New Firm RealLife Research Offers Video Ethnography

In the US, qualitative researcher Frank Hines has launched a new company called RealLife Research, which will offer services built around video-centric mobile ethnography methods.

Hines (pictured) is a management consultant with more than 30 years' experience in international marketing, market research, strategy, product development and innovation. For the past decade, he ran MR consultancy Hines & Lee, and before this he was a Senior Consultant and Innovation Advisor at shopping experiences digital agency Creative Realities; Marketing Manager at industrial company Ingersoll Rand; and Marketing Applications Engineer at product development specialist Matra Datavision.

Based in York, ME, the new firm will offer 'Vidnography', a method for consumer-generated video ethnography developed by Hines Himself; as well as a portfolio of qual research services including video surveys and diaries; market immersions and 'shop-alongs'; and online and interactive focus groups, bulletin boards, and in-depth interviews.

Commenting on the company launch, Hines said: 'Technological advances in smartphones and digital recorders have made it possible for researchers to have extended, real-life involvement in consumers' lives - to live unobtrusively with our customers at home, work, or on-the-go. This level of intimacy simply isn't possible with other qualitative research approaches, and delivers insights you can't get any other way'.

Web site: www.reallife-research.com .