ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the application of ethnographic research to the development of home health care products. The general goal of ethnographic research is to develop a thorough and accurate understanding of the worldview of different kinds of people. Such research is valuable for the development of home health care products because the users of such products are particularly likely to be different from the people who develop them. Good ethnographic research involves more than simply adding real-world observation to interviews. It involves a conceptual framework and a methodology that typically take a multiyear apprenticeship to acquire. Good ethnographic research also generally requires a number of sophisticated tools, both for conducting the research and for reporting it.
