About this podcast
For the latest instalment of the Design Thinkers Podcast, we focussed on a research method critical to design thinking: ethnography. Here we talk to Dr. Katie Gaddini and explore what ethnography is and its history as a research method. We look at the benefits of ethnography to business and how it can still be conducted remotely.
Ethnography is about understanding a person, a set of individuals or a community on a very deep level, to produce a rich knowledge about them and in turn be able to relate to them better. It's through understanding what their needs are, that you're then able to affect change or have impact on them.
Katie is a sociologist and a writer. She recently released a book called The Struggle to Stay based on five years of ethnographic research with single evangelical women, published by Columbia University Press.
She is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the department of Social Science at the University College London (UCL), and an affiliated researcher at Cambridge University and the University of Johannesburg. At UCL, Katie lectures on ethnography, teaching the methodology and the history.
Learn more
If you would like to know more about ethnography, then have a look at our courses, including our Design Thinkers Bootcamp. Bootcamp includes a masterclass and working sessions with ethnographer & research specialist Becky Rowe.
To find out more or for any other questions, including about our new online courses, please get in touch.