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"
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Most frequent uses
• Understanding basic issues
– why do people use our product?
• Pretesting ideas or questions
– do people want a product that cleans their
refrigerator?
• Message testing
– How do people like this ad?
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Strengths and Weaknesses
Good for examining feelings and motivations
• Cheap
• Efficient
• Better understanding of motivations?
Limitations on Qualitative Research
• Does not distinguish small differences well
• Can’t extrapolate to the whole population
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General approaches
• Individual interviews
– Nonstructured
– Structured
• Group interviews
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Structured or unstructured
FOCUS GROUPS:
Starting questions
Uses a moderator
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The Focus Group
• 8 to 12 participants with a moderator
• Goal: to understand what people have to say
• The emphasis: getting people to talk in detail
• Hope: One response stimulates other responses
• Process:
• Rapport is established
• Provoke intense discussion
• Summarize significant conclusions
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Use of Focus Groups
Buick division of General Motors used focus groups to help
develop the Regal. Buick held 20 focus groups across the
country to determine what features customers wanted in a
car. The focus groups told GM they wanted a stylish car,
legitimate back seat, at least 20 miles per gallon, and 0 to 60
miles per hour acceleration in 11 seconds or less.
VO
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Based on the results, Buick engineers created clay
models of the car and mock-ups of the interior.
These were shown to other focus groups. The
respondents did not like the oversized bumpers and
the severe slope of the hood, but liked the four-disc
brakes and independent suspension.
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Focus groups also helped refine the advertising campaign for
the Regal. Participants were asked which competing cars
most resembled Buick in image and features. The answer was
Oldsmobile, a sister GM division. In an effort to differentiate
the two, Buick was repositioned above Oldsmobile by
focusing on comfort and luxury features.
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The tag line for the 1998 Regal, “official car of the
Supercharged family,” was based on focus group findings.
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Limitations of approach
• Rests on reflective thinking
– Have to rely on after-the-fact self-reports
• asking people about their motives
– On their own behavior
• can they remember accurately?
– questioning might color their responses
• e.g., desire to appear “consistent” “politically correct” etc.
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Other forms of qualitative research
Depth Interviews
Unstructured one-on-one interview
Projective Techniques
Techniques for penetrating a person’s defense
mechanisms
A basis for gathering more revealing information
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Projective Techniques
1. Thoughts have emotional and subconscious content
2. The emotional and subconscious content is
important in buying and usage decisions.
3. This content is not well verbalized by the
respondent through direct communication.
4. This content IS better verbalized through indirect
techniques.
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Types of Projective Techniques
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Word Association Tests
Sentence and Story Completion
Cartoon Tests
Photo Sorts
Consumer Drawings
Story Telling
Third-Person Technique
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A Cartoon Test
Sears
Let’s see if we
can pick up
some
housewares at
Sears
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?
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Qualitative Methods
• Advantages
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Greater depth
People's own words
Immediate feedback
Insights can come from participants
• Limitations
– Lots of data
– Hard to "code"
– Not enough people to generalize
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The End
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