Let’s try this again. If things had gone according to plan last issue, you could have turned to this space to read all about our new look. But the folks at the printing company had other ideas. They substituted page 82 containing my column with page D82 from our focus group facilities directory. (They have assured me they weren’t trying to make a not-so-subtle comment on my writing.)

I guess we just have to be thankful that page 82 didn’t end up in D82’s place in the directory!

                                                                    * * *

So what do you think? Do you like the new look? We’re all very excited about it, naturally. While we have been contemplating a change for quite a while now, the main impetus came from comments obtained through research with our readers. A number of kind people said they like the magazine just the way it is, but a greater number suggested it was time for an update.

We hope the new design is easier to navigate. Readers have said they hate being forced to flip to the back of the magazine to read the continuation of a story. From now on, while there may be a few instances where production factors force us to jump a story, we’ll make every effort to avoid those annoying “continued on” lines.

Many readers also said they enjoy the magazine but don’t have enough time to read everything in it. While we can’t increase the number of hours in a day, we have tried to use visual cues to make it easier to see the topic of an article, such as the heading that runs along the left edge of each story’s first page, so that when you do have the time to read, you can easily find articles on topics that interest you.

Content-wise, we haven’t made any major changes. We added the quant-related By the Numbers column a few issues back to complement the popular Qualitatively Speaking column. But some new features are in the works and should debut in the early part of 2004. So keep an eye out!

Change, as they say, is an iterative thing. Over the next few issues we’ll no doubt make some tweaks here and there. Your feedback is a critical part of that process. As always, you can reach me at 952-854-5101 or at joe@quirks.com.

                                                                     * * *

Another thing you may have noticed about the December issue was the near ubiquitous presence of ethnographic research. I didn’t actually count, but I think almost every article had some reference to conducting ethnographic research - a purely accidental situation but one that nevertheless indicates ethnography’s growing profile among researchers.

We’re not alone in our ethno-mania. An entire day was devoted to the topic at the Institute for International Research’s annual market research event in San Francisco in October.

I was a little bit worried when Robbie Blinkoff, principal anthropologist at Context Research and chairperson of the ethnography symposium, started the day off by asking all of the attendees to close their eyes and take a mental journey with him to visit a jungle tribe. Just the kind of thing a skeptical researcher would scoff at, I thought. But the audience loved it and the 10-minute relaxation exercise was a perfect way to begin what ended up being a busy and action-packed morning and afternoon.

One highlight was hearing Tammi Taylor, senior researcher, consumer insights, at Levi Strauss, talk about how the company used ethnography to investigate markets for its Levi Strauss Signature clothing line. The line is aimed at shoppers of mass market stores like Wal-Mart and Target, a market with which the company’s designers weren’t familiar. Well, as a result of the ethnography, the designers are now on a first-name basis with at least one of the shoppers, a woman who, through the magic of videotape, has come to personify the product line’s target demographic for the company.

Taylor said the research, which included shopping trips, in-home visits, workbooks and phone surveys, also helped the company describe key concepts and ideas in the customers’ language. And the videotaped portions were a good way to communicate with the designers, who are so used to dealing with things in visual terms.

During another session, Shari Tallarico, an ethnographer at Microsoft, explained the ways she challenges people in Microsoft’s mobile device product group to pay attention to how much useful information can be gleaned from being observant during a shopping trip. For example, she organizes small groups for ethnographic excursions to places such as the Pike Place Market in Seattle to observe how people hold and interact with their mobile phones and PDAs. During debriefing sessions the participants recount what they saw and determine how it might be useful to Microsoft product developers.

Tallarico says ethnography isn’t a cure-all, nor is it a replacement for other kinds of research. Some internal clients have had questions about the methodological rigor of ethnographic sessions, but once they’ve had an ethnographic experience that they felt brought them close to a customer’s experience, the questions of rigor have tended to fall away.