Research for Marketing Decisions

Interview
The in-depth interview
 Usually lengthy, from 1 to 3 hours
 Yields a large amount of data
 Very useful to get detailed data on specific phenomena
 Also called as the DI – Depth Interview in business
parlance
 Real life example :
 What is the process consumers go through while purchasing a flat?
 Who are the key influencers?
 What are the feelings and emotions involved?

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The Standardized Interview
 Formally structured schedule of questions
 Respondents asked to answer each question
 Present the same stimulus to each respondent – answers
comparable
 Researcher assumes questions sufficiently comprehensive
to elicit all information on study topic
 Assumption that meaning of questions unchanged across
respondents
 Broad similarities with survey questions…

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The Standardized Interview
 A typical standardized interview
 Food consumption habits of consumers
 1. When is the first time you eat or drink on a typical day?
 2. What is the first thing you eat?
 3. When is the next time you eat or drink?
 4. What do you eat or drink?
 5. How many times a week do you eat eggs? Milk? Cheese?
Fish? Meat?
 6. Which protein foods do you like the best?
 7. Which foods do you eat between meals?
 …..

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The Unstandardized Interview
 Does not utilize question schedules
 Assumes interviewers do not know all questions in
advance
 Respondents assumed to possess different vocabularies
 Develop, adapt and generate questions and follow up
probes according to situation
 Used to augment field observations
 Useful when researcher unfamiliar with respondents’
lifestyles, religious or ethnic cultures, customs etc.

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The Semi-standardized Interview
 Located between the two extremes of standardized and
unstandardized
 Uses predetermined questions, but respondents allowed to
digress
 Researcher expected to probe on answers
 Researcher approaches problem from respondent’s perspective

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The Expert Interview
 A special case, usually of a semi-standardized interview
 Interviewees are of less interest as people; researcher
interested in them as experts in certain domains
 Integrated into the study not as individuals but as
representing a group, i.e., experts
 E.g., a study on Indian advertising among consumers, will also
incorporate creative people, brand managers etc.

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The Interview Process
Understand Problem

Identify Target
Respondents

Develop DG

Conduct Interview

Analysis and Findings

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The Discussion Guide
 Sometimes also referred to as a questionnaire, esp. in
more structured interviews
 What are the functions of the DG?
 Ensure that the researcher covers all the terrain in roughly the
same order for all respondents
 Scheduling of prompts in interview to elicit information
 Prompts necessary to ‘manufacture distance’
 Interviewer might not be able to remember issues to be
discussed in the course of the interview
 DG establishes channels for direction and scope of discourse
 Allows researcher to devote full attention to what respondent
says

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The Discussion Guide
 Use of DG does not preempt open-ended nature of the
interview
 Within broader framework, opportunity for unstructured
responses remains
 Extemporaneous investigation essential to genuine
understanding
 DG should help in ordering and enhancing interviewer
efficiency, not destroy the flexibility provided by the in-
depth interview!

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The DG: Initial Steps
 Determine the nature of investigation, objective of
research
 List out a broad outline that addresses issues relevant to
the study
 E.g., interview with Linux user
 Demographic details
 Respondent’s attitudes towards technology
 Computer usage habits
 Experience with Linux
 Relationships with other Linux users
 Experience with Windows
 Brand imagery, Linux vs Windows

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The DG: Initial Steps
 Generate separate list of questions for each of the categories
 Demographics
 Age
 Occupation
 Education
 Attitudes towards technology
 Perceived functions of technology
 Pros and cons
 Present scenarios
 Computer usage habits
 Frequency of usage
 Tasks for which used
 General opinions about the technology
 Influencers for usage
 ….

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The DG: Types of Questions
 Grand Tour questions
 Questions to start the relevant part of the interview
 Puts the ball in respondent’s court, enables him/her to become
involved in a lengthy narration
 Can provide points for probing, determine direction of
subsequent parts of interview
 Makes respondent feel valued
 What do you think of drugs?
 What is your experience with operating systems?

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The DG: Types of Questions
 Essential questions
 Geared towards eliciting specific information
 What will you do if you see your brother using drugs?
 Tell me about the tasks which you use Linux for.
 Extra questions
 Roughly equivalent to essential questions
 Included in order to check the reliability of responses
 What if you see a family member using drugs?

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The DG: Types of Questions
 Throw-Away questions
 Found at the beginning of the interview
 Used to develop rapport with respondents
 Can be used to “cool off” respondent when interviewer asks
sensitive questions by mistake
 Might be demographic details
 Might not be part of the core data needed, but nevertheless
important to draw complete story from respondent
 Tell me about your family…
 What do you do when you have free time?

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The DG: Types of Questions
 Probing questions
 Provide interviewers with a way to draw out more complete
stories from respondents
 Probes can be incorporated throughout the interview

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The DG: Types of Questions
 Probing questions
 Elicit more information about whatever the respondent has
already said in response to a question
 Scheduled Question:
 I: Have you ever tried angel dust?
 R:Yes. Once.
 Scheduled Probe:
 I:Tell me about that…
 R: Oh, I was working at this local fair…we’d go at 9 and work till 5 in the
evening…we walked back to Tom’s trailer and smoked…nothing happened,
but then people’s faces, kind of you know, turned into prisms, stuffed
animals started coming real, huge lions, tigers, 20 foot snakes…comin’
towards me…next morning I found out I had smoked Arizona weed laced
with angel dust…never smoked with them (Bill and Tom) again…

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The DG: Types of Questions
 Unscheduled Probe:
 I: Did you ever try angel dust intentionally?
 R: No.
 Unscheduled Probe:
 I: How come?
 R:Too scared to. (Conversation continues for a few more pages)

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The DG: Question Wording
 Questions must be worded carefully to provide necessary
data
 Motivate respondents to answer completely and honestly
 Uncomfortable questions can make respondent clam up
 Did your employer treat you badly?
 Tell me about your equation with your employer…

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The DG: Question Wording
 Interviewer’s language must be understandable to
subjects
 Who are some spokespeople you trust on ads?
 Do you like basketball players acting in ads? Which ones?
 Be aware of jargon used by different sets of people
 Corporate language: Keep me in the loop…
 Let me get back to you…
 Teen speak: I was just, you know…super buzzed…
 Doctors: Acute Myocardial Infarction

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The DG: Problems in Question
Formulation
 Affectively worded questions
 Arouse some emotional response, usually negative
 I had to bunk the class…
 The word ‘Why’ can produce a negative response
 ‘How come’ might be a better option
 Reducing affect of questions can improve responses
 Do you miss classes?
 How often do you miss classes?

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The DG: Problems in Question
Formulation
 Double-Barreled questions
 Asks respondent to answer simultaneously to two issues in a
single question
 How many times in a week do you read newspapers or magazines?
 Confuses respondent who might nevertheless answer
 Impossible to understand or analyze response
 Split double-barreled questions into two

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The DG: Problems in Question
Formulation
 Complex questions
 Verbal communication involves more than only listening
 Respondent can also be thinking about how to respond to
interviewer’s question
 Long, heavy questions might not be heard entirely
 What are some recent ads you saw and why did you like them?

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The DG: Problems in Question
Formulation
 Question sequencing
 Typically start with non-threatening, easy questions
 Demographics, hobbies etc.
 More complex questions asked later, post establishing rapport
 Ordering of questions matters
 Tell me what you think of action movies…
 What is your opinion about movies?
 The first question will influence the second – order should be
reversed here!

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Pretesting the DG
 Involves two steps
 DG should be examined by those familiar with the study
subject – peers, technical experts, target consumers
 Use instrument in a real study with a few practice interviews

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The DG: An Overview

Method Output

Simple questioning Immediate

Spontaneous spontaneous
response

Public
Justification,

Communicable
Asking/ reminding Reasoned
Conventional explanations

Aware
Detailed Elaborations
Pressing Preconscious /
Introspections
Sympathetic Concealed Personal Admissions
probing Personal
Symbols,
Private

Communicable

Play / Drama Intuitive Imagination,

analogies
Non

Aware

Projective Repressed attitudes,

Non

approaches Unconscious motives

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Selecting Respondents
 Respondents do not form a ‘sample’
 Conventional sampling rules not to be applied in selecting
respondents
 However, contrast and variability created in respondent
pool to ensure diverse opinions
 Age, gender etc.

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Selecting Respondents
 Respondents should be perfect strangers to interviewer
 Predictability involved with friends and acquaintances can
corrupt findings
 Quality of responses and information-richness preferred
to large numbers
 Even 8 to 10 respondents can provide closure to the problem

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Selecting Respondents
 Do not have special knowledge or ignorance of subject,
except in expert interviews
 E.g. brand managers should not be interviewed when trying to
assess advertising concepts
 Standard injunction in surveys against interviewing
MR/marketing/related field people

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The Interview Procedure
 The obtrusive/unobtrusive balance
 Objective of interview to see issue from respondent’s
perspective
 Interviewer leading the respondent can lead to the analysis
being just the interviewer’s view of the problem
 Do not “play back” to respondent
 You seem to hate your workplace so much!
 I hear anger in your voice…

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The Interview Procedure
 Avoid obtrusive listening
 I:What did you miss most about being away from the family?
 R:The family…
 I:The love and warmth?
 R: The togetherness and that sort of thing…being able to talk to your family,
talk more intimately…in the army the talk is more or less on a lower
level…
 I: Surface level?
 R: Surface level…I guess you could call it that…

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The Interview Procedure
 Manufacturing distance
 Respondents cannot fully explain cultural categories and beliefs
 Beliefs become assumptions, actions become habits over time
 E.g., removing price tags from gifts, taking turns in a conversation,
returning greetings
 Questioning taken-for-granted assumptions can uncover social
norms and belief systems
 E.g., norms of reciprocity, fairness, ‘decommodifying’ gifts etc.

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The Interview Procedure
 People can resist and need to be convinced to take part
in interviews
 Why me and not someone else?
 You were chosen by chance according to a random procedure
 I don’t know much about the subject!
 It’s not what you know about; I’m just interested in your opinions
 Lack of time
 Conduct interview during late evening hours
 Split the interview and do it during lunch breaks
 It is important to be flexible

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The Interview Procedure
 Knowing the audience
 Understand the cultural context in which respondents are
situated
 Dress and appearance of interviewer should match cultural
context
 Understand taboos
 E.g., problems with interviewing female consumers in Asian cultures,
privacy-consciousness in the West
 Keep language and questions inoffensive
 E.g., referring to older people by name can be offensive in India
 Forthright questions can be awkward or offensive for those living in
‘high-context’ cultures

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The Interview Procedure
 Establishing respondent rapport
 Respondents should be assured that there would not be any
loss of face due to interview disclosure
 Body postures and gestures to support respondent
 Appearing dim and agreeable preferable to giving signs of being
critical or ‘smart’!
 Make opening questions simple
 Biographical questions
 Idle chit-chat
 Respondent lowers defenses

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The Interview Procedure
 Listen for
 Impression management
 Topic avoidance
 Deliberate distortion
 Minor misunderstanding or incomprehension
 ‘Playing dumb’ might elicit information
 Helps prevent assumptions by the interviewer
 Makes respondent engage in lengthy elaborations which can
provide unexpected insights

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The Interview Procedure
 Probing
 Post grand tour testimony, floating prompts can be used
 How come?
 Prompts respondent to come back to the response and elaborate
 Can also repeat the term used by the respondent with an
interrogative tone
 R: So me and my friends, we decided to go out and get wrecked
 I:Wrecked?
 R:Yeah, you know, really blasted
 When repeating doesn’t work, use more explicit questioning
 What do you mean ‘blasted’, exactly?
 But do not be obtrusive
 Do you mean ‘intoxicated?’

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The Interview Procedure
 Probing
 Watch for key terms (such as ‘wrecked’, ‘blasted’)
 Use these to prompt for more responses
 Planned prompts can be used when information is not
emerging spontaneously
 Contrast questions, what is the difference between ‘x’ and ‘y’?
 Use categories supplied by/familiar to respondent
 I:What is the difference between a shopping mall and your local store?
 R:Well, at a shopping mall you are not so free…
 I:What do you mean by ‘not free’?

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The Interview Procedure
 Probing
 Planned prompting: “auto-driving”
 Highly obtrusive, but quite useful
 Respondent asked to comment on picture, photograph or
some such stimulus
 Use photographs of homes in a study of interior design

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In-Depth Interview: Pros and Cons
 Advantages
 Provides access to data concerning personal and sensitive
topics
 Can exercise greater control over respondent selection; more
depth, context and flexibility
 Provides respondents with opportunity to reflect on actions
and decisions
 Allows respondents anonymity and the freedom to express
their views
 Greater rapport and trust, much richer and complex data
 Easier expression of non conformity

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In-Depth Interview: Pros and Cons
 Disadvantages
 Lack of interaction with other consumers
 Can be time-consuming and expensive
 Not observable by clients

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Interviewing: Critical Points
 Never begin an interview cold
 Spend some time in chatting, making small talk
 Use respondent’s job, living space etc. as matter for small talk
 Puts respondent at ease, builds rapport
 Remember your purpose
 You need to obtain information within the allotted time
 Have a copy of the DG always at hand
 Ideally, memorize questions in the DG
 Present a natural front
 Do not act as if you are asking memorized questions!
 Be relaxed, affirmative and natural

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Interviewing: Critical Points
 Demonstrate aware hearing
 Offer appropriate non-verbal responses
 Do not act cold and distant
 Think about appearance
 Dress appropriately for the setting and audience
 Formal/semi-formal attire safe
 Interview in a comfortable place
 Subject should be comfortable
 Should not fear being overheard or seen
 Heat, cold, noise, lighting etc.

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Interviewing: Critical Points
 Don’t be satisfied with monosyllabic answers
 Yes/No answers will not be analyzable
 Probe: What else? How?
 Be comfortable with silence – yields more information
 Be respectful
 Assure respondents that what they say is important
 Respondents should feel they are part of the study

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Interviewing: Critical Points
 Practice
 Best way to learn interviewing is to actually carry out
interviews…
 Be cordial and appreciative
 Thank the respondent
 Answer questions of respondent about the research
 Do not ‘poison the well’

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What is Ethnography?
 Etymology
 Greek word ethnos
 People, nation, class
 Greek word graphikos
 Of or pertaining to writing/drawing
 Ethnography broadly aims at providing an account of
people
 Aims to understand another way of life from the ‘native’
point of view

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Ethnography
 Places researchers in the midst of whatever they study
 Researchers can examine various phenomena as
perceived by participants, and present these observations
as accounts
 Ethnography is the study of people in naturally occurring settings or
‘fields’ by means of methods which capture their social meanings and
ordinary activities, involving the researcher participating directly in the
setting, if not also the activities, in order to collect data in a systematic
manner but without meaning being imposed on them externally

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Ethnography
 Involves extensive fieldwork of various types
 Participant observation
 Formal and informal interviewing
 Document collection
 Filming, recording

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Ethnography
 Key characteristics
 Non-interference in the setting; researcher does not attempt
to change actions and behaviors of those studied
 Usually involves medium to long-term study, to understand
setting through repeated exposure
 Involves gaining access to the emic (vs etic) perspective

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Ethnography
 Advantages
 Natural setting, consumer behavior not contrived to suit
researcher
 Scope for providing rich data
 Observations and interviews can complement each other in
setting
 Disadvantages
 Involves extensive and time-consuming fieldwork
 Translates into high researcher involvement and higher costs

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Why observe?
 Customers used to current conditions
 Problems with existing product do not occur to consumers
 “Working around” inconveniences
 Traditional methods good at shortlisting using known criteria
for known products
 Questions need not yield answers in many cases
 E.g., car ergonomics, features in a software program

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Why observe?
 Product doesn’t exist in market
 Consumers do not know product, so can’t provide inputs
 E.g., radio as entertainment medium
 Surveys cannot capture consumer environment
 Constrained dialogue with consumers

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Learning from observation
 Usability testing
 Ergonomics
 Package design
 Triggers of use
 What makes consumers use product?
 Product might have unintended uses
 Mobile phones and “missed” calls
 Breakfast cereals as snacks – smaller packaging

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Learning from observation
 Product interaction with user environment
 Usability labs cannot easily replicate actual use environments
 Product can be tailored to fit use environment
 E.g., Nokia 1110
 Torchlight, dust-resistant, anti-slip grip – low-priced phone that is
durable
 Intangible product attributes
 Kimberley-Clark – understanding of diapers as clothing

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Types of Observation
 Participant observation
 Involves researcher playing the role of an insider in the setting
studied
 E.g., the role of a buyer in a retail environment
 Provides access to ‘inside’ information, ‘backstage’ areas
 Consumers cannot verbalize/might hide information from an
‘outsider’, e.g., the suppression of socially proscribed behavior
 Participant observation of researcher in the Harley Davidson case
 Researcher should however avoid danger of ‘going native’
 Results in taking for granted assumptions and behavior

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Types of Observation
 Nonparticipant observation
 Researcher observes and records naturalistic behavior but
does not become a part of the setting
 Useful when the introduction of a novice participant can
disrupt behavior
 E.g., studying adventure sports enthusiasts

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Types of Observation
 Nonparticipant observation
 Useful when it is not necessary or feasible to be a participant
 E.g., observing parents changing diapers
 Observing children playing with toys
 Participant observation not feasible in many settings
 E.g., observing the use of complex machinery
 Participant observation might not be feasible/might be risky in BFD

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Types of Observation
 Mechanical observation
 Devices used to obtain complementary data
 Photographs, audio/video tapes, filming consumption events
 Important advantages of recorded data
 Remains stable
 Analyzable later
 Can be shown to outsiders
 Does not miss out on details
 E.g. photographs of modified cars
 Photographs and exhibits which provide important supporting data in the
Harley case

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Gaining Entry
 Gather as much information as possible about consumers
to be studied
 Library and other secondary sources useful
 Knowledge about consumers facilitates entry and rapport post
entry
 Convince gatekeepers
 May be formal or informal watchdogs who protect the setting,
people or institution to be studied
 E.g., school principals in the BFD case
 Gatekeeper disapproval can seriously hinder the project

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Gaining Entry
 Access guides and informants
 Locate consumers in the setting you can rely on
 A guide consumer can provide larger access to the setting
 E.g., knowing a dedicated Harley rider can provide greater access to
the subculture
 Possibility of a particular guide being disliked by the group, so
need to rely on multiple guides
 Guides help in snowballing, can vouch for the legitimacy of
researcher
 Ideally, as project progresses, guides become redundant

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Reactivity
 Becoming ‘invisible’
 Presence of researcher influences behavior
 The Hawthorne Effect
 Generally short-lived effect, consumers soon disengage
 Becoming ‘invisible’ entails being present in the setting and able
to observe without being noticed

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Reactivity
 Becoming ‘invisible’
 Erosion of visibility by time
 Informants tune off and stop noticing the researcher with time
 Erosion of visibility by symbolic attachment
 Researchers become closer to those being studied, and eventually
informants get used to them

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Reactivity
 Becoming ‘invisible’
 Developing relationships
 Informants start liking the researcher, and he/she becomes one of
them
 Misrepresenting real research interests
 Expressing false areas of interests; reduces reactivity in real interest
areas
 Masking identity as researcher
 Covertly studying informants can avoid reactivity altogether
 However, misrepresentation can be unethical, and is not
recommended!

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Reactivity
 Dangers of ‘invisibility’
 Problems with misidentification
 Legal problems
 Invasion of privacy issues
 Danger to life and limb
 E.g., doing ethnography in the BFD case
 Sudhir Venkatesh’s study of criminal gangs
 Learning more than you want to know
 Gaining access to damaging information vis-à-vis ethical obligation to
informants
 Getting involved in semi-legal activities

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Data Collection
 The Physical Setting
 Take in details of the setting studied
 Draw maps, describe places used by consumers, rooms used by them
etc.
 Especially useful in areas such as shopping malls, households etc.
 Helps researcher become familiar with the location
 Can serve as contact points for potential informants

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Data Collection
 Relationships with informants
 Consumers might want explanations for presence of
researcher
 Provide broad intent of study, but details unnecessary
 Carry photo id, authorization letter etc.

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Data Collection
 Tracking, observing, eavesdropping
 Follow consumers as they go about their daily routines
 Henry Mintzberg’s study on the manager’s job
 Paco Underhill’s field team
 Eavesdropping becomes inevitable, sometimes necessary
 Locate subgroups and stars
 Some consumers form groups
 Suggests social networking, influence groups
 Some consumers might be opinion leaders or ‘stars’
 Rapport with ‘stars’ might facilitate data collection

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Recording Data
 Use multiple sources
 Informant narratives/interviews
 Field notes
 Photographs
 Artifacts
 E.g., Harley Davidson case
 Multiple sources of data enable
 Richness of data
 Understanding phenomenon from different vantage points
 Triangulation

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Recording Data
 Write thick descriptions
 Multisensory description of events in the setting
 Describes people, also inanimate objects, ambience
 Snippets of conversation, interactions between people
 E.g.,Thick description of consumer behavior at a shopping mall
 Attire, profile, number of consumers
 Detailed behavior of consumers
 Lighting, music, layout of the mall
 Consumers’ moods, reactions to the surroundings
 Retailers, how they react to consumers
 Products displayed, layouts, purchases
 …..

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Recording Data
 Record critical incidents
 A specific incident
 Characterizes/defines the setting
 Recorded in descriptive terms
 Involves multiple actors in the setting
 Provides deep insights into the setting
 E.g., Handling of an irate customer at a bank
 Re-directing customers to a competitor in a local market

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Recording Data
 Field notes
 Critical to providing analyzable data
 Jotted down while among consumers, also while meeting
consumers by chance
 Various ways of recording field notes
 Can be recorded on electronic devices
 Jotted down on cards and later reconstructed
 Field notes should record everything observed while in the field
 Grimaces, gestures, maybe even tie patterns!

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Recording Data
 Field notes
 Preventing memory erosion
 Record key words and phrases in the field on any available medium
 Back in the office, it is possible to reconstruct the conversation
 Note the sequence of events
 Rethinking what occurred in the field in sequence helps in
constructing a coherent narrative
 Limit time in the setting
 Longer time in the setting will necessitate more elaborate field notes
 Difficulty in remembering long sequences and events
 Attempt short intervals in the field initially

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Recording Data
 Field notes
 Write up full notes immediately post exit
 Erosion of memory begins immediately
 Long wait to write full notes can completely corrupt data
 Write up notes before sharing with others
 Conversation on incidents can impose artificial elements

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Recording Data
 An example for a field note
 S was using thesaurus.com to come up with words in foreign languages that conveyed the
meaning ‘vitality’. This involved keying in words such as ‘vital’ into the search-box, looking at the
different words that came up and then taking words that sounded appealing and pasting them in
large font on to a word document. S feels that ‘vitality’ when it is said sounds feminine, and he was
keen on having a masculine-sounding name for the tyre. S tries keying in various words such as
‘boss’, ‘brat’, ‘man’ etc. in an attempt to come up with a nice-sounding name. He occasionally
glances at the attribute grid and at other times seems to be trying out words that randomly occur
to him. S keeps on monotonously doing this for the next two hours. He comes up with a long list of
names – (names). Every ten to fifteen minutes, P and A drop in, look at the names and comment
on them and crack jokes on some of them.

74
Exiting the Setting
 Researcher forms relationships with consumers
 Physical removal from setting
 Disengaging from relationships developed in setting
 Care should be taken so that consumers don’t feel duped or
exploited
 Inform consumers, disengage with tact
 Might be necessary to maintain some relationships

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Suggested Assignment
 Visit a large shopping mall. Observe what is occurring there.
Note down details about the shoppers, the layout, the
ambience etc. Observe shopper behavior, and retailer behavior.
Also visit a local market/bazaar and make similar observations.
Write thick descriptions. What do your observations tell you
about consumer behavior in these different settings? What are
the marketing learnings you get out of these observations?

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Visual Research
 Videography
 Unobtrusive observations
 Using hidden cameras inside caps
 Visits to shopping malls, recording shopper behavior
 However, issues of consent, privacy, ethics
 Shoppers/clerks might not be aware of being recorded
 Might result in ethical, even legal complications
 Need to follow research ethics protocols

77 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Projective Techniques
 Motives exist below level of verbalization
 Socially unacceptable
 Difficult to verbalize cogently
 Unrecognized
 Need to see product in terms of a set of characteristics
and attributes that are part of consumer’s “private world”,
not marketer’s “real” world
 Coffee: not just taste/flavor, but also socializing, skill of
preparing, caring, hospitality…

78 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Freudian Theory
 Three levels of consciousness
 Id
 Warehouse of primitive or instinctual needs for which individual seeks
immediate satisfaction
 Pleasure Principle
 Source of Anxiety
 Ego
 Individual’s conscious control that balances the demands of the id and
superego
 Reality Principle
 Superego
 Individual’s internal expression of society’s moral and ethical codes of
conduct
 Morality

79 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Freudian Theory
 Three levels of consciousness
 Conscious
 Day to day actions and thoughts
 Pre-conscious
 Stored knowledge, past memories
 Unconscious
 Fears, repressed memories, dark thoughts

80 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Projection
 The ego, feeling threatened, refuses to acknowledge a
trait or characteristic ascribed to it, and subsequently
attributes the trait to the outside world.
 Freudian basis
 Unconscious instincts are repressed
 Externalize through projection
 Hamilton

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Projection
 Ego Defense Mechanisms
 Denial
 Rationalization
 Projection

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Projective Techniques
 Commonalities
 Rely on indirect questioning
 Frame questions in terms of imaginary situations
 Describe a person who shops at Shopper’s Stop
 Use relatively ambiguous stimuli
 Consumers less aware of topic of research
 E.g., pictures shown in Hamilton
 Allow high degrees of freedom
 Permit infinite number of responses
 Theoretically limitless ways in which consumers can visualize a
consumption experience

83 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Projective Techniques
 Commonalities
 Generate right brain data
 Symbolic, metaphorical responses
 Access primary motivations
 Go beyond marketing constructs such as purchase motivation,
examine more primal urges
 Free from social desirability bias
 Informants able to move beyond being politically correct

84 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Projective Techniques
 Common Projective Techniques
 Word Association
 Sentence Completion
 Personification
 Story Writing
 Cartoon Tests
 Thematic Apperception Tests

85 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Word Association
Word Association
 Requires respondent to give first word/thought that comes to
mind after researcher presents word/phrase
 Free word association – only first word asked
 Successive word association – series of words asked
 Respondent given neutral terms before/after word, order changed to
reduce bias
 E.g., soap generates, say, clean and fresh – these might lead to other
words such as relaxed, free, unhindered, nature etc
 Can be extremely useful in decoding/building brand meanings

86 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Sentence Completion
 Respondents asked to complete a sentence with a phrase
 Asked to write anything that makes sense
 Study among smokers, direct questioning yielded no negatives,
however sentence completion
 People who never smoke are…smarter
 Teenagers who smoke are…uninformed

87 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Sentence Completion

A person who shops at a shopping mall is

____________________________________________
_.
Pantaloons is most liked by ________________________.
When I think of shopping in a department store, I
____________________________________________
__.

88 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Story Completion
 Respondent told a story, asked to complete it
 Create story based on their own experiences and attitudes
Story Completion Example:
“A man was shopping for a business suit in his favorite retail
outlet. After spending 45 minutes and trying several suits, he
finally picked one he liked. As he was proceeding to the
checkout counter, he was approached by the salesman, who
said, “Sir, at this time we have higher quality suits which are
on sale for the same price. Would you like to see them?”
“What is the customer’s response? Why?

89 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Role Playing
 Respondent asked to pretend to be someone else/even an
inanimate object
 E.g. respondent asked to role play a whisky bottle
 Brings out problems not evident to marketing people due to close
contact with the brand

90 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Personification

If you were to Company Y

Company X
imagine this •Middle aged
•Young
company as a •Male
•Male Output
person, what kind •Strong
•Smart •Understand
of person would it •Sober
•Dynamic brand/ company
be, in terms of •Hard
•Can share imagery
•Gender working
secrets with
•Age •No leisure
him •Understand
•Lifestyle time
•My brother/ relationship
•Status •Lives in a
best friend with the brand
Consciousness small flat
•Health
•Income
•Occupation
What kind of
animal would it
be… ?
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User Imagery
e.g. of Response
Horlicks Mother:
Let’s say there are 2 More laid back,
women, Suman and does not push Output
Rekha. Suman uses child towards •Consumer
brand X regularly achievement, identification and
and Rekha does not. would let child empathy with
Can you describe play on a holiday. brand values…
Suman ? Rekha ? closeness of self
What is the Complan Mother: to brand…
difference between More child
the two ? achievement
OR oriented. Would
If Suman is a user of insist child
brand X and Rekha attends all kinds
is a user of brand Y, of extracurricular
could you describe activities and
each to me? participate in all
functions
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 The degree to which a
measurement
Reliability instrument is
consistent in what it
measures.

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 The degree to which
a measurement
instrument
Validity
accurately reflects
what it is designed to
measure.

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Trustworthiness

 Prolonged Engagement
 Researcher spends extended periods of time in setting
 Accounts for distorting events, enables understanding
of culture of set-up
 Rapport leads to more credible findings

95 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Trustworthiness

 Persistent observation
 Purposeful recording of events
 Consciously sorting out relevant from irrelevant
material
 Triangulation
 Multiple sources of data
 Multiple persons, occasions, places
 Multiple methods of data collection
 Observation, interviews, videotapes, documents,
photographs

96 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2

Trustworthiness
 Referential adequacy
 Refers to sufficiency of accumulated material
 Obtained from primary and secondary sources
 Interview transcripts, field notes, media reports, brochures
 Peer debriefing
 Allows researcher to refine ideas
 Maintain some sense of distance from phenomenon studied
 Member checking
 Allow respondents to verify data and conclusions

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Trustworthiness
 Reflexive journal
 Journal recording researcher’s experiences, insights and
decisions
 Enhances credibility and verifiability of findings
 Thick description
 Low-level, detailed description
 Enables reader to understand study and findings
 Purposive sampling
 Accommodates deviant cases
 Allows multiple realities to emerge

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Trustworthiness
 Audit trail
 Records kept throughout the study
 Notes on how findings were arrived at
 Enables outsiders to verify findings

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Ensuring Quality: Transferability
 Generalizability
 Internal generalizability
 Generalizability of conclusions to setting studied
 Critical to qualitative studies
 External generalizability
 Findings applying beyond the setting
 Not explicit aim of qualitative research
 Theoretical generalizability
 Aim not to generalize from a sample to a population
 Generalizability of theory developed, not findings
 Credibility and trustworthiness replace extrapolation to populations

100 Research for Marketing Decisions (MKT 102) Term 2