Marketing Research

1
Marketing Research

• Dr. David M. Andrus
• Exam 1
• Lecture 3

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Themes of My Presentation

• Qualitative Techniques
• Focus Groups
• Depth Interviews
• Projective Techniques
• Observation Techniques
• Protocol Analysis
• Ethnographic Research

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Quantitative Research
Uses mathematical measurements and statistical
techniques to determine relationships and
differences among large samples of target
populations.

• Highly structured.
• Involves designing questions with a choice of
  specific responses so that responses can be
  measured and analyzed mathematically.
• Often fails to tap into the emotional or
  subjective side of the consumer.

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Qualitative Research

• Less formally structured
• Uses small samples
• Subjective and often nonquantifiable data
• Not necessarily representative of the target
  population

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Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research

• Complement each other
• Quantitative data often substantiates qualitative
  findings
• Sometimes, qualitative research explains or
  reinforces quantitative research and even reveals
  new information
• Research designs are often triangulated to
  capitalize on the strengths of each design

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Shortcomings of Qualitative Research

• Tendency for marketing managers to use the
  results without recognizing their full
  limitations
• Findings may not be statistically supported
• Findings are exploratory
• Moderator plays a critical role and should be
  involved in evaluation of studys results

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Qualitative Research Techniques

• Focus Groups
• Depth Interviews
• Projective Techniques
• Observation Techniques
• Protocol Analysis
• Ethnographic Research

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Classification of Qualitative Research Procedures
Qualitative Research Design
Direct (Nondisguised)
Indirect (disguised)
Focus Groups
Depth Interviews
Projective Techniques
Association Techniques
Completion Techniques
Construction Techniques
Expressive Techniques
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Characteristics of Focus Groups

• Focus groups- small group discussions led by a
  trained moderator
• Group size - 6-10
• Group composition - Homogeneous respondents
  prescreened
• Physical setting - Relaxed, informal atmosphere
• Time duration - 1-3 hours
• Recording - Audiocassettes and videotapes
• Observation - Observation, interpersonal and
  communication skills of the moderator

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Use of Focus Groups

• Generate information for questionnaires
• Clarify promotional wording
• Find what customers consider when making
  decisions
• Recruit new members for an organization
• Test existing programs
• Understand an organizations image
• Assess products
• Clarify findings from quantitative studies

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Requirements for EffectiveFocus Group
Implementation

• 6 to 12 participants
• Careful screening of participants
• Homogeneous participants in terms of
  characteristic under study
• Relaxed atmosphere
• Room with one-way mirror and audio- and
  video-recording capabilities
• Session duration between one and two hours
• Trained moderator
• Compensation for participation

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Advantages of FocusGroup Research

• Can observe respondents
• Flexible
• Controllable
• Group interaction
• Openness of such gatherings motivates
  participants to be honest and direct

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Disadvantages of Focus Group Research

• Lack of scientific validity
• Prone to bias
• Can give marketing managers a false sense of
  security
• Difficulty in measuring the results
• Unrepresentative of the population
• Subjective interpretation
• High cost-per-participant

14
Reporting Focus Group Results

• Factors to remember when analyzing data
• Sense made by translating qualitative statements
  of participants into categories and then
  reporting the degree of consensus apparent in the
  focus groups
• Demographics and buyer behavior characteristics
  of focus group participants compared with the
  target market profile to assess degree the groups
  represent the target market
• Analysis should identify major themes as well as
  salient areas of disagreement among the
  participants

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Online Focus Groups

• Online focus group respondents communicate
  and/or observe by use of the Internet
• Respondents are recruited either by telephone or
  e-mail and log onto a Web site at a specific time
  to participate in the study.
• Bulletin board focus groups allow participants to
  be involved with a study for a four- or five-day
  period to reflect and develop their thoughts.

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Online Focus Group Advantages

• Advantages
• No physical setup is necessary
• Transcripts are captured on file in real time
• Participants can be in widely separated
  geographical areas
• Participants are comfortable in their home or
  office environments
• The moderator can exchange private messages with
  individual participants

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Online Focus Group Disadvantages

• Disadvantages
• Observation of participants body language is not
  possible
• Participants cannot physically inspect products
  or taste food items
• Participants can lose interest or become
  distracted

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Benefits of Traditional Focus Groups Over Online
Focus Groups

• Extremely difficult to be an effective moderator
  and establish authority from behind a computer
  screen.
• Group interaction is lost behind a computer
  screen.
• Impossible to address nonverbal reactions in an
  online focus group.
• Much more security in a traditional focus group
  than in the online version.
• Much more effective to show stimuli to the
  participants in a live setting than in an online
  focus group.

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Key Qualifications of Focus Group Moderators

• Kindness with firmness combines a disciplined
  detachment with understanding empathy
• Permissiveness permissive yet alert to signs of
  group disintegration
• Involvement encourages and stimulates intense
  personal involvement

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Key Qualifications of Group Moderators

• Incomplete understanding encourages members to
  be more specific by exhibiting incomplete
  understanding
• Encouragement encourages unresponsive members to
  participate
• Flexibility able to improvise and alter the
  planned outline amid distractions
• Sensitivity sensitive to guide the group
  discussion at intellectual and emotional level

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Depth Interviews
Unstructured, one-on-one conversations between
highly skilled interviewer and a member of a
target population.

• No peer pressure and more confidential.
• Depth interviews may be better at assessing
  beliefs and attitudes than focus group
  discussions.
• Most interviews are highly unstructured
  interviews, allowing respondents to freely float
  from one issue to the next.
• Other interviews are highly structured interviews
  in which the interviewer uses checklists to cover
  narrowly focused topics.

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Requirements for EffectiveDepth Interviews

• Allow between a half hour and two hours for each
  session
• Screen each respondent carefully
• Make sure the interviewer is capable
• Use a tape or video recorder
• Make the interview setting comfortable
• Provide rewards for participation

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Projective Techniques

• Provide verbal or visual stimuli that encourage
  respondents to reveal unconscious feelings and
  attitudes that they would not reveal under direct
  questioning.
• Subjects are allowed to project their perceptions
  and feelings on to some other person or objector
  in some other way are allowed to depersonalize
  their responses.
• Used to tap the subconscious minds of consumers.
• Most consist of vague or ambiguous stimuli which
  respondents are required to describe, revealing
  their underlying (true) thoughts and feelings.

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Types of Projective Techniques

• Word association test
• Sentence completion
• Picture test
• Cartoon or balloon test
• Role-playing activity

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Observation Techniques
Methods for gathering data by watching test
subjects without interacting with them.

• Direct Observation Researchers watch a behavior
  as it occurs and report what they see.
• Indirect Observation Researchers observe the
  results of a behavior.

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Obtrusive or Unobtrusive Observation

• Unobtrusive or Disguised Observation Subject
  does not know he/she is being observed.
• Obtrusive or Undisguised Observation Subject
  knows he/she is being observed.

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Structured and Unstructured Observation

• Structured Observation Observers record only
  certain well-defined behaviors, typically on a
  checklist or standardized form.
• Unstructured Observation Observers judge
  whether or not observed behaviors are important
  enough to record.

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Observation Research

• Audit Researchers examine pertinent records or
  conduct inventory analyses of items under
  investigation.
• Pantry audit - Inventory of items in a household.
• Content Analysis Examines the content of a
  communication vehicle to determine whether a
  study inference is valid.
• Physical-Trace Analysis Uses evidence or traces
  of individuals that were left behind to
  understand past behaviors.
• Mechanical Observation Uses a nonhuman device,
  such as a camera, Nielsens people-meters, eye
  movement recorders, voice-pitch analyzers, and
  scanners to record observations.

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Appropriate Conditions for the Use of Observation

• Short duration
• Public
• Faulty recall conditions

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Advantages of Observation Research

• Researcher is collecting observed data, not
  reported data
• Reduction or elimination of recall error
• Can obtain data from those unable to communicate
  in written/oral form
• May be no better way to gather information than
  through observation
• Less cost
• Better accuracy

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Disadvantages of Observation Research

• Findings are limited to those observed
• Usually do not examine motives, attitudes, or
  feelings toward particular behaviors
• Subjectivity of the observer
• Small sample sizes cannot be considered
  representative of the target population
• Time and energy researchers expend observing
  behaviors can lead to fatigue, and observer
  fatigue potentially means less-than-accurate data

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Human versus Mechanical Observation

• Human observation observer is a person hired by
  the researcher, or, perhaps the observer is the
  researcher
• Mechanical observation human observer is
  replaced with some form of static observing
  device

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Physiological Measurements

• Physiological measurements involves monitoring a
  respondents involuntary responses to marketing
  stimuli via the use of electrodes and other
  equipment
• Word association test
• Pupilometer
• Galvonometer

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Protocol Analysis

• Protocol analysis involves placing a person in a
  decision making situation and asking him or her
  to verbalize everything he or she considers when
  making a decision

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Ethnographic Research
Involves a mixture of techniques already
discussed to capture better customer information.

• Direct Observation
• Indirect Observation
• Using videotape to record people in their natural
  settings
• Used extensively in anthropology to study
  cultures. Now used to show companies how people
  live with their productshow they purchase and
  use them in their everyday lives.