Exploratory Research: Qualitative Research

1
Chapter 5

• Exploratory Research Qualitative Research

2
Focus

• Qualitative vs quantitative research
• rationale for using qualitative research
• types of qualitative procedures
• direct
• focus groups
• depth interviews
• indirect
• projective techniques

3
Qualitative Research

• unstructured
• exploratory research methodology
• based on small samples
• provides insights and understanding of the
  problem setting
• focus on reasons and motivations

4
Quantitative Research

• structured
• descriptive/causal research methodology
• based on large samples
• quantifies the data and generalizes sample
  results to the population

5
Rationale for Qualitative Research

• people may be unwilling to answer certain
  questions
• people may be unable to provide accurate answers
  to questions that tap their unconscious
• researcher may not know enough about the problem
  setting to design structured survey instruments

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Focus Group Interviews

• is an unstructured interview of a group of
  respondents by a trained moderator
• value - comes from unexpected findings obtained
  from a free-flowing group discussion
• extremely popular
• many companies make major decisions using the
  interview findings

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Characteristics

• group size 8-12
• group composition homogeneous prescreened
• physical setting relaxed
• time duration 1-3 hours
• video transmission
• moderator establish rapport, keep the discussion
  moving forward, and probe when needed

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Advantages

• synergism - wider range
• snowballing - chain reaction
• stimulation - in a group setting
• spontaneity - more accurate responses
• flexibility

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Disadvantages

• misuse - not conclusive
• misjudge - biased evaluation
• moderator quality
• misrepresentation

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Applications of focus groups

• understanding consumers attitudes/preferences in
  a product category
• testing new product ideas
• developing creative ideas for advertising
• obtaining consumer reactions to marketing program
  ideas

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Depth Interviews

• direct, personal interview
• single respondent is probed by a skilled
  interviewer
• unstructured
• to uncover underlying motivations, beliefs,
  attitudes, and feelings
• time duration - 30 to 60 minutes

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Techniques

• laddering
• line of questioning product characteristics gt
  use characteristics
• hidden issue questioning
• focus on personal issues (sore spots, concerns)
• symbolic analysis
• analyze symbolic meaning of objects by comparing
  them with their opposites

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Advantages

• can uncover greater depth of insights
• no group pressure - hence more free flow of
  responses
• easier to administer
• can meet for longer time

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Disadvantages

• need skilled interviewers
• quality and completeness a function of the
  interviewer
• data are difficult to code and analyze
• n will be small - time cost
• infrequently used in marketing research

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Applications

• detailed probing of the respondent
• discussion of sensitive issues
• situations in which social norms are strong
• complex behaviors
• interviewing professional people
• if product consumption experience is sensory in
  nature

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Projective Techniques

• encourage respondents to project their underlying
  motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings
  regarding the issue of concern
• by interpreting the behavior of others rather
  than ones own behavior
• is related to the level of ambiguity of the
  scenario that is interpreted

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Association Techniques

• a stimulus is presented and the respondent has to
  answer with the first thing that comes to mind
• e.g. word association - list of words
• test words are interspersed throughout the list
• response latency data is also collected
• logic association allows respondents to reveal
  their inner feeling about the topic of interest

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continued

• analyses
• frequency with which any word is given as a
  response
• amount of time before a response is given
• number of respondents who do not respond to a
  word at all
• of positive, negative, neutral associations

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Completion Techniques

• respondent is asked to complete an incomplete
  stimulus situation
• sentence completion and story completion
• allows capturing of subjects feelings better
  than word association tests
• is not as well disguised however
• story completion more difficult to interpret

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Construction Techniques

• respondent constructs a response in the form of a
  story, dialogue, or description
• researcher provides less initial structure than
  in a completion technique
• picture response
• response to a picture reflects the respondents
  personality
• can measure peoples attitude toward a brand
• cartoon test

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Expressive Techniques

• respondents are presented with a verbal or visual
  situation and asked to relate the feelings and
  attitudes of other people to the situation
• role playing
• third-person

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Advantages

• can elicit responses that subjects may be
  unwilling or unable to give if they knew the
  purpose of the study
• personal, sensitive, or subject to social norms
• when underlying motivations and attitudes are
  operating at the sub-conscious level

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Disadvantages

• require personal interviews
• with highly-skilled interviewers
• also need highly-skilled interpreters
• serious risk of interpretation bias
• analyses are difficult and subjective