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BRM - CH7 - Qualitative Research Tools - Coggle Diagram
BRM - CH7 - Qualitative Research Tools
What is Qualitative Research?
research that addresses business objectives through techniques that allow the researcher to provide elaborate interpretations of phenomena without depending on numerical measurement, its focus is on discovering the inner meanings and new insights
it is
researcher dependent
, in that the interviewer must EXTRACT meaning from unstructured responses such as text, voice, collage, etc.
Qualitative vs Quantitative
mix-match-combine and win, there's no superior method
Quantitative business research
, business research that addresses research objectives through empirical assessments that involve numerical measurement and analysis
How do they differ?
Qualitative
Results are subjective, dependent on the researcher's interpretation
It lacks
intersubjective certifiability or verifiablity
, meaning, different individuals following the same procedure will produce the same results to come to the same conclusion
they use small samples to test hypothesis in discovery oriented research
more often used in exploratory design
not preferable for definite solutions, like causal designs involving experiments
Quantitative
It is intersubjective certifiable
uses large samples
preferable for definite solutions, like causal designs involving experiments
Qualitative data
Data that are not characterized by numbers, and instead are textual, visual, or oral, focus is on stories, visual portrayals, meaningful characterizations, interpretations, and other expressive descriptions
Qualitative data
represent phenomena by assigning numbers in an ordered and meaningful way
Philosophical approach
Exploratory
normally produce qualitative data
is normally needed to develop the ideas that lead to research hypothesis
better when theres not much information available
Confirmatory
normally produce quantitative data
Is normally used to produce results of confirmatory hypothesis tests to help make decisions by suggesting a specific course of action
better when there are specifics to be tested
Techniques in Qualitative Research
Focus group interview
, unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people, usually between six and ten
Advantages & Characteristics
Piggybacking and multiple perspectives,
(procedure in which one respondent stimulates thought among the others; the more it continues, the more creative insights are possible)
Flexibility,
Numerous topics can be discussed and many insights can be gained
Scrutiny,
the session can be observed, observers can ask the moderator to probe on a specific topic if required
Speed and ease
, 4 sessions can be done in 1 week
Often used for concept screening and concept refining
Group Composition should be from six to ten
Homogeneous groups work best, they allow researchers to concentrate on consumers with similar lifestyles, experiences, and communication skills
they are executed in specially designed rooms, with a two-way mirror
The moderator
a person who leads a focus group interview and ensures that everyone gets a chance to speak and contribute to the discussion
Needs to develop rapport among participants
Must be a good listener
Must try not to inject his own opinions
control the discussion to avoid it becoming overbearning
Planning the Focus Group
creation of the
discussion guide
its a focus group outline that 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
welcome and introductions should take place first
begin the interview with a broad icebreaker that does not reveal specifics
questions become more specific
leave the killer question for the last (buy or no buy)
provide a debrief
Focus group as a Diagnostic Tool
focus groups are the predominant means by which business researchers implement exploratory research designs
serve also to understand what survey results indicate
excellent for spotting problems with ideas, using idea screening
Online Focus Groups
Videoconf
online focus group
, qualitative research effort in which a group of individuals provide unstructured comments by entering remarks into an electronic internet display board of some type
Focus blog
, informal and continuous focus group established as an internet blog to collect qualitative data from participant comments
Online vs Face to face
Online
a more secure feeling and anonomity
can be larger than traditional focus groups because people don't have to move (25)
Anonymity is advantageous for researching sensitive topics
Offline
researcher can exercise more control over small groups
easier to ensure that participants match the profile in question
can see and observe body-language
ability to probe and ask additional questions on the spot is enhanced
can be used for product testing, in contrary to online
Disadvantages
require objective, sensitive, and effective moderators
unique sample problems arise with FG, they might not be representative of the entire target market
offline focus groups are hard to use to discuss sensitive topics
they are costly
Depth Interview
, one on one interview between a professional researcher and a research respondent conducted about some relevant business or social topic
are the same as a psychological or clinical interview, but with a different purpose
the interviewer's role and experience is crucial to obtain good information
Laddering
, term used for a particular approach to proving,
distinctions on an attribute-level
benefit-level distinctions
value or motivation level distinctions
Last more than an hour
generate as much text as a focus group
analysis and interpretation is highly subjective
provide more insights about a particular subject, than a group
good for sensitive topics, since the setting is more private
Conversations
, informal qualitative data gathering approach in which the researcher engages a respondent in a discussion of the relevant subject matter
almost completely unstructured
discussion about a relevant subject matter
conversational approach to qualitative research
Inexpensive, respondents might not be required to pay
data analysis is researcher dependent
two types
semistructured interviews
, come in written form and ask respondents for short essay responses to specific open-ended questions
social networking
, can be used to gauge negative or positive comments/remarks and obtain a reading regarding a product or service
Free-association/sentence completion method
, record respondents top of mind cognitive reactions to some stimulus
lack the ability to probe
quick-and-cost effective
effective ice-breakers in focus groups
Observation
, gaining insight into things that cannot be verbalized easily, field notes, are the descriptions of what the observer sees, from which data is extracted
Collages
, a technique for respondents to express their experiences using pictures
Projective Technique
, an indirect means of questioning enabling respondents to project beliefs and feelings onto a third party, an inanimate object, or a task situation
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
a test that presents subjects with an ambiguous picture(s) in which consumers and products are the center of attention, investigator asks the subject to tell what's happening in the pictures and what might happen next
When to use Qualitative Research?
when its difficult to develop specific and actionable problem statements or research objectives, so you do interviews in order to find out more and then AFTERWARD you can do quantitative
When the research objective itself is to understand deeply a phenomena.
When the researcher wants to learn how a phenomena occurs in its natural setting, or to learn how to express some concept in colloquial terms
when some behavior under research is context dependent.
when a fresh approach to studying some problem is needed
Orientations to Qualitative Research
Phenomenology
Uses a conversational window tool
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
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
avoid asking direct questions
the subject is asked to tell a story about some experience.
a very unstructured approach, as a way of avoiding leading questions and to provide every opportunity for new insights
Hermeneutics
An approach to understanding phenomenology that relies on analysis of texts in which a person tells a story about him or herself
Hermeneutic unit
refers to a passage from a respondent's story that is linked with a key theme from within this story or provided by the researcher.
Ethnography
Represents ways of studying cultures through methods that involve becoming highly active within that culture
Participant-Observation
, approach where the researcher becomes immersed within the culture that he or she is studying and draws data from his or her observations
seeks to study the subject in its "natural habitat"
Particularly useful when subjects cannot verbalize their thoughts or feelings
Good for use with Children
Elderly
Mentally disabled
Grounded theory
Represents an inductive 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
typical questions are:
what is happening here?
how is this different?
it does not begin with a theory but instead extracts one from whatever emerges from an area of inquiry
Ground theorists often rely on visual representations
Case studies
documented history of a particular person, group, organization, or event, typically describing the vents of a specific company as it faces a decision or situation
Case studies can be analyzed for important
themes
, which are identified by the frequency with which the same term arises in the narrative description
Commonly applied in business
often overlap with other categories of qualitative research
good advantage is that an entire organization can be investigated in depth, enabling the researcher to study order of events, identify the relationships among functions, individuals, entities, etc.
conducting a case study often requires the cooperation of the party whose history is being recorded
Misuses of Exploratory and Qualitative Research
Exploratory research cannot take place of conclusive, confirmatory research
Be careful of too few researchers did too much interpretation of too few respondents
Replication
is important, the same interpretation will be drawn if the study is repeated by different researchers with different respondents following the same methods
Scientific Decision Processes,
objectivity
and
replicability
are two characteristics of scientific inquiry
further hypothesis testing of results should yield good results after qualitative research has been done
Time
, sometimes researchers do not have enough time to gather and analyze data, without conclusive studies ever made
Money
, sometimes researchers do not follow up exploratory research results because the cost is to high.
Emotion
, decision makers can get anxious or excited and use the information provided as if it was conclusive