QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AN INTRODUCTION

Presented by: Menchu Lamban Jocelyn Maguinsay Jocelyn Tumambing

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Qualitative

Researchinvolves finding out

what people think, and how they feel - or at any rate, what they say they think and how they say they feel. This kind of information is subjective. It involves feelings and impressions, rather than numbers

Bellenger, Bernhardt and Goldstucker, Qualitative Research in Marketing, American Marketing Association

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research involves the studied use and

collection of a variety of empirical materials - case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts-that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals lives.

Deploy a wide range of interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Not measurements, but WORDS!

Instead of asking how many times someone purchased an item, you ask "WHY...?"

Typically the samples are small, and not "random"

MOST FREQUENT USES

Understanding basic issues

why do people buy/use our product?

Pretesting ideas or questions

do people want a product that cleans their refrigerator?

Message testing

How do people like this ad?

Recommended to capture the basic feel of a problem prior to conducting a more analytical study

STRENGTHS

Good for examining feelings and motivations Allows for complexity and depth of issues Provides insights

WEAKNESSES

Cant extrapolate to the whole population

Volume of data
Complexity of analysis Time-consuming nature of the clerical efforts require

GENERAL APPROACHES

Individual interviews

Nonstructured Structured

Projective Techniques Group interviews

Structured or unstructured Focus groups

Observation

Positivist Paradigm
Emphasises that human reason is supreme and that there is a single objective truth that can be discovered by science Encourages us to stress the function of objects,

celebrate technology and to regard the world as a

rational, ordered place with a clearly defined past, present and future

Non-Positivist Paradigm
Questions the assumptions of the positivist paradigm Argues that our society places too much emphasis on science and technology Argues that this ordered, rational view of consumers denies the complexity of the social and cultural world we live in Stresses the importance of symbolic, subjective experience

THE FIVE MOMENTS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Traditional Period: 1900s-World War II
Wrote

objective colonising accounts of field experiences that were reflective of the positivist scientist paradigm Concerned with offering valid, reliable, and objective interpretations in their writings. The subject who was studied was alien, foreign, and strange.

THE MODERNIST PHASE POST WAR-1970S

The modernist ethnographer and sociological participant observer attempted rigorous, qualitative studies of important social processes, including social control in the classroom and society Researchers were drawn to qualitative research because it allowed them to give a voice to societys underclass

BLURRED GENRES 1970-1986

Researchers had a full complement of paradigms, methods and strategies Applied qualitative research was gaining in stature Research strategies ranged from grounded theory to the case study methodology Methods included qualitative interviewing and observational, visual, personal and documentary methods. Computers were becoming more prevalent Boundaries between the social sciences and humanities had become blurred Social science was borrowing models, theories and methods of analysis from the humanities Researcher acknowledged as being part of the research process

CRISIS OF REPRESENTATION MID 1980S-CURRENT DAY

Caused by the publication of a book called Anthropology as Cultural Critique (Marcus and Fischer, 1986) Made research and writing more reflexive and called into question the issues of gender, class and race. Interpretative theories as opposed to grounded theories were more common as writers challenge old models of truth and meaning Crisis of Representation and Legitimisation

THE FIFTH MOMENT CURRENT DAY

Defined and shaped by the dual crisis of representation and legitimisation Theories now beginning to be read in narrative terms as tales of the field Concept of an aloof researcher has finally been fully abandoned More action oriented research is on the horizon More Social criticism and social critique The search for grand narratives is being replaced by more local, small-scale theories fitted to specific problems and specific situations

QUALITATIVE V.'S QUANTITATIVE

Type of questions Sample Size Info. Per respondent Admin Type of Analysis Type of research Qualitative Research Probing small much Requires skilled researcher Subjective, interpretative Exploratory Quantitative Research Limited probing large varies Fewer specialist skills required Statistical Descriptive or causal

POPULARITY OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1

Usually much cheaper than quantitative research No better way than qualitative research to understand in-depth the motivations and feelings of consumers Qualitative research can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of quantitative research

LIMITATIONS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1

Marketing successes and failures are based on small differences in the marketing mix. Qualitative research doesnt distinguish these differences as well as quantitative research can. Not representative of the population that is of interest to the researcher The multitude of individuals who, without formal training, profess to be experts in the field

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AS A PROCESS

Theory Method Analysis All three interconnect to define the qualitative research process

THEORETICAL APPROACH DEDUCTIVE

Deductive Theoretical Approach

Seek to use existing theory to shape the approach which you adopt to the qualitative research process and to aspects of data analysis

Analytical Procedures

Pattern Matching
Involves predicting a pattern of outcomes based on theoretical propositions to explain what you expect to find Explanation Building Involves attempting to build an explanation while collecting and analysing the data, rather than testing a predicted explanation as in pattern matching

INDUCTIVE APPROACH

Inductive Theoretical Approach

Seek to build up a theory which is adequately grounded in a number of relevant cases. Referred to as Interpretative and Grounded Theory

Art of Interpretation

Field Text: Consists of field notes and documents from the field
Research Text: Notes and interpretations based on the filed text Working interpretative document: Writers initial attempt to make sense out of what he has learned

Public Text: The final tale of the Field

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES

In depth Interviewing Focus Groups Participant Observations Ethnographic Studies ethnicity of the subject Projective Techniques

ANALYSIS QUALITATIVE DATA: AN APPROACH

Categorisation Unitising data Recognising relationships and developing the categories Developing and testing hypotheses to reach conclusion

INTERACTIVE NATURE OF THE QUALITATIVE PROCESS

Data

collection, data analysis and the development and verification of relationships and conclusion are all interrelated and interactive set of processes Allows researcher to recognise important themes, patterns and relationships as you collect data Allows you to re-categorise existing data to see whether themes and patterns and relationships exist in the data already collected Allows you to adjust your future data collection approach to see whether they exist in other cases

TOOLS FOR HELPING THE ANALYTICAL PROCESS

Summaries

Should

contain the key points that emerge from undertaking the specific activity

Self Memos

you to make a record of the ideas which occur to you about any aspect of your research,as you think of them

Allow

Researcher Diary

THANK YOU