QUALITATIVE RESEARCH What Is Qualitative Research is research

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

What Is Qualitative Research?

is research that addresses business objectives through techniques that allow the researcher to provide elaborate(ayrıntılı)interpretations of business phenomena without depending on numerical measurement. Its focus is on discovering true inner meanings and new insights. Qualitative research is very widely applied in practice. There are many research firms that specialize in qualitative research. Qualitative research is less structured than most quantitative approaches.

It does not rely on selfresponse questionnaires containing structured response formats. Instead, it is more researcherdependent in that the researcher must extract meaning from unstructured responses, such as text from a recorded interview or a collage representing the meaning of some experience. The researcher interprets the data to extract its meaning and converts it to information.

Uses of Qualitative Research

The researcher has many tools available and the research design should try to match the best tool to the research objective. Also, just as a mechanic is probably not an expert with every tool, each researcher usually has special expertise with a small number of tools. Not every researcher has expertise with tools that would comprise(içermek) qualitative research.

The less specific the research objective, the more likely that qualitative research tools will be appropriate. Araştırmanın amacı ne kadar belirginleşirse, nitel araştırma araçları o kadar uygun olur. Also, when the emphasis is on a deeper understanding of motivations or on developing novel(yeni)concepts, qualitative research is very appropriate.

WHEN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH BE USED?

1. When it is difficult to develop specific and actionable problem statements or research objectives. For instance, if after several interviews with the research client the researcher still can’t determine exactly what needs to be measured, then qualitative research approaches may help with problem definition.

2. When the research objective is to develop an understanding of some phenomena in great detail and in much depth. Qualitative research tools are aimed at discovering the primary themes indicating human motivations and the documentation of activities is usually very complete.

3. When the research objective is to learn how a phenomena occurs in its natural setting or to learn how to express some concept in colloquial terms. For example, how do consumers actually use a product? Or, exactly how does the accounting department process invoices?

4. When some behavior the researcher is studying is particularly context dependent— meaning the reasons something is liked or some behavior is performed depend very much on the particular situation surrounding the event.

5. When a fresh approach to studying some problem is needed. This is particularly the case when quantitative research has yielded less than satisfying results. Qualitative tools can yield unique insights, many of which may lead the organization in new directions.

QUALITATIVE VERSUS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research can accomplish research objectives that quantitative research cannot. Similarly truthful, but no more so, quantitative research can accomplish objectives that qualitative research cannot. The key to successfully using either is to match the right approach to the right research context.

Many good research projects combine both qualitative and quantitative research. For instance, developing valid survey measures requires first a deep understanding of the concept to be measured and a description of the way these ideas are expressed in everyday language. Both of these are tasks best suited for qualitative research. However, validating the measure formally to make sure it can reliably capture the intended concept will likely require quantitative research. Also, qualitative research may be needed to separate symptoms from problems and then quantitative research can follow up to test relationships among relevant variables.

Quantitative business research can be defined as business research that addresses research objectives through empirical assessments that involve numerical measurement and analysis approaches. Qualitative research is more apt to stand on its own in the sense that it requires less interpretation. For example, quantitative research is quite appropriate when a research objective involves a managerial action standard.

There are great differences between the quantitative and qualitative approaches to studying and understanding subjects. The arguments between qualitative and quantitative business researchers about their relative strengths and weaknesses are of real practical value. The nature of business decisionmaking encompasses(kapsamak)a vast array of problems and types of decision-maker. This means that seeking a singular and uniform approach to supporting decision-makers by focusing on one approach is useless. Business decision makers use both approaches and will continue to need both.

The distinction between qualitative and quantitative research can be in the context of research designs. There is a close parallel in the distinctions(fark)between ‘exploratory and conclusive research’ and ‘qualitative and quantitative research’. There is a parallel, but the terms are not identical. There are circumstances where qualitative research can be used to present detailed descriptions that cannot be measured in a quantifiable manner, for example in describing characteristics and styles of music that may be used in an advertising campaign or in describing the interplay(etkileşim)of how families go through the process of choosing, planning and buying a holiday.

Conversely, there may be circumstances where quantitative measurements are used to conclusively answer specific hypotheses or research questions using descriptive or experimental techniques. Beyond answering specific hypotheses or research questions, there may be sufficient data to allow data mining or an exploration of relationships between individual measurements to take place.

Quantitative researchers direct a considerable amount of activity toward measuring concepts with scales that either directly or indirectly provide numeric values. The numeric values can then be used in statistical computations and hypothesis testing. This process involves comparing numbers in some way. In contrast, qualitative researchers are more interested in observing, listening, and interpreting. As such, the researcher is involved in the research process and in constructing the results.

For these reasons, qualitative research is said to be more subjective, meaning that the results are researcher-dependent. Different researchers may reach different conclusions based on the same interview. In that respect, qualitative research lacks the ability of different individuals following the same procedures to produce the same results or come to the same conclusion.

Qualitative research seldom involves samples with hundreds of respondents. Instead, a handful of people are usually the source of qualitative data. This is perfectly acceptable in discovery-oriented research. All ideas would still have to be tested before adopted. Does a smaller sample mean that qualitative research is cheaper than qualitative? Perhaps not. Although fewer respondents have to be interviewed, the greater researcher involvement in both the data collection and analysis can drive up the costs of qualitative research.

Qualitative research is most often used in exploratory designs. Small samples, interpretive procedures that require subjective judgments, and the unstructured interview format all make traditional hypotheses testing difficult with qualitative research.

The best way to conduct a perfect research is to pursue this path: To define the problem and shape a perfect questionnaire Qualitative Research To find the most probable results and ncomprehensive conclusion Quantitative Research To interpret the result deeply and correctly Qualitative Research

Contrasting Exploratory and Confirmatory Research

Most exploratory research designs produce qualitative data. Exploratory designs do not usually produce quantitative data, which represent phenomena by assigning numbers in an ordered and meaningful way. Rather than numbers, the focus of qualitative research is on stories, visual portrayals(tasvir), meaningful characterizations, interpretations, and other expressive descriptions. Often, exploratory research may be needed to develop the ideas that lead to research hypotheses. In some situations the outcome of exploratory research is a testable research hypothesis. Confirmatory research then tests these hypotheses with quantitative data.

The major categories of qualitative research 1. Phenomenology—originating in philosophy and psychology 2. Ethnography—originating in anthropology 3. Grounded theory—originating in sociology 4. Case studies—originating in psychology and in business research

1. Phenomenology Represents a philosophical approach to studying human experiences based on the idea that human experience itself is inherently(doğal olarak)subjective and determined by the context in which people live. The phenomenological researcher focuses on how a person’s behavior is shaped by the relationship he or she has with the physical environment, objects, people, and situations. Phenomenological inquiry seeks to describe, reflect upon, and interpret experiences.

Researchers with a phenomenological orientation rely largely on conversational interview tools. When conversational interviews are face to face, they are recorded either with video or audiotape and then interpreted by the researcher. (ses bandı) The phenomenological interviewer is careful to avoid asking direct questions when at all possible. Instead, the research respondent is asked to tell a story about some experience.

2. Ethnography Participant observation, a tool of measuring the ethnographic events, means the researcher becomes immersed(bulaşmış) within the culture that he or she is studying and draws data from his or her observations. A culture can be either a broad culture, like Turkish culture, or a narrow culture, like regional culture, Ford owners, or people who are intrested in football. Organizational culture would also be relevant for ethnographic study. At times, researchers have actually become employees of an organization for an extended period of time. In doing so, they become part of the culture.

OBSERVATION IN ETHNOGRAPHY Researchers today sometimes ask households for permission to place video cameras in their home. In doing so, the ethnographer can study the consumer in a “natural habitat” and use the observations to test new products, develop new product ideas, and develop strategies in general. Ethnographic study can be particularly useful when a certain culture is comprised of individuals who cannot or will not verbalize their thoughts and feelings. For instance, ethnography has advantages for discovering insights among children since it does not rely largely on their answers to questions. Instead, the researcher can simply become part of the environment, allow the children to do what they do naturally, and record their behavior.

3. Grounded Theory (gömülü) Represents an inductive(tümevarımsal) investigation in which the researcher poses questions about information provided by respondents or taken from historical records. The researcher asks the questions to him or herself and repeatedly questions the responses to derive deeper explanations. Grounded theory is particularly applicable in highly dynamic situations involving rapid and significant change. Two key questions asked by the grounded theory researcher are “What is happening here? ” and “How is it different? ”

A theory is inductively developed based on text analysis of dozens of sales meetings that had been recorded over the previous five years. By questioning the events discussed in the sales interviews and analyzing differences in the situations that may have led to the discussion, the researcher is able to develop a theory. The theory suggests that with an increasing reliance on e-mail and other technological devices for communication, the salespeople do not communicate with each other informally as much as they did five years previously. Grounded Theory is trying to extract a theory from an event or a text

Example for diduction(tümdengelim). Every human dies. Ahmet is a human, so Ahmed one day will die. Decreasing the price of any elastic product will increase the demand. If the price of jewelry, luxury cars and hotel services increase the demand of these products will increase. Example for induction(tümevarım). First and Second World War have brought disaster. So all wars bring disaster. Or If we put a piece of ice many times on a fire, the ice will be melted. Therefore the fire melts the ice.

Experiment 1 or observation 1 Experiment 2 or observation 2 Experiment 3 or observation 3 Inductive Approach Result, certainty or reality Diductive Approach Conviction 1 Kanaat Conviction 2 Conviction 3

4. Case Studies Case studies simply refer to the documented history of a particular person, group, organization, or event. Typically, a case study may describe the events of a specific company as it faces an important decision or situation, such as introducing a new product or dealing with some management crisis. Textbook cases typify this kind of case study. Clinical interviews of managers, employees, or customers can represent a case study.

Philosophy and qualitative research

Pozitivizm and Emprizm

Empiricism A theory of knowledge. A broad category of the philosophy of science that locates the source of all knowledge in experience. Positivism A philosophy of language and logic cosistent with an empiricist philosophy of science. Paradigm A set of assumptions consisting of agreed upon knowledge, criteria of judgement, problem fields, and ways to consider them.

Action Research A process whereby one could construct a social experiment with the aim of achieving a certain goal. For example, in the early days of the Second World War, Lewin conducted a study, commissioned by US authorities, on the use of tripe as part of the regular daily diet of American families. (işkembe) The research question was: ‘To what extent could American housewives be encouraged to use tripe rather than beef for family dinners? ’ Beef was scarce and was destined primarily for the troops. (alın yazısı)

Action research is a team research process, facilitated by one or more professional researchers, linking with decision-makers and other stakeholders who together wish to improve particular situations. Together, the researcher and decisionmakers or stakeholders define the problems to be examined, generate relevant knowledge about the problems, learn and execute research techniques, take actions, and interpret the results of actions based on what they have learned.

Action researchers accept no a priori limits on the kinds of research techniques they use. Surveys, statistical analyses, interviews, focus groups, ethnographies and life histories are all acceptable, if the reason for deploying them has been agreed by the action research collaborators and if they are used in a way that does not oppress the participants. (yaygınlaştırmak) (iş arkadaşları)

CLASSIFICATION OF QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUES

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

Focus Group

A focus group interview is an unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people, usually between six and ten. Focus groups are led by a trained moderator who follows a flexible format encouraging dialogue among respondents. Common focus group topics include employee programs, employee satisfaction, brand meanings, problems with products, advertising themes, or new-product concepts.

The group meets at a central location at a designated time. Participants may range from consumers talking about hair coloring, petroleum engineers talking about problems in the “oil patch, ” children talking about toys, politicians talking about any political issue or employees talking about their jobs. A moderator begins by providing some opening statement to broadly steer(yönlendirmek)discussion in the intended direction. Ideally, discussion topics emerge at the group’s initiative, not the moderator’s. Consistent with phenomenological approaches, moderators should avoid direct questioning unless absolutely necessary.

Procedure for Planning and Conducting Focus Groups

Advantages and disadvantages of focus groups

1 Synergy. Putting a group of people together will produce a wider range of information, insight and ideas than will individual responses secured privately. 2 Snowballing. A bandwagon effect often operates in a group discussion in that one person’s comment triggers(tetikleyiciler)a chain reaction from the other respondents. This process facilitates a very creative process where new ideas can be developed, justified and critically examined. 3 Stimulation. Usually after a brief introductory period, the respondents want to express their ideas and expose their feelings as the general level of excitement over the topic increases in the group.

4 Security. Because the respondents’ feelings may be similar to those of other group members, they feel comfortable and are therefore willing to ‘open up’ and reveal thoughts where they may have been reluctant if they were on their own. 5 Spontaneity(doğallık). Because respondents are not required to answer specific questions, their responses can be spontaneous and unconventional and should therefore provide an accurate idea of their views. 6 Serendipity(tesadüfilik). Ideas are more likely to arise unexpectedly in a group than individual interview. There may be issues that the moderator had not thought of. The dynamics of the group can allow these issues to develop and be discussed. Group members, to great effect, may clearly and forcibly ask questions that the moderator may be reluctant to ask.

7 Specialisation. Because a number of respondents are involved simultaneously, the use of a highly trained, but expensive, interviewer is justified. 8 Scientific scrutiny(ayrıntılı inceleme). The group discussion allows close scrutiny of the data collection process in that observers can witness the session and it can be recorded for later analysis. Many individuals can be involved in the validation and interpretation of the collected data. 9 Structure. The group discussion allows for flexibility in the topics covered and the depth with which they are treated. The structure can match the logical structure of issues from the respondents’ perspective as well as the language and expressions they are comfortable with. 10 Speed. Because a number of individuals are being interviewed at the same time, data collection and analysis proceed relatively quickly.

The Disadvanges og Focus Groups 1 Misjudgement. Focus group results can be more easily misjudged than the results of other data collection techniques. As a qualitative technique, focus groups can evolve through a line of questioning and probing. The specific direction of questioning and the ultimate interpretation of findings can be susceptible to bias. 2 Moderation. As well as being great fun to moderate, focus groups can be difficult to moderate. Much depends upon the ‘chemistry’ of the group in terms of how group members get on with each other and draw ideas and explanations from each other. Even moderators with many years of experience can get into difficulty with particular group members who disrupt the discussion. The quality of the results depends upon how well the discussion is managed and ultimately on the skills of the moderator.

3 Messiness(karmaşa). The unstructured nature of the responses makes coding, analysis and interpretation difficult in comparison with the structure of quantitative techniques. Focus group data tend to be messy and need either strong theoretical support or the discipline of a grounded theory approach to ensure that decisionmakers can rely upon the analyses and interpretations. 4 Misrepresentation. Focus group results concentrate on distinct target groups, describing them and contrasting them to other groups or types of respondent. Trying to generalise to much wider groups, in the same manner as with a quantitative survey based on a representative sample, can be very misleading. 5 Meeting. There are many problems in getting potential respondents to agree to take part in a focus group discussion. Even when they have agreed to participate, there are problems in getting focus group respondents together at the same time. Running focus groups on the Internet has helped to resolve these problems to some extent, but for some target groups even this does not offer a solution.

THE FOCUS GROUP MODERATOR

1. The moderator must be able to develop rapport(dostça ilişki)with the group to promote interaction among all participants. The moderator should be someone who is really interested in people, who listens carefully to what others have to say, and who can readily establish rapport, gain people’s confidence, and make them feel relaxed and eager to talk 2. The moderator must be a good listener. Careful listening is especially important because the group interview’s purpose is to stimulate spontaneous responses. Without good listening skills, the moderator may direct the group in an unproductive direction

3. The moderator must try not to interject(söze karışmak)his or her own opinions. Good moderators usually say less rather than more. They can stimulate productive discussion with generalized follow-ups such as, “Tell us more about that incident, ” or “How are your experiences similar or different from the one you just heard? ” 4. The moderator must be able to control discussion without being overbearing(baskıcı). The moderator’s role is also to focus the discussion on the areas of concern. When a topic is no longer generating fresh ideas, the effective moderator changes the flow of discussion. The moderator does not give the group total control of the discussion, but he or she normally has prepared questions on topics that concern management.

PLANNING THE FOCUS GROUP OUTLINE Focus group researchers use a discussion guide to help control the interview and guide the discussion into product areas. A discussion guide includes written introductory comments informing the group about the focus group purpose and rules and then outlines topics or questions to be addressed in the group session. Thus, the discussion guide serves as the focus group outline. Some discussion guides will have only a few phrases in the entire document. Others may be more detailed. The amount of content depends on the nature and experience of the researcher and the complexity of the topic.

VIDEOCONFERENCING AND FOCUS GROUPS With the widespread utilization of videoconferencing, the number of companies using these systems to conduct focus groups has increased. With videoconference focus groups, managers can stay home and watch on television rather than having to take a trip to a focus group facility. Focus. Vision (http: //www. focusvision. com/) is a business research company that provides videoconferencing equipment and services.

INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND ONLINE FOCUS GROUPS Internet applications of qualitative exploratory research are growing rapidly and involve both formal and informal applications. Formally, the term online focus group refers to a qualitative research effort in which a group of individuals provides unstructured comments by entering their remarks into an electronic Internet display board of some type, such as a chat-room session or in the form of a blog. Because respondents enter their comments into the computer, transcripts of verbatim responses are available immediately after the group session. Online groups can be quick and costefficient. However, because there is less personal interaction between participants, group synergy and snowballing of ideas may be diminished.

Several companies have established a form of informal, “continuous” focus group by establishing an Internet blog for that purpose. 24 We might call this technique a focus blog when the intention is to mine the site for business research purposes. General Motors, American Express, and Lego all have used ideas harvested from their focus blogs. When operating, the Lego blog can be found at http: //legoisfun. blogspot. com.

ONLINE VERSUS FACE-TO-FACE FOCUS GROUP TECHNIQUES

A research company can facilitate a formal online focus group by setting up a private chat room for that purpose. Participants in formal and informal online focus groups feel that their anonymity is very secure. Often respondents will say things in this environment that they would never say otherwise. For example, a lingerie company was able to get insights into how it could design sexy products for larger women. Online, these women freely discussed what it would take “to feel better about being naked. ” One can hardly imagine how difficult such a discussion might be face to face. Increased anonymity can be a major advantage for a company investigating sensitive or embarrassing issues.

Because participants do not have to be together in the same room at a research facility, the number of participants in online focus groups can be larger than in traditional focus groups. Twentyfive participants or more is not uncommon for the simultaneous chat-room format. Participants can be at widely separated locations since the Internet does not have geographical restrictions. Of course, a major disadvantage is that often the researcher does not exercise as much control in precisely who participates.

Brain Storming Traditional brainstorming has been used for several decades, especially in the context of management or marketing issues. Whether formal or informal, the process is the same: think of as many ideas as you can and say them out loud; leave the evaluation until later; build on and combine others’ ideas; be as imaginative as possible, the wilder the ideas the better. The group moderator seeks to nurture an atmosphere of creativity, tapping into the intuition of respondents, generating novel ideas and connections between ideas.

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

Depth interviews

Depth interviews are an unstructured and direct way of obtaining information but, unlike focus groups, depth interviews are conducted on a one-on one basis. A depth interview is an unstructured, direct, personal interview in which a single respondent is probed by an experienced interviewer to uncover underlying opinions, motivations, beliefs, attitudes and feelings on a topic. (tahkik, sorgulama)

A depth interview may take from 30 minutes to over an hour. It may occur on a one-off basis or it may unfold over a number of meetings between an interviewer and a respondent. Once the interviewer has gained access to a potential respondent, the interviewer should begin by explaining the purpose of the interview, showing what the respondent will get out of taking part in the interview and explaining what the process will be like.

Probing is of critical importance in obtaining meaningful responses and uncovering hidden issues. (sorgulama) Probing can be done by asking general questions such as ‘Why do you say that? ’, ‘That’s interesting, can you tell me more? ’

The interviewer must be alert to the issues that they wish to go through, but also the issues that the respondent is willing to talk about, and must listen carefully to and observe which issues fire enthusiasm in the respondent. (uyanık, hassas) The questions and probes they put to respondents should follow the interest and logic of the respondent, making them feel motivated to respond in a manner that suits them

Depth interview is common in the field of international relationship. If this interview is being done with a political leader or with any opposition group leader, the titles, subtitles and the general questions should be well prepared before the interview.

The questions and probes they put to respondents should follow the interest and logic of the respondent, making them feel motivated to respond in a manner that suits them. As with a focus group discussion, the respondent should feel comfortable and relaxed.

The interviewer should: 1 Do their utmost(en çok)to develop an empathy with the respondent. 2 Make sure the respondent is relaxed and comfortable. 3 Be personable to encourage and motivate respondents. 4 Note issues that interest the respondent and develop questions around these issues. 5 Not be happy to accept brief ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. 6 Note where respondents have not explained clearly enough issues that need probing.

Advantages of depth interviews

1 Uncover greater depth of insights than focus groups. This can happen through concentrating and developing an issue with the individual. In the group scenario, interesting and knowledgeable individuals cannot be solely concentrated upon. 2 Attribute the responses directly to the respondent, unlike focus groups where it is often difficult to determine which respondent made a particular response.

3 Result in a free exchange of information that may not be possible in focus groups because there is no social pressure to conform to group response. This makes them ideally suited to sensitive issues, especially commercially sensitive issues. 4 Be easier to arrange than the focus group as there are not so many individuals to coordinate and the interviewer can travel to the respondent.

Disadvantages of depth interviews

1 The length of the interview, combined with high costs, means that the number of depth interviews in a project tends to be few. If few depth interviews can be managed, the researcher should focus upon the quality of the whole research experience. 2. The data obtained can be difficult to analyse and interpret. Many responses may not be taken at face value; there can be many hidden messages and interpretations in how respondents express themselves. The researcher needs a strong theoretical awareness to make sense of the data or the technical means to develop theory if using a grounded theory approach.

SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

Semi-structured interviews usually come in written form and ask respondents for short essay responses to specific open-ended questions. Respondents are free to write as much or as little as they want. The questions would be divided into sections, typically, and within each section, the opening question would be followed by some probing questions. When these are performed face to face, there is room for less structured follow-ups.

The advantages to this approach include an ability to address more specific issues. Responses are usually easier to interpret than other qualitative approaches. Since the researcher can simply prepare the questions in writing ahead of time, and if in writing, the questions are administered without the presence of an interviewer, semistructured interviews can be relatively costeffective.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

For many consumers, particularly younger generations, social networking sites like My. Space, Second Life, Zebo, and others have become the primary tool for communicating with friends both far and near and known and unknown. Social networking has replaced large volumes of email and, many would say, face–to-face communications as well. While the impact that social networking will eventually have on society is an interesting question, what is most relevant to business research is the large portion of this information that discusses marketing and consumer related information.

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

Both focus groups and depth interviews are direct approaches in which the true purpose of the research can be disclosed to the respondents or is otherwise obvious to them. Projective techniques are different from these techniques in that they attempt to totally disguise(gizlemek)the purpose of the research. A projective technique is an unstructured, indirect form of questioning that encourages respondents to project their underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings regarding the issues of concern. In projective techniques, respondents are asked to interpret the behaviour of others rather than to describe their own behaviour.

In interpreting the behaviour of others, it is contended that respondents indirectly project their own motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings into the situation. Thus, the respondent’s attitudes are uncovered by analysing their responses to scenarios that are deliberately(bilerek)unstructured, vague and ambiguous. The more ambiguous(belirsiz)the situation, the more respondents project their emotions, needs, motives, attitudes and values, as demonstrated by work in clinical psychology. As in psychology, these techniques are classified as association, completion, construction and expressive.

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

Association techniques An individual is presented with a stimulus and asked to respond with the first thing that comes to mind. Word association is the best known of these techniques In word association, respondents are presented with a list of words, one at a time, and are asked to respond to each with the first word that comes to mind. The words of interest, called test words, are interspersed throughout the list, which also contains some neutral, or filler, words to disguise the purpose of the study.

A Sample: Dealing with dirt Word association was used to study women’s attitudes towards detergents. Below is a list of stimulus words used and the responses of two women of similar age and household status. The sets of responses are quite different, suggesting that the women differ in personality and in their attitudes towards housekeeping. Ms M’s associations suggest that she is resigned to dirt. She sees dirt as inevitable and does not do much about it. She does not do hard cleaning, nor does she get much pleasure from her family. Ms C sees dirt too, but is energetic, factual-minded and less emotional. She is actively ready to combat(mücadele etmek)dirt, and she uses soap and water as her weapons.

Fırçalamak Pislik Kirli Çekişme

These findings suggest that the market for detergents could be segmented based on attitudes. Firms (such as Procter & Gamble) that market several different brands of washing powders and detergents could benefit from positioning different brands for different attitudinal segments.

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

Complitan(derleme) Respondents are asked to complete an incomplete stimulus situation. Common completion techniques in business research are sentence completion and story completion.

1. Our political relation with neighbor countries should be ……………………………………………. . 2. In my opinion the future of Middle east will be, ……………………………………. . 3. Can be said that he economical policy of Turkish government is …………………………………………………….

In story completion, respondents are given part of a story, enough to direct attention to a particular topic but not to hint at the ending. They are required to give the conclusion in their own words

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

Construction techniques are closely related to completion techniques. Construction techniques require the respondents to construct a response in the form of a story, dialogue or description. In a construction technique, the researcher provides less initial structure to the respondents than in a completion technique. The two main construction techniques are picture response techniques and cartoon tests.

picture response Consists of a series of pictures of ordinary as well as unusual events. In some of these pictures, the persons or objects are clearly defined, while in others they are relatively vague(müphem). The respondent is asked to tell stories about these pictures. The respondent’s interpretation of the pictures gives indications of that individual’s personality.

In cartoon tests, cartoon characters are shown in a specific situation related to the problem. Respondents are asked to indicate what one cartoon character might say in response to the comments of another character. The responses indicate the respondents’ feelings, beliefs and attitudes towards the situation. Cartoon tests are simpler to administer and analyse than picture response techniques

Qualitative Research Proccedures Direct Focus Groups Indirect Depth Interviews Association Techniques Completion Techniques Projective Techniques Construction Techniques Expressive Techniques

Expressive(anlamlı)techniques Respondents are presented with a verbal or visual situation and asked to relate the feelings and attitudes of other people to the situation. The respondents express not their own feelings or attitudes, but those of others. The two main expressive techniques are role playing and thirdperson technique. In role playing, respondents are asked to play the role or to assume the behaviour of someone else. The researcher assumes that the respondents will project(yansıtmak)their own feelings into the role. A major use of role playing is in uncovering the nature of a brand personality.

Advantages and disadvantages of projective techniques

Projective techniques have a major advantage over the unstructured direct techniques (focus groups and depth interviews): they may elicit(aydınlatmak)responses that subjects would be unwilling or unable to give if they knew the purpose of the study. At times, in direct questioning, the respondent may intentionally or unintentionally misunderstand, misinterpret or mislead the researcher.

Projective techniques suffer from many of the disadvantages of unstructured direct techniques, but to a greater extent. These techniques generally require personal interviews with individuals who are experienced interviewers and interpreters, hence they tend to be expensive. Furthermore, as in all qualitative techniques, there is the risk of interpretation bias. With the exception of word association, all are open-ended techniques, making the analysis and interpretation more problematic.

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