Summary
In-person research has been squeezed for years. It’s viewed as expensive, slow, and hard to scale. As AI accelerates everything else, the temptation is to automate away human time in the field, for the sake of speed. I contend that AI’s real opportunity lies in depth, not just speed. We’re getting distracted by speed, and failing to see the potential of depth. In this talk, I argue that AI gives us the rare opportunity to restore depth to qualitative research. Instead of treating automation as a shortcut, we used AI tools to absorb labour-intensive tasks (cleaning transcripts, tagging footage, structuring notes etc) so we could reinvest that time in what remains the most data-dense method in our practice: immersive, in-person ethnography. I’ll draw on three recent consulting projects I directed: 1. In-home health research in Atlanta 2. Retail ethnography across London, Hamburg, and Milan 3. A follow-on multi-city retail study in London, Paris, Berlin, and Milan By redirecting AI-generated time savings into deeper fieldwork, we expanded ethnographic activities: from extended “deep hanging out” (to borrow Clifford Geertz’s phrase) to ethnographic journaling and collaborative interpretation moments in-field. I’ll also share how we brought non-research stakeholders into the field, and why AI was essential in making that investment possible — transforming not just insights, but internal conviction and cross-functional alignment. My goal for the audience is to come away from the talk inspired and motivated. I want people to use AI tools to help mitigate all the usual tradeoffs we as researchers have had to make over the years when conducting in-person research.
Upcoming events
Connect with the Advancing Research Community
Research is a team sport: advancing the work when everyone does the research
From generic to contextual research insights with AI | Live Q&A
Participant Recruitment and Management Tools
Co-Design vs Faux-Design: Navigating the Complexities of Sharing Power in Co-Design
More Videos
"Thick data is the opposite of big data and essential for rescuing lost context."
Tricia WangFrom Users to Shapers of AI: The Future of Research
March 25, 2024
"In Procore, design moved from tasting the cake to baking the cake by being involved early in strategy and planning."
Alfred KahnA Seat at the Table: Making Your Team a Strategic Partner
November 29, 2023
"The culture here is not competitive; people openly share their work, ask for feedback, and genuinely help each other grow."
Caitlyn Hampton Monica Lee Jina YoonCompass 101: Growing Your Career In A Startup World
June 11, 2021
"The Netflix grid experience that was simplest and offered no genre picking actually won, showing users are lazier than they think."
Steve Sanderson Alissa Briggs Jeff Gothelf Bill ScottDiscussion
May 14, 2015
"Research is a group project and learning is a group project—you don’t have to be an expert but find those who are."
Liza Pemstein Jane DavisScaling Research Via an Ops First Model at Clever
March 27, 2023
"Benchmarking has nearly doubled in two years, showing growing maturity in UX measurement across industries."
Dana Bishop2022: The Year UX Demonstrates its Business Impact
March 11, 2022
"When you tap into the expertise that people with disabilities have developed over lifetimes, you will find problems to solve and solutions to use."
Samuel ProulxDesigning for Disability, Innovating for Everyone
March 11, 2025
"X is going to change everything. Sometimes it’s true, and sometimes it’s just hype."
Husani OakleyTheme Three Intro
June 6, 2023
"You do not need to take any notes, we have dedicated note takers who provide session notes, resource lists, decks, and videos."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
September 30, 2021
