We are a leading ethnographic research company with a small and highly experienced team of anthropological (PhD) researchers
Ethnography originated in anthropology and remains its core methodology. As PhDs in anthropology, we are a leading ethnographic research company.
Clients get senior-level researchers throughout all study phases. Our researchers conduct the fieldwork, are intimately familiar with the study data, and write and present the reports.
We excel at challenging recruits, in large part, because our researchers stay closely involved in the ethnographic research recruiting process.
Our methodological expertise and social and psychological theoretical knowledge enable us to develop cultural insights and identify social patterns that other researchers would routinely miss.
This distinction in generating human insights leads innovative solutions to the needs of our clients and their customers.
Cost Efficient
Continuity in
People & Process
Nick is the President of Ethnographic Solutions. He has a PhD in psychological anthropology. His doctoral ethnographic fieldwork occurred among the Makua in Northern Mozambique under Fulbright and National Science Foundation funding.
Since receiving his PhD over 20 years ago, Nick has been working at the forefront of the business anthropology and ethnographic market research.
Conrad Phillip Kottak, who earned his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from Columbia University, is the Julian H. Steward Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Michigan.
He served as chair of the university’s Department of Anthropology for ten years. Honored for his outstanding teaching by the University of Michigan, the State of Michigan, and the American Anthropological Association, Dr. Kottak is also an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, where he chaired Section 51 (Anthropology) from 2010 to 2013.
Dr. Kottak has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Brazil, Madagascar, and the United States.
His research explores how local cultures interact with—and resist—the forces of incorporation into national and global systems. This enduring theme connects his earlier work on ecological and state formation in Africa and Madagascar with more recent studies on globalization, media, and cultural change.
He currently co-edits General Anthropology, the biannual bulletin of the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association.
His notable publications include Assault on Paradise: The Globalization of a Little Community in Brazil (5th edition 2025, with new co-author Richard Pace), based on long-term fieldwork in Arembepe, Bahia, and Prime-Time Society: An Anthropological Analysis of Television and Culture (2009), a comparative study of media influence in Brazil and the United States. Among his other books are The Past in the Present, Researching American Culture, Madagascar: Society and History, and Media and Middle Class Moms (with Lara Descartes).
Widely used in classrooms across the world, Dr. Kottak’s textbooks—including Anthropology: Appreciating Human Diversity and Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity (both in their 19th editions, 2025), and Mirror for Humanity (13th ed., 2026)—have shaped generations of students. His book Anthropology: Appreciating Human Diversity has garnered several honors:
Top Ten Best Anthropology Books (ranked first).
Best Anthropology Books of All Time (ranked third)
Best Anthropology Books for Beginners (ranked third).
Conrad’s textbooks have been translated into multiple languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Russian, making his anthropological insights accessible to students and scholars around the world.
His global reach has helped shape anthropology classrooms not just in the U.S., but across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
His scholarly articles have appeared in the American Anthropologist, Journal of Anthropological Research, Ethnology, Human Organization, Luso-Brazilian Review, and others. He has also contributed to popular outlets such as Natural History, Psychology Today, and General Anthropology.
His most recent NSF-supported project, conducted with Professor Richard Pace and students, is a longitudinal and multi-site investigation into the evolving impact of television and digital media in Brazil.
As an applied anthropologist, Conrad’s work on environmental issues has addressed how rural communities in Brazil and Madagascar interact with deforestation, resource pressures, and climate change. In the U.S., he’s analyzed how American families, especially middle-class mothers, use media and technology in daily life (Media and Middle-Class Moms).
His research on television and digital media in Brazil has been applied to understand how mass media shapes cultural identity and local politics. Through public writing in Natural History and Psychology Today, he’s translated anthropological research into accessible insights for non-academic audiences. He has worked repeatedly as a consultant to the World Bank and USAID.
Conrad has mentored generations of PhDs in anthropology, including a few who collaborate with Ethnographic Solutions on market research studies.
Conrad began as a Principal at Ethnographic Solutions and continues to provide methodological and analytic consultation on E-S projects.
Finally, we note that Conrad is an avid Jeopardy viewer; some believe he is one of the best Jeopardy players never to have been on the show.
John Wendel, Ph.D., is a Principal at Ethnographic Solutions.
He is a business anthropologist and consultant whose research informs innovation by delivering cultural insights that shape new product design, strategy, and communications development.
John has over 20 years of ethnographic and qualitative market research experience and was one of the earliest anthropologists conducting ethnographic / visual research in the pharmaceutical industry (https://www.pharmexec.com/view/through-patients-eyes).
He also has experience in the consumer world, with projects spanning technology, non-profit, CPG, and restaurant design (https://www.fsrmagazine.com/operations/restaurant-design/buffalo-wild-wings-unveils-restaurant-future).
In the pharmaceutical space, John has led ethnographic projects in diverse therapeutic areas such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, diabetes and diabetic foot ulcers, depression, schizophrenia, allergy, asthma, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, growth hormone deficiency, primary immunodeficiency, lupus and several oncological conditions among others.
He has also led ethnographic projects analyzing physician-patient dialogue as well as projects viewing physician practices as ethnographic sites of cultural production to aid in sales and marketing communication efforts.
Throughout his career, John has conducted projects internationally, with ethnographic work in countries such as France, Germany, Ireland, UK, Mexico, China, Canada.
For his dissertation research, John spent three years conducting ethnography in island Micronesia connecting education practices to the development of national and consumer identities. His work was funded by the Pew Charitable Trust. He holds a BA from Fordham University and a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, both in anthropology.