Ethnographies are just one of the awesome ways you can take part in home-based market research.
If you’ve never taken part in one before, an ethnography is a study of people in a real-world environment, while a mobile ethnography is a combination of this methodology with the additional use of mobile technology.
Essentially, a researcher will either observe you going about your daily life in person, or they’ll collect your responses through a smartphone, tablet or computer. Both are good fun to get involved in – and you’ll get paid a great incentive for taking part!
This just scratches the surface of what the participants who got involved in our client’s Female Inclusivity and Gaming ethnographic study experienced. Read on to find out more about the project, and how you can get involved in similar opportunities…
So… what was this mobile ethnography all about?
While female gamers are on the rise, there have been a lot of issues around gender diversity and equality in the gaming community in the past, which has called for further investigation.
This study was therefore all about exploring the future of inclusivity in games and gaming for women!
It was being run by a world-renowned futures consulting agency, who specialise in customer insight and forecasting, with the aim to help other companies adapt their offering to achieve future success.
… and which participants from the Angelfish community took part?
20 female gamers (all of whom are members of the Angelfish participant community) aged between 18 and 35 who lived in Birmingham were invited to take part in this study.
These women were a mix of regular and casual gamers, as well as being from a range of ethnic, cultural and value-based backgrounds. They were also a mix of iOS and Android users, and highly driven by the topic of female inclusivity in the gaming community!
What were the participants required to do for the ethnography?
This study was a mix of both a traditional ethnography and a mobile ethnography. For the mobile part, the participants were asked to keep a WhatsApp diary (one-to-one with the researcher) for seven days, sharing what they’d been up to, the games they’d played and for how long, and what their experiences were of the gaming community.
After this, four of the respondents were asked to then take part in a three-hour ethnographic study at home so that the researchers could explore their gaming habits and experiences in more detail.
… and what did they get for taking part?
The participants who completed the WhatsApp diary part of the study received a £70 Amazon voucher for their contributions, and the four participants who took part in the home-based market research were given £120 in cash. An absolute win!
Would you like to get involved in a similar project?
If this case study has got you excited at the prospect of taking part in home-based market research, then be sure to become a member of the Angelfish participant community!
In addition to in-home ethnographies, this will give you the chance to take part in a range of other exciting projects, from in-home interviews to remote user research, online communities to online focus groups and many more.
As a result, you’ll have the opportunity to not only share your thoughts, feelings and opinions about the products and brands you love most from the comfort of your own home but get paid for it, too!
Sound good?
Sign up today and have a browse of the projects we currently have on the go!
