"매 people-in-context 의 deep, in-situ, often-long observational study". Malinowski (Trobriand 1922), Geertz "thick description" (1973) → 매 industry: Xerox PARC (Suchman 1980s) → 매 modern UX/HCI/Product 의 staple. 매 "what people say vs what people do" 의 gap 의 reveal 의 가장 강력한 method.
매 핵심
매 vs neighbors
Survey/usability test: 매 controlled / artificial / "say".
Interview: 매 retrospective / "say".
Ethnography: 매 in-situ / longitudinal / "do" + meaning.
Contextual Inquiry (Beyer & Holtzblatt 1998): 매 industry-condensed ethnography (1–2 hr in real workplace).
Field notes (jottings → expanded → analytic memos).
Domain analysis (cultural categories).
Taxonomic analysis (relations within domain).
Componential analysis (attributes / contrasts).
Theme synthesis (cross-domain patterns).
Member checks (validate with participants).
Thick description write-up.
매 typical artifacts
Field notes (jotted + expanded), photo / video / audio (with consent), artifacts collected, journey maps, persona-from-data, JTBD jobs.
💻 패턴
Field-note template (Markdown)
# Field Note — 2026-05-10 — site:Hospital ER, observer:RP
## Setting
- 14:00–17:00, Triage desk, 3 nurses, ~40 patients.
## Activities (chronological)
- 14:03 nurse A swivels between EHR (slow) + paper backup …
## Verbatim quotes
- "I never trust the system after a shift change." — Nurse A, 14:22
## Surprises / breakdowns
- EHR auto-logout at 5 min idle → workaround = mouse jiggler.
## Analytic memo
- Domain: trust in tools. Hypothesis: short timeout drives shadow IT.
## Next steps
- Interview Nurse B; check audit logs for jiggler signatures.
Coding qualitative data (open + axial, in Python)
importpandasaspdnotes=pd.read_csv("interviews.csv")# cols: pid, turn, textcodes={"trust-tool":["never trust","doesn't work","I just write it down"],"workaround":["mouse jiggler","shared password","screenshot"],"time-pressure":["no time","rushing","back-to-back"],}defcode(t):return[cforc,kwsincodes.items()ifany(kint.lower()forkinkws)]notes["codes"]=notes.text.apply(code)notes.explode("codes").groupby("codes").size().sort_values(ascending=False)
importanthropicclient=anthropic.Anthropic()defthemes(transcript:str)->str:returnclient.messages.create(model="claude-opus-4-7",max_tokens=1500,system=[{"type":"text","text":"You are a senior qualitative researcher.","cache_control":{"type":"ephemeral"}}],messages=[{"role":"user","content":f"Identify 3-7 emergent themes (open-coding style) with quote evidence.\n\n{transcript}"}]).content[0].text
언제: 매 transcript 의 first-pass open coding, 매 affinity cluster 의 candidate, 매 quote retrieval, 매 persona drafting.
언제 X: 매 final theme 의 sole arbiter (매 researcher judgment 필수), 매 sensitive raw data 의 unconsented external API call.
❌ 안티패턴
"Asking" 만 하기: 매 ethnography 의 essence = observing, not interviewing alone.
One-shot 1-hour visit + claim "ethnography": 매 contextual inquiry 라고 부르는 의 정직.
No reflexivity: 매 observer effect / bias 의 acknowledged 없으면 매 weak.
Confirmation bias coding: 매 second coder + inter-rater reliability (Cohen's κ) 의 add.
Thin description: 매 "users were frustrated" — 매 thick description 의 absent (no actor, action, meaning).
Skip consent / IRB: 매 ethical 의 mandatory.
🧪 검증 / 중복
Verified (Malinowski 1922; Geertz 1973; Spradley 1979/1980; Beyer & Holtzblatt Contextual Design 1998; Kuniavsky Observing the User Experience 2nd ed.).