the revelation of consumer language to aid questionnaire design for quantitative studies to gain insight and explanation of observed phenomenon and that broader uses in general, and qualitative research in particular lacked: ‘new’ relevance to consumer behaviour and marketing validity in both theory and practice the ethical constraints that should surround all market research More specifically, he argued that that the qualitative research was not and its more ‘new’ ‘new’, powerful elements could be readily explored with greater reliability using large sample quantitative data-capture (e.g. including sentence completion, word association, bubble drawings etc. within structured questionnaires). Whilst the paper was well argued and stimulated considerable debate at the time, subsequent events have failed to bear out de Groot’s argument. the continued growth of the sector and sustained client loyalty provide ample empirical evidence that qualitative market research is indeed relevant to consumer behaviour and marketing whilst it is correct that qualitative insights cannot be to be accurate, the experience of ‘proven’ users of qualitative findings suggests they are reliable. Unlike Motivation Research which became discredited in the 1960s, modern forms of qualitative enquiry have become ever more frequently and widely used whilst it is indeed possible to use quantitative methods to explore some of the issues ‘qualitative’ e.g. sentence completion, word association, bubble drawings this has NOT proved practicable – – or cost effective, and has generated seemingly insurmountable problems of analysis and interpretation. 8. The 1990s The 1990s has seen a variety of developments in thinking, procedures and applications evolutionary of qualitative market research. Evolution in qualitative market research thinking
the revelation of consumer language to aid questionnaire design for quantitative studies to gain insight and explanation of observed phenomenon and that broader uses in general, and ‘new’ qualitative research in particular lacked: relevance to consumer behaviour and marketing validity in both theory and practice the ethical constraints that should surround all market research More specifically, he argued that that the ‘new’ qualitative research was not ‘new’, and its more powerful elements could be readily explored with greater reliability using large sample quantitative data-capture (e.g. including sentence completion, word association, bubble drawings etc. within structured questionnaires). Whilst the paper was well argued and stimulated considerable debate at the time, subsequent events have failed to bear out de Groot’s argument. the continued growth of the sector and sustained client loyalty provide ample empirical evidence that qualitative market research is indeed relevant to consumer behaviour and marketing whilst it is correct that qualitative insights cannot be ‘proven’ to be accurate, the experience of users of qualitative findings suggests they are reliable. Unlike Motivation Research which became discredited in the 1960s, modern forms of qualitative enquiry have become ever more frequently and widely used whilst it is indeed possible to use quantitative methods to explore some of the ‘qualitative’ issues – e.g. sentence completion, word association, bubble drawings – this has NOT proved practicable or cost effective, and has generated seemingly insurmountable problems of analysis and interpretation. 8. The 1990s The 1990s has seen a variety of evolutionary developments in thinking, procedures and applications of qualitative market research. Evolution in qualitative market research thinking