How can you demonstrate ethnographic research skills in a portfolio?

1 Choose relevant projects

Your portfolio should highlight the projects that demonstrate your ethnographic research skills, such as conducting fieldwork, interviews, surveys, diary studies, or participatory design. Choose the projects that align with your goals, interests, and expertise, and that showcase your ability to apply ethnographic methods to different contexts, problems, and domains. For each project, provide a clear overview of the research question, objectives, methods, participants, data, analysis, findings, and recommendations.

2 Show your process

Ethnographic research is not just about collecting data, but also about interpreting, synthesizing, and communicating it. Your portfolio should show how you planned, conducted, and analyzed your ethnographic research, and how you used various tools and techniques to support your process. For example, you can include your research plan, interview guide, field notes, consent forms, data collection instruments, coding schemes, affinity diagrams, personas, journey maps, or storyboards. Explain how you used these artifacts to organize, visualize, and understand your data, and how they informed your design decisions or recommendations.

3 Highlight your impact

Ethnographic research is valuable when it leads to actionable insights that improve the user experience, solve a problem, or create an opportunity. Your portfolio should highlight the impact of your ethnographic research on the project outcomes, the stakeholders, or the users. For example, you can show how your research findings influenced the design direction, strategy, or features of a product or service, or how they contributed to the evaluation or improvement of an existing solution. You can also include feedback, testimonials, or metrics that demonstrate the value or effectiveness of your research.

4 Tell a story

Ethnographic research is about uncovering the stories of the people you study, and telling them in a compelling way. Your portfolio should tell a story that engages your audience, showcases your skills, and reflects your personality. Use a clear and concise language, avoid jargon and acronyms, and use visuals, audio, or video to illustrate your points. Provide context and background for your projects, explain your challenges and learnings, and share your passion and enthusiasm for ethnographic research.

5 Update and refine

Your portfolio is not a static document, but a dynamic reflection of your ethnographic research skills and experiences. You should update and refine your portfolio regularly, to keep it relevant, fresh, and current. Review your projects and remove or replace the ones that are outdated, irrelevant, or low-quality. Add new projects that showcase your latest skills, achievements, or learnings. Seek feedback from peers, mentors, or clients, and use it to improve your portfolio. Make sure your portfolio is easy to access, navigate, and share online.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?