Systems and methods for arranging participant interview clips for ethnographic research

Abstract

Systems and methods for arranging participant interview clips for conducting ethnographic research. Video clips and photographs of interviews of participants in a market research study are stored in a database. Each item stored in the database is tagged with an interpretive tag indicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotive characteristic of the participant. A user searches the database for tags or search terms of interest, and selects clips from the search results for inclusion in a perspective, which is a collection of selected clips and their associated tags and comments from multiple users who collaborate to determine which clips to include in the perspective. The process of creating a perspective is iterative and collaborative, in which the database can be mined and re-mined using different search strategies by multiple users, who provide their comments on selected clips to form a perspective that can be used for product innovation.

1 - 23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . A method for conducting observation-based ethnographic research, comprising:
 accessing a plurality of electronic media files stored in a database, each electronic media file of the plurality of electronic media files including a digital photograph or a video clip of a human participant from among a plurality of human participants being photographed or video-recorded under observation or questioning;   using a controller, associating with each of at least some of the electronic media files one or more distinct interpretive tags, each of the interpretive tags being a data element indicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotive characteristic of the corresponding human participant;   using the controller, associating one or more of the electronic media files with each other based on at least one common interpretive tag among the one or more of the electronic media files to form a perspective.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the questioning is by a researcher. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the observation or questioning is in connection with a market research study. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising:
 using the controller, adding commentary and/or observations to the perspective, the one or more electronic media files forming the perspective, or a combination thereof.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising:
 providing one or more thumbnails of the perspective, wherein each of the one or more thumbnails is associated with a separate electronic media file of the one or more electronic media files.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the commentary and/or observations are associated with the one or more image thumbnails. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the commentary and/or observations are ethnographic-based commentary and/or observations.