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November 20-21, 2013 | Singapore

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A Case of Ethnographic Research on Mobile Life in Singapore

Exploring the Meaning of Digital

Masao Kakihara

Google Asia Pacific

20 November 2013

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Google Confidential and Proprietary

Agenda

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1 Marketing Research at Google

2 Making Sense of the Digital

3 A Trial of Ethnographic Research

4 Methodological Challenges

Today’s agenda

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Google’s Marketing Mission

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“Know the user. Know the magic. Connect the two.”

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Research Domains

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1. Advertising research 2. Product research

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Making Sense of the Digital

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Google Confidential and Proprietary 6

Smart Devices

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Lots of Quant Research

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“Our Mobile Planet”

“New Multiscreen World”

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Issues We Faced…

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1 Hard to explore smartphone usage by survey data

2 Technical & legal challenges for mobile behavioral data analysis

3 A huge gap between time spent on mobile and mobile ad investment

Research challenges

Google Confidential and Proprietary

A Trial of Ethnographic Research

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Objectives and Background

To Provide a Cultural Analysis Of:

• The deep emotional connections people are developing to their mobile devices

• The ideas, values and goals that are guiding people’s use of mobile

• The Meanings, practices, and routines that surround mobile devices

To Consider:

• Mobile’s cultural success in contemporary Singapore, one of the highest smartphone

penetrated markets in the world (73%, Q1 2013)

• How the Meaning of Mobile intersects with the cultural contexts of present-day

Singapore, especially an emerging digital play culture

Methodology:

• 2-week field observation and 23 in-depth filmed ethnographic encounters, 2½ to 3 hours

long, conducted in May 2013 in Singapore

Google Confidential and Proprietary

Deeply Embedded in Everyday Life

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Google Confidential and Proprietary

How We Use the Result

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Methodological Challenges

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1 How to connect to quant data and create a holistic story

2 Deep interpretation, low generalizability

3 Limited options for expression of the result

Challenges

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Thank you!

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Association Partners

Media Sponsors

Twitter Hashtag #QUAL360

November 20-21, 2013 | Singapore