Ethnographic interviews guide design of ford vehicles website

This case study describes ethnographic interviews with vehicle buyers to learn how they make purchase decisions. The research was conducted for J. Walter Thompson (JWT), the digital design agency of the Ford Division of the Ford Motor Company; the authors faced challenges of tight schedule, limited budget, and difficulties in finding suitable participants. We nevertheless obtained valuable data that helped JWT refine the Ford Vehicles website. Keywords ethnography, ethnographic interviews, field studies, contextual inquiry, website design BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES, AND CHALLENGES Ethnographic interviewing uses techniques from anthropology to collect concrete information from people in their context of use. Sessions are conducted in work or home environments, where people behave more naturally and where we can explore surroundings and artifacts to add validity to self-reported data. Ethnographic interviews are useful for learning about the needs, work processes, and preferences of target ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Lori Anschuetz, Stephanie Rosenbaum
• Keywords: CHI 2003, Ethnographic Interviews, Ford Motor Company, Human Computer Interaction, JWT Planned Enhancements