more authentic insights. You’re not just interacting with your audience for research purposes—you observe spontaneous interactions and natural behaviors that shorter-form qualitative or methods may miss. You can still ask questions when you need to clarify something important.

Finally, ethnography’s open-ended nature makes it more flexible than many alternatives. Other research types try to confirm or reject a , but ethnography doesn’t uncover black-and-white truths. Instead, you use it to learn as much as possible about the group, and every insight feeds into your overall understanding of the subject.

Disadvantages of ethnography

This type of research has drawbacks, too. Consider the following when deciding whether ethnography is right for you:

Defining the group you’re studying can be difficult—especially when it’s not a self-defined culture. That makes the boundaries of group membership hard to draw. Thinking back to the Apple example: how would you define a brand loyalist?
Ethnography is time-consuming by nature. Anthropologists spend years immersed in the cultures they study. Business-facing studies are shorter, but selecting the group, planning the study, and performing the immersion can still take days or weeks at the stage. Shorter-form methods, like , depth interviews, or questionnaires, might take only hours at this stage.
Researcher bias can become a serious problem. Any ethnography is subjective and based on the researcher’s interpretations. Done carelessly, your pre-existing biases seep into the observation and analysis, possibly skewing the results.

Finally, anyone performing an ethnography needs to consider ethics. Observed information may be sensitive or private, and subjects may not be comfortable sharing it with a broader public. Disclosing your role and the intended outcomes of the study is crucial to conducting it ethically.

Should you use ethnography in your research?

Ethnography is worthwhile in any situation that calls for in-depth information about a specific group—particularly when direct questions can’t answer your research questions. It won’t offer quick answers, and it won’t deliver .

These four questions can help you decide whether to use ethnography:

How clearly can you define the community or group you’re looking to study?
How easily can you gain access to that community or group?
How much time do you have for the study and its outcomes?
Are there other, faster ways to gain the information you want?

For basic research questions, a focus group or interviews may serve you better. Know what you’re getting into before committing to ethnographic research.

What are the three important variables in ethnographic research?

Three general concepts are especially important for any researcher looking for actionable takeaways:

Open versus closed settings
Active versus passive observation
Overt versus covert research

Treat these three variables as individual dimensions. An ethnography can be open, active, and covert, or closed, active, and overt. The best combination depends on the situation and the group you’re studying.

1. Open vs. closed settings

Ethnography in open settings means studying a group anyone can join. For example, if you study your current customers, anyone who buys a product automatically joins the group and can become part of the study.

In contrast, ethnography in closed settings means studying a relatively fixed group that’s difficult for new members to join. Students at a particular university are a closed group: joining requires being accepted and paying thousands of dollars in tuition.

Open ethnographies are easy to set up because you can easily reach members. At the same time, the parameters of membership can be hard to define—the group’s identity might be so loose that it’s meaningless, limiting what the research can uncover.

Closed ethnographies can be difficult to start because gaining access is hard. But the group will have a clearer identity and more strongly defined values. Once you’re in, full immersion is easier, and the findings tend to be more meaningful as a result.

2. Active vs. passive observation

Passively observing a group means shadowing the ethnography’s subjects. You observe and document their everyday interactions without interacting yourself. This lets you focus entirely on the subjects and reduces the chance of bias.

Active observation means interacting directly with the group you’re studying. You might join the group and experience the same interactions and behaviors as other members.

Active observation gives you a better feel for your subjects’ perspectives, but beware of bias: your observation may be less impartial, and you may influence the group’s behavior.

Each approach has trade-offs, and the right choice depends on the circumstances. Passive observation may seem less likely to introduce bias, but it isn’t suitable for every scenario—some groups find it more conspicuous to have a silent observer writing and recording whom they can’t interact with or question.

3. Overt vs. covert ethnography

Overt ethnography means being open and honest with every subject you interact with about your role as a researcher.

In covert ethnography, you study the group secretly. You might provide an excuse for why you’re shadowing or temporarily joining them.

Most researchers prefer overt ethnography for ethical reasons. You can’t get your subjects’ consent for sharing or evaluating their thoughts and actions if you’re dishonest about your role.

On the other hand, overt ethnography may limit access to groups that don’t want to be studied. It may also introduce unnatural behaviors from subjects who want to portray their group in a positive light.

Part of the reason ethnography runs over longer time periods (days or even weeks) is so subjects “forget” they’re being observed, even in an overt situation. Over time, they become more likely to behave as they would in a covert one. As researchers grow familiar with their subjects and observe rather than elicit behavior, they increase the likelihood of gathering semi-covert observations from familiar subjects.

What are the key components of ethnography?

Every ethnography—open or closed, covert or overt, active or passive—needs four key components to succeed:

Access to the community studied
Advocates or partners in the community studied
Observation practices and notes
A recorded research report, typically via video in business contexts

Let’s look at each component in more detail.

1. Community access

Every ethnography needs a specific plan for gaining access to the group you’ll study. Research the steps required to gain entry. For example, you might attend a sporting event to access fans or take a college class to access students.

Depending on the group, consider reaching out to formal or informal group leaders for information and permission. This is an essential first step for overt ethnographies, and it can also mitigate some of the ethical concerns of covert research.

Build a plan B in case you can’t gain access, and consider it early on. It would typically involve studying a similar group (like fans of a different sports team) or using a different research method.

Financial incentives can work to your advantage in commercial market research, where your objective is to understand behavior within a particular customer segment (e.g., Tesla owners). After defining the recruitment criteria for your target subjects, you can pay them to take part.

2. Partners in the community

Your group’s formal or informal leaders may become your go-betweens—your partners in the community. They act as your primary points of contact during the study, providing basic information about the group, access where needed, and help with logistics.

Identify your informants before and during the early stages of the study. Their logistical help frees you to focus on the more qualitative aspects of the group and your subjects.

Take care when working with informants. You could become too reliant on their information, mistaking their opinions and actions as representative of the larger group. Working with multiple informants helps mitigate this.

This step matters less for commercial market research studies, which tend to be observational studies with individuals rather than communities. Still, you may gain insights and access through informal group leaders, like influencers or thought leaders.

3. Observation

The study itself mostly involves observing the group you’re immersed in, and note-taking is your key tool.

Most ethnographers keep a daily journal to record their observations and interactions with community members—unique behaviors, emerging patterns, how different members interact, and more. Record more than you think you need, in case the material helps you identify a pattern later.

Ethnographers also use video, audio recordings, and photography to support their findings. This is especially valuable in commercial research settings: demonstrating behaviors is compelling and provides strong evidence to shape marketing and brand strategy.

Remember to obtain permission from anyone appearing in a recording or photograph if parts of the study may become public.

4. The research report

The study concludes with the final piece of the puzzle: the written report containing the core takeaways and insights from your immersion. Start by reviewing all your field notes and recordings and analyzing the data for patterns and trends. Many researchers use affinity diagrams to organize their thoughts and analysis.

If you used video for observation, this step includes cutting longer footage down to shorter thematic edits that capture key behaviors. These can serve as an analysis tool or a video report.

Ethnographies don’t follow a fixed structure. Instead, stay focused on listing the research’s insights and takeaways: introduce the study’s original goals and purpose, share your findings, and conclude with next steps.

Unlike other research methods, your personal context should also be part of the ethnography. Identify how you felt, your background with the group, and other variables. This helps the audience better understand the insights and identify potential biases.

8 important things to consider with ethnographic research

Follow the eight steps below as you plan and execute your ethnography. They’ll help you maximize the value of the insights you gain.

Start with clear goals, outlining why you want to study this community.
Clearly define the community or group with as many shared values and variables as possible.
Build a timeline that establishes how long you’ll spend with the group.
Decide on and define the type of ethnography you’ll perform—open or closed, overt or covert, and active or passive.
If needed, reach out to group leaders and other potential informants to build connections with the group. This step may not be necessary in a commercial market research setting.
Take notes diligently during the study. Record too much rather than not enough.
Create a research report that outlines the goals, process, and actionable takeaways.
Share your research report with any who can benefit from the insights in their work.

Every ethnography is different because it’s largely defined by the group you’re studying. Still, findings from one ethnography may inform your next study, and your process will improve over time as you learn more about the communities that matter to you, your organization, and other stakeholders.