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The Power of Questions

5 November 2024

Geof read James Spradley's The Ethnographic Interview, which offers practical lessons based on the field of anthropology, for understanding end users through empathetic and immersive conversation techniques. Spradley’s lessons on ethnography highlight the importance of empathy and reflection in fostering meaningful connections and enhancing problem solving practices.

Tags: design thinking, geof read, learning

Unlocking Insights: A Business-Friendly Dive into James Spradley's Academic The Ethnographic Interview

This January’s start of the University of Richmond’s Spring semester will mark my fifth year teaching the Introduction to Design Thinking course in the School of Arts and Sciences. Central to design thinking, and the class, is the notion of understanding your end user by immersing yourself in their world (culture) and their lived experience (context). When I first started teaching the class, I picked up a used copy of James Spradley’s The Ethnographic Interview to help expand my understanding of ethnography.

Ethnography is the art and science of understanding people by immersing yourself in their world. Spradley’s approach emphasizes empathy as fundamental to understanding the end user. It’s not just about asking questions; it’s about adopting an empathetic lens, seeing the world through the eyes of the interviewee, and understanding the context and emotions behind their words.

Ethnography offers a pathway to developing products and services that resonate with users on a deeper level. This aligns with design thinking, which prioritizes human-centered design and problem-solving through empathy and iterative prototyping. By applying Spradley's techniques, I try to teach the students to move beyond assumptions and preconceived notions to uncover the real needs and desires of their end users.

The Power of the Right Questions

This past semester, the students interviewed incoming freshmen to identify ways to minimize discomfort during the transition from high school (and home) to college (and campus). Like me, they found themselves crafting close-ended question guides, with prompts like “Do you enjoy living on campus?” or “Do you miss home?”

These dichotomous questions limit learning and prevent us from building a deeper understanding of the end user. Spradley outlines various question types to help uncover the nuances of the end-user experience, which the students modeled:

• Descriptive Questions invite interviewees to share their experiences in rich detail, providing a window into their daily life. Spradley outlines several types of descriptive questions:
  • Grand Tour Questions prompt interviewees for descriptions of a typical experience. For example, we asked freshmen, "Can you walk me through your typical day on campus?" to help understand their environment.
  • Mini Tour Questions focus on specific events or activities. Instead of asking “Do you eat at the dining hall?,” we asked, "Can you describe what happens when you go to the dining hall for dinner?" This allows for a closer look at a particular aspect (dining) of the freshman experience.
  • Example Questions elicit specific examples to reveal detailed insights. For example, we prompted conversations about dorm life with "Can you give me an example of a challenge you faced with your roommate and how you resolved it?"
  • Experience Questions ask the user to recall and describe a specific experience. We asked freshman respondents, "Can you describe a time when you felt really comfortable on campus?" to help uncover emotional and cognitive reactions.
  • Native-Language Questions encourage the interviewee to share their own language and expressions. Example: "How would you describe your first week on campus to a friend?"
• Structural Questions are designed to uncover the organization of knowledge within a culture. These questions help to dig deeper to understand how end users categorize their experiences and the relationships between concepts in their world. Example questions might include, "What are the different ways you might prepare for a difficult exam?" or "How do you decide who to eat with during lunch in the dining hall?" These help end users articulate the heuristics and mental models they use to navigate their everyday lives.
• Contrast Questions explore differences in meaning and experience, allowing a more nuanced understanding of the end-user's perspective. For instance, we asked, "How is participating in the university orientation different from spending time with your floormates during the first weeks of the semester?" to understand perspectives of “official” and “unofficial” orientation activities.

Cultivating Empathy Through Reflection

Spradley’s emphasis on empathy extends beyond the interview itself. He advocates for a reflective practice, encouraging researchers to continuously evaluate their own assumptions and biases. This reflective approach enhances the ability to empathize with participants, leading to richer, more meaningful insights—an essential component of design thinking.

Practical Applications for Everyday Users and Designers

Beyond the obvious application of building a deeper understanding of others through their experiences, ethnography can also help students (and practitioners) with improved communication by using Spradley’s question techniques to foster more meaningful conversations, both at work and home. Those improved conversations can lend themselves to enhanced problem-solving by uncovering deeper-held beliefs, whether in a business or personal context. Finally, ethnography, and Spradley’s approaches in particular, can be applied to understand different cultures or perspectives, broadening your worldview and informing more inclusive design solutions.

Spradley’s The Ethnographic Interview offers practical insights into the role of empathy in understanding end users. The conversation guide and question types can cultivate a deeper connection with others, uncovering insights that might otherwise remain obscured. Whether in business, design, or any field that seeks to understand human behavior, ethnography provides guidance to see the world through the eyes of others—an important lesson I’d like to teach the students in addition to design thinking.

Consider how Spradley’s principles of empathy and reflection can enhance your approach to conversations. By doing so, you may discover new dimensions of insight that transform your work and deepen your connection to those you seek to understand.

 

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