Does Ethnography make the front end of innovation less fuzzy?

I have written several posts about the use of ethnography to gather good data from users. A recent article in the Journal of Product Innovation Management explores the topic in detail, including likely advantages from using ethnography and advantages of using in the early stage of innovation.

An abstract of the article can be read here:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118563685/abstract

Past posts have included:

http://servicecocreation.com/2009/06/22/in-search-of-innovation/

http://servicecocreation.com/2009/06/22/in-search-of-innovation/