Sam Ladner (she/her) is a sociologist, researcher, and student of productivity studying the future of work.

Sam is best known for her book Practical Ethnography: A Guide to Doing Ethnography in the Private Sector. This book has become a staple for design research and innovation courses, as well as a go-to handbook for applied ethnographers. It is used regularly in design, research, user experience, business and social science graduate-level classes. Her most recent book, Mixed Methods, is a companion to her popular course Ethnographic Research Design and Innovation available through EPIC


Publications (2012-present)


Publications (2010 – 2008)


About Sam

She specializes in ethnographic research, design thinking, and strategic foresight for product design. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and has driven innovative products and smartphone apps from major technology companies.

She recently retired from her role as the first Senior Principal Researcher at Workday. Sam has a history of firsts — she was also the first Principal Researcher at Amazon. Prior to that, she worked in various roles at Microsoft. She is a popular public speaker at leading design and research conferences.

She holds a PhD in sociology from York University, served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Toronto Metropolitan University, and has taught at several universities including University of Washington and the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto.



Sam continues to have her Twitter account but deleted all Tweets and discontinued her engagement with the platform, due to Elon Musk’s wanton destruction of the community that is there.