Ethnography checklist: before, during, and after fieldwork
Use this checklist to keep your ethnographic field study on track from planning through final synthesis. Each phase covers the actions that matter most — skip any item and you risk gaps in your data or missed insights.
Before fieldwork
- Research questions written and reviewed with stakeholders
- Observation approach chosen (fly on the wall / guided tour / shadowing / apprenticeship)
- Participants recruited (5-12, behavioral screening criteria applied)
- Field visit schedule created (dates, times, locations, contact info)
- Consent forms prepared (covering photos, audio, video, notes)
- Field kit packed: notebook, camera, audio recorder, consent forms, topic guide, incentives
- Team roles assigned (if visiting in pairs: one leads, one documents)
- Assumptions list written — what you expect to find, to check against later
During fieldwork
- Rapport built before observing (introduction, consent, expectations set)
- Consent obtained and recorded
- Environment documented: photos of workspace, tools, layout, posted materials
- Observations recorded in real time or within 15 minutes of each segment
- Artifacts photographed and cataloged (notes, tools, workarounds, physical traces)
- Contextual questions asked during natural breaks (grounded in what was just observed)
- Researcher bias check: “Am I seeing what is here, or what I expected to see?”
- Participant not disrupted: observation time exceeds interview time
After fieldwork
- Debrief completed within 30 minutes of each visit
- Field notes reviewed and gaps filled while memory is fresh
- Photos and recordings labeled with participant ID, date, and context
- Data organized in a central repository (Dovetail, Miro, shared folder)
- Observations coded by theme
- Affinity diagram built from coded observations
- Insights written as observation → implication → opportunity
- Workarounds inventoried and mapped to unmet needs
- Findings shared with team in a visual, evidence-rich format