EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

Exploratory Research:
• Initial research conducted to clarify and define the nature of a problem • Does not provide conclusive evidence
• Subsequent research expected – Formulate problems more precisely – Develop hypothesis – Clarify concepts
Degree of problem definition:

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"

Qualitative research techniques: Basic Exploratory research / Standard Qualitative research

 Case Analysis
• Assess experience for another in situation
similar to you
•Provides rich data.
• The specificity of their situation may mislead
Literature review
• Go through the theory
• Understand concept
• Make links between variables
• Ensures a good validity and reliability

Direct approach A type of qualitative research in which the purposes of the project are disclosed to the
participant or are obvious given the nature of the interview.
Indirect approach A type of qualitative research in which the purposes of the project are disguised from the
participants.
Focus groups: a definition: A discussion conducted by a trained moderator among a small group of
participants in an unstructured and natural manner.
• Designed to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, nonthreatening environment.
• Each group is conduct with six to eight people by a skilled interviewer.
• The discussions are relaxed, and often participants enjoy sharing their ideas and perceptions.
• Group members influence each other by responding to the ideas and comments of others.
 Generate ideas.
 Understand consumer vocabulary.
 Reveal consumer needs, motives, perceptions, and attitudes on products and services.
 Understand findings from quantitative studies.
Characteristics of a focus group:
A. Number of participants • 8 to 12 members • Homogenous groups • Fit into a given profile (have not
participated in other focus groups)
B. Number of groups Typical: 4 to 12 groups • Look for consistency between groups.
C. Qualities of moderators
Focus group moderator: a person who conducts the entire sessions and guides the flow of group discussion across
specific topics desired by the client.
Characteristics: –Experienced –Enthusiastic –Prepared –Involved –Energetic –Open-minded
Kindness with firmness- Permissiveness- Involvement- Incomplete understanding (pretend to be naïve to
encourage involvement)- Encouragement- Flexibility- Sensitivity- Observation
D. Setting • Warm up period: make contact • Make a general introduction • Encourage all participant to
participate • Be neutral.
Characteristics of a focus group

Although a focus group may last from one to six hours, a duration of one and a half to two hours is typical. When
a focus group lasts up to six hours, participants may be performing a series of projective techniques such as
building ‘mood boards’ or ‘role playing.
Probing: A motivational technique used when asking questions to induce the participants to enlarge on, clarify or
explain their answers.
Topic guide: A list of topics, questions and probes that are used by a moderator to help manage a focus group
discussion.
Planning and conducting focus groups.
Experimental group: an initial focus group, run to test the
setting of the interview, the opening question, the topic
guide, and the mix of participants that make up the group.
Mood board: A collage created in a focus group setting.
Focus group participants are asked to snip words and
pictures from magazines that they see as representing the
values a particular brand is perceived to have. In some
circumstances, collages can also be made up from audio
and videotapes.
Other variations of focus groups:
Two-way focus group / Dual-moderator group / Dueling-
moderator group/ Participant–moderator group/ Client–
participant group/ Mini group/ Telephone focus groups.

Applications:
• Market research: These researchers want to know how
to make a better product
• Academic research: Academic researchers used their experiences with both personal interviews and content
analysis to develop techniques in focus group research
• Nonprofit research: Nonprofit groups seek to make decisions, improve services or programs, and be
responsive to customers.

Strengths Weaknesses
• Reasonably inexpensive • How interviewees respond in a natural setting
• Explore new subject areas or to generate • The researcher has less control over the
hypotheses participants' comments
• Facilitate topical discussions • Being a part of a group can have a large impact on
• Useful in survey construction how an individual behaves.
• Provide insight into complex issues

Depth interviews: a definition

• An unstructured, direct, personal interview in which a single respondent is probed by a highly skilled
interviewer to uncover underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings on a topic
General setting
• It’s a “small” focus group
• Involve one-to-one contact with respondents and are usually conducted face-to-face
• The depth interview is very different from the structured interview used in quantitative surveys
• It is not only longer (45-60 minutes), but also more open-ended.
• The interviewer also has a greater level of flexibility
• Probe responses to gain a full understanding of their meaning and/or implications.

Strengths Weaknesses
• Deeper insights than focus groups. • How interviewees respond in a natural setting
• The researcher has less control over the
• Uncover a greater depth of insights than focus participants' comments.
groups. This can happen through concentrating and
developing an issue with the individual. In the group Challenges:
scenario, interesting and knowledgeable individuals • The lack of structure makes the results susceptible
cannot be solely concentrated upon. to the interviewer’s influence, and the quality and
completeness of the results depend heavily on the
• Attribute the responses directly to the participant, interviewer’s skills.
unlike focus groups where it is often difficult to
determine which participant made a particular • The length of the interview, combined with high
response. costs, means that the number of in-depth interviews
in a project tends to be few.
• Result in a free exchange of information that may not
be possible in focus groups because, alone, there is no • The data obtained can be difficult to analyze and
social pressure to conform to group response. This interpret. Many responses may not be taken at face
makes in-depth interviews ideally suited to sensitive value; there can be many hidden messages and
issues, especially commercially sensitive issues. interpretations in how participants express
themselves.
• easier to arrange than the focus group as there are not
so many individuals to coordinate and the interviewer
can travel to the participant
Laddering: A technique for conducting in-depth interviews in which a line of questioning proceeds from product
characteristics to user characteristics.
The laddering technique is therefore designed to identify and follow the chain of
attributes  consequences  values (A−C−V)
1 -Attributes. What is different about these alternatives? (e.g., low calories)
2 -Consequences. What does this difference mean? (e.g., not fattening)
3- Values. How important is this for you? (e.g. Heath)
The repertory grid technique: Another widely used technique that applies structure to qualitative in-depth
interviewing is the repertory grid technique (RGT).
1 -Element selection: The elements selected will depend upon the nature of consumer behavior that the
interviewer wishes to examine.
2- Construct elicitation: Constructs that connect the elements
3 -Element comparisons: The constructs elicited from participants are now turned into bipolar descriptions in a
manner similar to the semantic differential scale.
4- Data analysis.
The Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique Another technique that creates a ‘mental map’ of the consumer’s
view towards a particular product is the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET).
Projective technique: An unstructured and indirect form of questioning that encourages participants to project
their underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings regarding the issues of concern.
A category of exercises designed to provoke imagination and creativity that can be used in in-depth interviews.
Projective techniques are subject-oriented, non-verbal and indirect self-reporting techniques that have the ability
to capture responses from participants in a less structured and more imaginative way than direct questioning. In
projective techniques, participants are asked to interpret the behavior of others rather than to describe their own
behavior. In interpreting the behavior of others, it is contended that participants indirectly project their own
motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings onto the situation. The more ambiguous the situation, the more
participants project their emotions, needs, motives, attitudes and values.
Association technique: A type of projective technique in which participants are presented with a stimulus and
are asked to respond with the first thing that comes to mind.
Word association: A projective technique in which participants are presented with a list of words, one at a time.
After each word, they are asked to give the first word that comes to mind.
Completion technique: A projective technique that requires participants to complete an incomplete stimulus
situation.
Sentence completion: A projective technique in which participants are presented with a number of incomplete
sentences and are asked to complete them.
Story completion: A projective technique in which participants are provided with part of a story and are required
to give the conclusion in their own words.
Construction technique: A projective technique in which participants are required to construct a response in the
form of a story, dialogue or description.
Picture response technique: A projective technique in which participants are shown a picture and are asked to
tell a story describing it.
Cartoon tests: Cartoon characters are shown in a specific situation related to the problem. Participants are asked
to indicate the dialogue that one cartoon character might make in response to the comment(s) of another
character.
Expressive technique: A projective technique in which participants are presented with a verbal or visual
situation and are asked to relate the feelings and attitudes of other people to the situation. Role playing:
Participants are asked to assume the behavior of someone else or a specific object.
Third-person technique: A projective technique in which participants are presented with a verbal or visual
situation and are asked to relate the beliefs and attitudes of a third person in that situation.
Personification technique: Participants are asked to imagine that the brand is a person and then describe
characteristics of that person.