Research Methods

Due to the social distancing requirements and travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of our ethnographic research with 72 selected households was conducted remotely by adapting established visual ethnographic face-to-face methods normally undertaken in people’s homes. Participants were invited to take part in two ‘virtual visits’ to their home and to complete a range of interim activities (selected based on their available time and interest).

After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, a further five households were selected to take part in a video-recorded and in-person visit to develop a documentary film.

The videos in this section show the variety of methods that we employed throughout two virtual visits with households:

For more on our research methods, see The Futures Home Life Report (link), Strengers et al 2022 (link), and Dahlgren et al 2022 (link).

After the first virtual visit and informal interview with research participants, we offered research participants the opportunity to complete interim activities. One option was to keep a written diary of household routines.

This is the written diary of Joanne.

After the first virtual visit and informal interview with research participants, we offered research participants the opportunity to complete interim activities. One option was to complete a blank comic strip for what they thought 2050 might look like in their household.

This is Haruki's comic strip.