How a Research Consultancy used Digital Ethnography to Understand Seniors’ Perceptions of Smart Home Technologies?

digital-ethnography-seniors-smart-home-technologies-case-study

The Challenge

The client wanted to understand whether seniors would be interested in and comfortable using new technologies in-home energy usage. They want to determine whether smart home technologies can help seniors in managing energy-related usage especially in using electricity (lighting) and gas (thermostats).

24 Respondents

16 Tasks

2 Weeks

Tasking Strategy: Sequential

The Project

The client set the respondents a variety of tasks, with videos, photos, and notes as the response options.

There was a strong focus on video uploads, encouraging respondents to record selfie videos while capturing their opinions.

To cater for this cohort of respondents, the tasks were released daily on a schedule, so respondents would receive a Push Notification each day, informing them there were new tasks available for them to complete.

Despite employing scheduled tasking, the client emphasised in the introduction that respondents could approach the tasks at their own pace. Tasks remained open and available to respondents for the duration of the study.

This study had a full completion rate, with all respondents registering and logging into the App successfully, and completing their tasks. The Indeemo support team was on hand to guide any respondents that required support.

A particularly encouraging aspect of the project was how easy the research group found using Indeemo’s digital ethnography app given the demographic they represented.

What Factors Contributed to the Project's Success?

Active, engaged moderation drove the success of this study, helping seniors feel engaged throughout the fieldwork.

Providing respondents with the time and space to complete tasks at their own pace, and also offering flexibility so they could upload their response types helped ensure they were comfortable with the project and helped ensure high completion rates.

Proactive moderation and support from the Indeemo team also helped respondents complete tasks smoothly via the Indeemo App.

Conclusion

The project was very well received by the client. They also used the exercise to select several respondents for an hour-long follow-up discussion remotely via video chat. This ensured that they were able to gain as many insights as possible during the window of the research.