Chapter Five: Qualitative Research Tools
VII. MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
A. Facilitating Interviewing
1. Videoconferencing Technologies
2. Interactive Media and Online Focus Groups
a. Online focus – a qualitative research effort in which a group of individuals
provide unstructured comments by entering their remarks into an electronic,
Internet display board of some type
3. Online versus Face To Face Focus Group Technique
a. Respondents feel online anonymity is very secure.
b. Online focus groups can be larger (25+) because participants do not have to
4. Social Networking
a. One of the most impactful trends in recent times, becoming the primary tool
5. Field Approaches for Interpreting Online Text
a. Interpretative researchers apply specialized approaches to making sense of
6. Software Development
a. Interpretive Software
i. Two commonly used programs are ATLAS.ti and NVivo.
ii. Help identify themes and connections within text as well as videotapes
and photographs.
Chapter Five: Qualitative Research Tools
b. Text Mining
i. Modern predictive analytic software enables text data to be mined from
VIII. EXPLORATORY RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND IN PRACTICE
A. Misuses of Exploratory and Qualitative Research
2. One of the biggest drawbacks is the subjectivity that comes along with
3. Is the result replicable, meaning it could be reproduced by another researcher?
4. The “motivational research” era brought about negative perceptions of these
5. Today, qualitative tools have won acceptance once again as researchers realize
6. Scientific Decision Processes
a. Objectivity and replicability are two characteristics of scientific inquiry.
b. A focus group or depth interview or TAT alone does not best represent
scientific inquiry.
e. An exploratory research design is the most productive design—the tools used
produce more discoveries than do other research designs.
f. Before making a scientific decision, a research project should include a
confirmatory study, but is it always necessary?
Chapter Five: Qualitative Research Tools
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND CRITICAL THINKING/ANSWERS
1. Define qualitative and quantitative research. Compare and contrast the two approaches.
Qualitative marketing research is research that addresses marketing objectives through techniques
that allow the researcher to provide elaborate interpretations of market phenomena without
depending on numerical measurement. Its focus is on discovering true inner meanings and new
2. Describe the term interpretive research.
The term interpretive research is often almost synonymous with qualitative research. When only
one researcher interprets the meaning of what a single person said in a depth interview, one
should be very cautious before making major marketing decisions on these results. Is the result
replicable? Replicable means the same conclusion is intersubjectively certifiable—another
3. What types of situations call for qualitative research?
Common situations that often call for qualitative research:
1. When it is difficult to develop specific and actionable decision statements or research
objectives
3. When the research objective is to learn how consumers use a product in its natural
setting or to learn how to express some concept in colloquial terms
5. When a fresh approach to studying some problem is needed
4. Consider the chapter vignette. Illustrate how researchers could apply at least four different
qualitative tools to the business situation described in the opening vignette.
The core research question at the heart of the chapter vignette is “what is in the mind and heart
of a boarder?” This question could be answered using a variety of qualitative research tools. The
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a
password-protected website for classroom use.
5. Define probing. Describe an illustration of the way probing might reveal ideas for a new
product or a product improvement in the grocery or fast-food industry.
Probing is an interview technique that tries to draw deeper and more elaborate explanations from
6. What are the basic categories (orientations) of qualitative research?
7. Of the four basic categories of qualitative research, which do you think is most appropriate for
a qualitative approach designed to better define a marketing situation prior to conducting
confirmatory research?
8. How might ethnography be used in concept testing?
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a
password-protected website for classroom use.
9. What type of exploratory research would you suggest in the following situations?
a. A product manager suggests development of a non-tobacco cigarette blended from wheat,
cocoa, and citrus.
b. A research project has the purpose of evaluating potential brand names for a new
insecticide.
c. A manager must determine the best site for a convenience store in an urban area.
d. An advertiser wishes to identify the symbolism associated with posting selfees online.
e. Searching for ideas for new smartphone or tablet applications.
f. Determining what might make a consumer willing to pay to play an online video
game.
10. What are the key differences between a focus group interview and a depth interview?
Chapter Five: Qualitative Research Tools
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, in whole or in
part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a
password-protected website for classroom use.
A focus group interview is an unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people,
usually between six and ten people. A depth interview is a one-on-one interview between a
professional researcher and a research respondent.
11. [Internet Question] Visit some social network sites for large companies like Honda, Qantas
Airlines, Target, Tesco and Marriot. Is there any evidence that they are using their Internet
sites in some way to conduct a continuous online focus blog or intermittent online focus
groups?
12. What is laddering? How might it be used in trying to understand which fast-food restaurant
different segments of customers prefer?
13. How is a focus group outline used by a focus group moderator?
14. List at least four ways that recent technological advances have advanced the use of qualitative
research. Explain your choices. Do you know any even newer ways that technological
advancements could provide data in the form of text of picture messages? Can you think of a
way that SMS text messages or MMS messages might provide qualitative input?
Chapter Five: Qualitative Research Tools
a. Energy drinks
b. Vacation resorts
c. Online game designers
d. Insurance companies
2. Go back to the opening vignette. What if Vans approached you to do a focus group interview
that explored the idea of offering casual attire (off-board) aimed at their primary segment
(skateboarders) and offering casual attire for male retirees? How would you recommend the
focus group(s) proceed? Prepare a focus group outline(s) to accomplish this task.
With regard to the focus group outline, students’ responses will vary, but an outline is given in
the chapter:
2. Begin the interview with a broad icebreaker that does not reveal too many specifics about
the interview.
4. If there is a very specific objective to be accomplished (i.e., explaining why a respondent
would either buy or not buy a product), that question should probably be saved for last.
3. Interview two people about their exercise behavior. In one interview, try to use a semi-
structured approach by preparing questions ahead of time and trying to have the respondent
complete answers for these questions. With the other, try a conversational approach. What are
the main themes that emerge in each? Which approach do you think was more insightful? Do
you think there were any “sensitive” topics that a respondent was not completely forthcoming
about?
Chapter Five: Qualitative Research Tools
This approach is almost completely unstructured and the researcher enters the conversation with
few expectations. Meaning will be extracted from the resulting dialog. While this approach can be
19. Search the Internet for some online posts from consumers describing Walmart shopping
experiences. An experience that amounts to a complaint qualifies as relevant. Make sure the
CASE 5.1 Disaster and Consumer Value
Objective: To encourage students to think about how qualitative research can be applied in
understanding consumer behavior.
Summary: After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, consumers showed a desire to tone
down their consumer activities. At some point after a disaster, it is time to get back to business.
Questions
1. How could each classification of qualitative research be used here?
2. What qualitative research tool(s) would you recommend be used and why?
3. Where would you conduct any interviews and with whom would you conduct them?
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a
password-protected website for classroom use.
4. [Ethics Question] Are there ethical issues that you should be sensitive to in this process?
Explain.
5. What issues would arise in conducting a focus group interview in this situation?
6. Prepare a focus group outline.
With regard to the focus group outline, students’ responses will vary, but an outline is given in
the chapter:
1) Welcome and introductions should take place first.
3) Questions become increasingly more specific as the interview proceeds.
5) A debriefing statement should be provided providing respondents with the actual focus