Q: Marachit wonders, “I have been doing something very similar to what you do although I have no idea if I can even claim it as ethnography. I do think it comes close, in a way. Been doing it for five years, as part of an insight team in an ad agency. My question is, do I have to be a ‘proper anthropologist/ethnographer’ (i.e. with a Master’s Degree) to be able to say that we do consumer anthropology? I know I’m doing quite a good job, but I am wondering about authenticity.”

A: Hi Marichit,

Thanks for the question. Your question is one that comes up quite often, especially lately. I think in order to answer your question it is necessary to make a distinction between “ethnographic techniques” and “ethnography.”

There seems to be a good deal of confusion around exactly what ethnography is. I think much of what is labeled as “ethnography” is often in-context interviewing. And although in-context interviewing is an essential component of ethnography, it is but one component. True ethnography is a very systematic and iterative process of data collection and analysis that involves a good deal of social theory and understanding. Ethnography is a specialized skill that takes a good deal of time to learn to do correctly both in the field and in the analysis and we’ve found that a graduate degree in anthropology or sociology seems to do the best job of preparing ethnographers.

On the other hand, there are a number of companies that seem to have incorporated good ethnographic techniques (things like in-context interviews, observation, etc) into their tool kits without being full blown ethnographers.

So, the short answer to your question is yes, we think you have to have graduate training in the social sciences AND a good deal of experience in conducting ethnographic work in order to call yourself an ethnographer. There has been a tendency for those outside our field of expertise to offer “ethnography” without the proper training and over the past few years, we’ve found ourselves often defending our work to clients who have had experience with others who offer ethnography but who deliver in-context interviews or video without attention to analysis.

Melinda