Death of Depth? Understanding the obvious beyond the obvious

Ayobamidele Gnädig and Oliver Schieleit

This paper provocatively questions the 'depth ethos' so often determining today's qualitative research.

Death of Depth? Understanding the obvious beyond the obvious

Ayobamidele Gnädig and Oliver SchieleitH,T,P Concept, Germany

PREFACE

This paper provocatively questions the 'depth ethos' so often determining today's qualitative research. We will argue that the psychological primacy in qualitative research can sometimes be a barrier to generating inspiring and valuable insights by disregarding consumer reality as superficial and 'untrue'.

We will advocate an approach that is about generating insights via a thorough understanding and interpretation of the supposed 'obvious'. Our approach combines the perspectives of ethnography, cultural analysis and linguistic learnings as a starting point for contemporary...

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