The Privilege of 'Sitting at the Feet of your Elders'
We begin each ethnography by asking our respondents to “tell us a little about themselves”. In a recent session exploring landownership and its necessary tools, our host told us about herself and her Gullah and Creek roots. “We value sitting at the feet of our elders and learning from them.” This moment, as I sat cross legged on the carpet in her home in Florida, I felt so privileged to be doing just that.
True human-centered design research involves observing and learning from “users” in the environment in which they are interacting with the thing we are studying. This brings us into homes and personal environments. In a very short time, we become intimate with the details of these strangers’ lives, their motivations, joys and struggles. Even when we are studying something as simple as paper plates (or as serious as implanted medical devices), I do always feel that I am sitting and learning at the feet of our respondents. The opportunity to access this window into another’s life feels such a privilege and an honor.
Qualitative ethnographic research uncovers invaluable real-life insight into the way products or strategies can be most successfully designed. For me, as a researcher, these fleeting chances to learn from people that I would most likely never otherwise meet, is an unexpected honor that continually humbles and re-shapes my view of humanity. I will forever be grateful for this extraordinary ‘fringe benefit’ of our research.
~ Beth VanDeWalker | Design Research Collective
