Abstract
Ethnography, as an observational methodology, provides specific benefits in research on medical topics that other qualitative approaches cannot. Medicine is practiced in a broader context and involves multiple players, a fact that cannot be fully captured by surveys and studio or telephone interviews. In the pharmaceutical realm, ethnography has garnered much press over the last few years. Clients are increasingly interested in ethnography and have commissioned ethnographic research studies because many medical products face tougher competition. Therefore, a more thorough understanding of the customer, versus just product features/benefits, is needed, and a review of ethnography is thus timely. Ethnography has particular strengths and weaknesses, and a review of our own ethnographic work suggests several key areas where it excels for us. This paper will outline the history and theoretical underpinnings of ethnography, before discussing how it is useful in medical and medical-related consumer marketing. The authors will follow this discussion with specific examples of how ethnography allows us to better serve our clients in the pharmaceutical marketing industry.