Qualitative Methods + Ch6 Flashcards
Qualitative Research characteristics
Less structured questions where researchers collect data from observation
Longer, more flexible interaction with fewer respondents
Good for problem exploration
Quantitative Research characteristics
Structured questions with predetermined answers
Shorter, more similar interaction with more respondents
Good for problem description and solving
Qualitative methods
Indepth interviews
Focus groups
Projective techniques
Observation
Ethnography
Open-ended responses
Indepth interviews (IDIs)
Very loosely structured, 1-1 conversation
Lots of detail and no group pressure
May be hard to recognize patterns between interviews
Small sample sizes, cannot generalize to population
Focus group
Moderator leads in-depth discussion (approx 8-12 participants)
Emphasis on group dynamics, interaction, open discussion
Can probe deeply and see group dynamics, but can be non-representative or swayed by group dynamics
Projective tests
Ambiguous, loosely structured activities to get at respondents’ interpretations, attitudes, feelings, etc
Can reveal “unknown” attitudes and feelings but can be biased and hard to quantify
eg:
Word association
Personification
Sentence completion
Story completion
Photo sorts
Observation
Systematic process of recording patterns without directly communicating with the people involved. Behaviour should be repetitive, frequent, or predictable
*exception of mystery shoppers
Phenomenon of interest
Observable or inferable from behaviour that is observable
eg: why do people choose AC over Westjet? is not observable behaviour
Observation methodologies (DONH)
Direct or indirect
Open or disguised
Natural or contrived
Human or machine
Direct vs indirect observation
Current behaviour vs past behaviour
eg: do consumers in certain areas recycle less than others? (observing remnants of behaviour, not as it is happening)
Open vs disguised observation
Does the person being observed know they are being watched or not?
Natural vs contrived environment observation
Is the area of observation public or a controlled simulated/lab?
eg: recruiting people to do their shopping in a simulated supermarket environment
Human vs machine observation
Observation done by humans or machines
eg: one-way mirror observations vs store cameras, gps trackers
eg: mystery shoppers
Ethnography
Study of human behaviour in its natural context
Gives researchers opportunity to delve into consumers’ lives
Researcher as a participant observer can witness what people say and do
Ethnographic research
Descriptive study of a group and its behaviours, characteristics, and culture
Machine observation examples
Eye tracking
fMRI
Galvanic skin response
Wearable tech
Mixed methods research
Integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods, with the aim of gaining the advantages of both
Three types of mixed methods research
Qualitative before quantitative
Quantitative before qualitative
Qualitative and quantitative concurrently
Archives
Secondary sources that can be applied to a present problem
Physical traces
Tangible evidence of some past event
Advantages of observation
Insight into actual, not hypothetical behaviours
Doesn’t depend on willingness of respondent
Information can be gathered more quickly vs survey
No chance for recall error
Disadvantages of observations
Small number of subjects
Subjective interpretations
Inability to pry beneath behaviour observed
Motivations, attitudes, and other internal conditions are unobserved
Findings are not projectable into the future
Advantages of focus groups
Generate fresh ideas
Allow clients to observe participants
Directed at understanding a wide variety of issues
Easy access to special respondent groups such as lawyers or doctors (hard to find a representative sample of these groups)
Disadvantages of focus groups
Can’t be generalized
Success dependent on moderator
Difficult to interpret some results of focus groups
Laddering
A technique used in IDIs in an attempt to discover how product attributes are associated with desired consumer values
Protocol analysis
Places people in a decision making situation and asks them to verbalize everything they consider is their decision
Thematic analysis
Examining qualitative data to uncover themes or common patterns across the data
Substantiating example
An example from qualitative data that provides evidence for a theme
