Ethnography for Marketers: A Guide to Consumer Immersion

by Hy Mariampolski

Book Overview

Ethnography, with its focus on observed everyday behavior, is quickly becoming the method of choice to identify unmet needs, stimulate novel insights, create strategies and develop new ideas. Hy Mariampolski, author of Qualitative Market Research: A Comprehensive Guide (Sage, 2001) again takes readers on a voyage of discovery in Ethnography for Marketers. These two companion works are essential guides for marketers seeking rich insights...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761969470
• ISBN13: 9780761969471
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Experienced or not, this book is a bargain!

This book provides many insights into the entire process of conducting ethnographies and in-field oberservations whether the reader is experienced or not. Backed by case studies and experience, Ethnography for Marketers can be used as a check list, a manual, a sequencer and more. Dr. Mariampolski's insights and clear presentation of "How To" and "How Not To" make for an informative easy read. Additionally, many of the tactics are easily adaptable to any in-field qualitative research in almost any category with any class of trade. This is a must read for any qualitative researcher.

Ethnography for Marketers

Ethnography is "hot" right now. Understanding your customer and consumer is trendy. Mariampolski has been conducting and educating people about ethnography long before it was in vogue. This book is a must read for everyone who is even thinking about what the word means. Why? Dr. Mariampolski writes in a most engaging style which makes this "textbook" read easily and enjoyably. He knows what he is talking about since he is one of the most noteworthy marketing ethnographers in the world today. For those of us who are time crunched, reading the first couple of chapters creates enough knowledge that one is no longer asking, what is ethnography? Hy creates the context for truly understanding the goals and differences between ethnography and other qualitative approaches and where this approach has emerged in the world of consumer understanding. For those who want more of a step-by-step, that is part of the book and allows a researcher to have a sense about whether they or their agency are implementing ethnographic principles. Mariampolski's love of educating and engagement with the consumer make this a book for ANYONE who is saying the word - ethnography - a must read and a staple on shelf for researchers and marketers in all fields.

This man is state of the art - and this field of research is growing fast.

Ethnography is about "living with the tribe" and understanding holistically the significance of what they say and do. In recent years since the mid-1990s, this school has grown increasingly attractive for marketers and researchers simply because classic phone surveys and focus groups have not fully explained consumer behaviour. Researchers want, and need, to go deeper. Here, Hy Mariampolski - who is globally acclaimed in research circles as a challenging, articulate champion of qualitative research - literally writes the book on the art and science of "immersion" amongst the consumer tribes we study. Thoughtful, practical and above all inspiring - this will help researchers confidently go where too few of us have gone before: into the everyday lives of those once-distant (phone interviews?) respondents. I unreservedly recommend it. This volume has proved an excellent guide for two of my projects already.