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Direct Observation
Immersion
Team members spend extended time, sometimes living or working on-site, sometimes overnight, alongside the people they're designing for, in their real-world setting, observing and recording their behaviors, decisions, and surroundings to build empathy and surface tacit knowledge.
When This Method Fits
Typical duration
Days – Weeks
Typical cost
Medium – High
Fidelity level
Talk Only
Stage
Discovery
Hypothesis type
Exploratory
Goal type
Find product-market fit, Deepen product-market fit, Maximize societal impact
Randomization
N/A
Study design
Individual case report
Minimum units needed
1
1Best Fit When
Best when the depth of understanding needed can't be captured through interviews alone, and requires living the target population's real, everyday context.