Ethnographic Research and User Experience for Mobile Devices in Latin America

 UX RESEARCH  ·  ETHNOGRAPHY  ·  LATAM  ·  2012

Ethnographic Research

User Experience for Mobile Devices in Latin America

Pictures in the Field, Ethnographic Research. Public Spaces, Caracas-Venezuela 2012

Non-participant ethnographic observations across socioeconomic levels and countries

Miguel Palau

Fieldwork in Public Spaces  ·  Caracas, Venezuela  ·  2012

  

 "The closest thing to the anthropological experience has been erroneously confused with ethnography."

 

— Miguel Palau, Fieldwork Notes, 2012

 

 CONTEXT

 

Anthropology and UX Research in Latin America

 

Anthropological research in Latin America is merely known or applied in the resolution of problems of a social and cultural nature, especially in academia where lie huge volumes on the intrinsic characteristics of the study of local cultures — holistic data that has been largely underused.

 

The closest thing to the anthropological experience has been erroneously confused with ethnography. This being a tool of anthropology as social science data collection, its applications outside the academic realm in Latin America are today mostly related to the knowledge of the behavior of consumers, purchasers and their behavior towards the purchase of products, understanding of brands, the use of tangible or intangible services — all this as justification for tactical and strategic decision-making in areas of marketing.

 

There are still areas of opportunity for the dissemination of the professional profile of anthropologists and their professional skills. It has become common to see limited use focused on specific projects, or the absorption of anthropologists’ tasks by professionals from other fields of knowledge such as sociology, psychology, and in some cases engineering.

 

Ignorance of non-traditional research tools in the investigation of markets in Latin America generates a course oriented to obtaining rapid processes within qualitative data collection methodologies. Focus groups and the moderation of groups — where the false tendency to only take into consideration the elicitable elements prevails — are common, without taking into consideration that many of the participants lie in relation to the brands they use or their buying behavior.

 

However, winds of change are emerging for the incorporation of anthropologists within private companies. Countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia are just some that in recent history have been visited by anthropologists in their soils brought by private companies, which greatly ignore that there are schools of anthropology with high academic specialists who can gradually be incorporated as consultants to understand in a deep way what they called "consumers".

RESEARCH VALUE

 

What UX Ethnography Reveals

 

User Experience Research in Mobile Devices — Ethnography allows directly knowing in depth the following dimensions of user behavior:

 

—  What are the motivations, interests, and selection processes of mobile device users

—  The context of information purchase, use of products, and influences on the selection process

—  Moments of using applications in software

—  Main attractions in hardware element selection — material, colors and designs of technology products

 

To demonstrate this, we examine a small example of what could be an ethnographic observation in several moments, socioeconomic levels and countries of Latin America, and the type of information which can be extracted with proper training. Further to the information gathering, analysis will be mandatory to understand beyond the everyday, the representation of the phenomenon in itself.

METHODOLOGY

 

Ethnographic Approach

Non-participant observations were conducted during user experience fieldwork in Latin America. Contextual settings across different socioeconomic levels are reflected in the set of pictures and field notes collected during this study.

FINDINGS I

 

Emotional Components of Mobile Device Use

Technological use in different ways is most common between young users, specifically for entertainment and socializing with family and friends. Women showed a more codependent relationship with the frequent use of smartphones focused on permanent communication with family members and friends. This pattern cuts across socioeconomic levels and reinforces the primary social-communication function of mobile devices over their technical capabilities.

FINDINGS II

 

Insights on Brands, Apps, and Areas of Opportunity

BlackBerry remains the most common phone at the time of this research, especially due to the importance of the BlackBerry Messenger Application (BBM). There is, however, some market movement particularly in middle and upper classes toward Android devices and iPhone.

 

Mouth-to-mouth communication between all age groups is an important language mechanism to create awareness for new applications, especially in the social segment. Downloading could be an uncomfortable process especially in populations with prepaid plans, which represent more than 50% of the total population in most countries of the region.

 

Key Implication for Product Development

The data collected here suggests that informal knowledge transfer — oral transmission between users — is the primary adoption mechanism for new applications in LATAM markets. This has direct implications for product launch strategies and onboarding design: the application interface must be self-explanatory enough to be taught peer-to-peer without instructional support.

 

 © 2012 Miguel Palau – Todos los derechos reservados.

APA Reference

Palau, M. (2012). Ethnographic research: User experience for mobile devices in Latin America: Non-participant ethnographic observations across socioeconomic levels and countries. Unpublished manuscript.

 miguelpalau.blogspot.com