Say It Ain’t So! Is This the Real Thing? Case Paper
The research approach David Ortgea decided to use is qualitative with the associated category
of phenomenology. By definition, the qualitative method, “addresses marketing objectives through
techniques allowing the researcher to provide elaborate interpretations of market phenomena without
depending on numerical measurement.” (Babin & Zikmund, 2016, Pg. 109) While phenomenology is,
“the philosophical approach to studying human experiences based on the idea that human experience
itself is inherently subjective and determined by the context in which people live.” (Babin & Zikmund,
2016, Pg. 115) David’s style of research is also described by our text as it, “…relies largely on
conversational interview tools.” (Babin & Zikmund, 2016, Pg. 115). He spent time with people allowing
them to warm up to him. If he took another approach the information he needed, may not have been
obtained. For example, let’s say he tried using the grounded theory approach. Grounded theory is, “an
inductive investigation in which the researcher poses questions about information provided by
respondents or taken from historical records.” (Babin & Zikmund, 2016, Pg. 119). To begin, he has little
to no historical records to generate questions from. Secondly, if he did have historical data, his
conversations would have likely felt colder and more like an interrogation. I do feel this approach was
appropriate choice for David to use this method to gather the information he needed. Being that the
conversations were being conducted a nice restaurant where people are naturally talking already, was a
great fit. Nothing was out of the ordinary especially when talking about something that is relative to the
setting: wine.
When doing research, receiving unbiased, honest responses is the goal. Companies, and in this
case, David, do not want opinions that aren’t genuine. With that said, I believe David didn’t share he was
