Usability Terms Explained: Ethnography And Its Role In User Interface Design

What is Ethnography and how does it relate to user interface design

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Ethnography is a research methodology that is most commonly used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and sociology. Its purpose is to gather empirical data relative to humans and their interactions with each other, society, or any other external factor they encounter. This data is collected through participant observation, interviews, and questionnaires etc. The goal of ethnography is to describe the overall nature of the people studied. Ethnography is a term that is often used interchangeably with phrases such as field study or case report although the term ethnography embraces much more than just that.

The use of ethnography as an empirical method is predicated on the fact that the strategy is holistic; the idea is that humans must be understood within the fullest possible context. This means understanding where they live, how they make a living, what they eat, what they use for housing, what their marriage customs are, what language(s) they speak, etc.

In computer science, ethnography comprises observation of users in the field. For example, designers gain an understanding of a group of users within the context from which they employ a piece of software or more specifically a given user interface. The context might be the users actual home or office. This information can often help designers construct user interfaces with a holistic and complete understanding of the user. This results in user interface design that is centered on the needs of the end user.

Ethnography as a usability method

Ethnography lends itself well to usability testing of user interface designs because the principle of holistic human data collection works well in tandem with the fundamentals of UX design. The main difference between an ethnographical usability test and a regular usability test is that ethnographical usability tests are conducted in settings that are real for the user. That is, the test is not carried out in a lab or other foreign environment, it is carried out in the real context within which the user will employ the interface, be it at the office or at home or on the go. Observing and collecting data in the real world and real contexts is central to ethnography, whether or not it is used as a usability method, as this can have a strong impact on test results.

by: Martin Metz

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