Especially as many products are packaged as part of a “customer journey”, ethnographic and/or anthropological research is often called upon to describe behaviors and aspirations through the journey, or product life cycle. It can be informative, especially when ‘extremes of use’ are identified at either end of the bell curve.
But to be vaguely cynical for a moment, researchers are often used to ‘validate’ product proposals, and while research results aren’t always actionable in terms of Industrial Design, it allows project managers to make sure they have buy-in and cover their asses in the event of marketing failure. “…well, we all bought into the data and executed upon it, but the best laid plans etc…”