Chapter Seven Information Collection Qualitative and Observational Methods

Chapter Seven Information Collection: Qualitative and Observational Methods

Examples • Tiffany’s is researching possible positioning options for their new ad campaign • Starbucks seeks to understand its brand associations • Las Vegas tries to understand why tourists love to visit the city • You try to figure out the fierce loyalty HOGS have for Harley Davidson

Common theme • What is the common theme that runs through these research questions: – “seek to understand” – seek insights • You have no clue about the “trait” – (which if you did, you would frame a close-ended question and do quantitative research) • Qualitative inquiry to find out the ‘trait’

Tiffany’s ad campaign

Information Collection : Qualitative and Observational Methods • Qualitative methods – To find out what is in the person’s mind – Relatively unstructured stimulus • A range of responses possible (e. g. What thoughts come to your mind when you think about Winthrop) – Prelude to a quantitative study – Used to measure motivations, hidden thoughts and feelings, etc. (the question ‘why’) – Greater potential for new insights

Qualitative Research • Exploratory – Problem definition (e. g. why are sales down in the Northeast? ) – Suggesting hypotheses – Generating new product concepts and features (e. g. What new features would you like to see in your cell phone? ) – Preliminary reactions to new concepts (e. g. millenials) – Pre-testing questionnaires (e. g. what problems do you see in the questionnaire) • Orientation – Appreciating new perspectives (cross cultural research) and vocabulary (what does a word mean e. g. meh, etc. ) • Clinical – Insights into topics heavily influenced by desirability bias (e. g. why do at-risk people resort to questionable behaviors? )

Individual In-depth Interviews • Non-directive interviews • Semi-structured or focused individual interviews – Create a relaxed atmosphere – Ability to probe critical questions – Ability to bring back the interview on course • Laddering: A technique to elicit higher-order benefits / issues from a tangible product characteristic

Laddering – Another example

Laddering – another example

Focus Group Discussions • Discussion of 8 to 12 subjects moderated by a discussion leader • Used in the exploratory phase of the market research process • Intended to provoke spontaneity • Group interaction • Chain reaction (adding forces you to think), devil’s advocate (present extreme viewpoints), false termination (“one more thing…”)

Focus Groups • Hershey’s has plans to introduce a soya milk chocolate bar.

Effective focus groups • Plan the agenda – The introduction – The main issues • Recruitment – Homogeneity – Some contrast for a lively discussion – Experienced panels • Moderator – Friendly, flexible and firm (3 Fs) • Results – Recording, coding, inter-coder reliability

Problems with focus groups • • • Peer pressure Desirability in the group / anxious to belong Shy participants Controlling participants Undue influence Sensitized participants- spontaneity is questionable

Projective Techniques • Used when respondent will not or cannot respond meaningfully • Comment upon rather unstructured or ambiguous object, activity. • Objective: reveal hidden feelings and opinions • Respondent projects own opinion on something else: task, third person, object

Projective Techniques • Word Association – Immediate response word to the stimulus word (stimulus word is mixed with neutral words) – Conclusions based on • Response latency • Frequency of mentioned word • Number of respondents who do not respond at all to the test word – Used to find out brand associations

Word Associations Tests

Projective Techniques • Completion tests – Give an incomplete sentence and ask the participant to complete it – E. g. I love Vegas because --- • Dialogue balloons – Show a picture / cartoon and suggest what the actors are saying • Picture Interpretation techniques – Project yourself into the picture and suggest the brand that comes to your mind

Projective techniques • Third person technique – Ask how friends, neighbors or an average person would react to a situation – Respondents tend to project their feelings – Address sensitive questions – E. g. “If you were to see your neighbor talk to his car, what do you suppose he/she would be saying? ” • Role playing – Respondents attitudes surface during the role-play

Limitations of Qualitative Methods • Potential susceptibility of the results to get misused or misinterpreted • Small samples – limited generalizability • Moderator or interviewer's role – can heavily influence the outcomes • Volume and complexity of analysis

Observational Methods • Casual Observation • Systematic Observation – Direct Observation (observe an activity in its natural setting) – Contrived Observation (a situation is created and participants are observed) • Content Analysis (observation of written content) • Physical Trace Measures (trace of the behavior left behind) • Humanistic Inquiry (ethnography) • Behavior Recording Devices (people meter, bar code scanners, eye-movement, voice pitch analysis, etc. )

Evaluation of Observational Methods • Cannot be used to observe motives, attitudes or intentions • Often more costly and time consuming • Often the only method to collect data

Projective Technique