Use ethnographic research methods to authenticate culture-specific designs for target audiences¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends ethnographic research—participant observation, interviewing, and data collection such as field notes, videotapes and photography—as a way to authenticate specialised, culture-specific designs. In the reported case, designers of products for Chinese consumers visited and interacted with the target audience, used 'mediated immersion', videography, local researchers and cultural informants. The author concludes 'ethnographic methods might provide insights into the target audience not known through basic inquiry'.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Design teams should be knowledgeable about the target audience and see the audience's needs as central to product development; local users can serve as cultural informants and provide concept feedback

Constraints¶

• Forsythe (1999), as cited, argues non-ethnographers have borrowed these methods and interpreted them unsuccessfully due to lack of formal training; the article states ethnographic methods 'cannot be the only design specification in authenticating a design'

Target Learners¶

• Design teams creating ICTs for culture-specific target audiences

Target Learning Goals¶

• Authentic representation of a target audience's culture in technology design

Related Strategies¶

• Use cultural informants from the target community to buffer against stereotyping and bias
• Immerse in the culture, integrate learner feedback up front, and use formative evaluation to find gaps needing bridges

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Patricia A. Young. (2008). Integrating Culture in the Design of ICTs. British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol 39 No 1, 6-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00699.x