Curated by Clive Boddy, Anglia Ruskin University

Introduction

The editors of Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal asked me to put together a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) on Qualitative Research Methods centred around my paper on ‘Sample Size for Qualitative Research’, which has consistently been one of the top cited and downloaded papers in the journal since its publication in 2016, indicating that there is an appetite for knowledge on methods related issues. In looking through the journal and the papers it has published on methodological concerns it became obvious that the sheer number of papers in this area would make a limited numbers of papers to put into the VSI difficult to choose. Therefore, in my choice of papers for the VSI, I have been guided by its relevance to methodological issues and my own preferences in terms of how much I liked to read each paper and how much I thought it may be useful for new qualitative researchers to read. I also refer to other papers on qualitative research that may be useful or interesting for readers to see. For example, if you wanted to undertake research to facilitate innovation then you may use various qualitative approaches to exploring this (Boddy, 2019b), including techniques aimed at generating multiple ideas, such as via brainstorming (Boddy, 2008b).

The ten papers included in this Virtual Special Issue are as follows:

1. Sample Size for Qualitative Research
2. Methodological proposals for the study of consumer experience
3. Grounded theory: the missing methodology on the interpretivist agenda
4. Projecting the right image: using projective techniques to measure brand image
5. Projective techniques in US marketing and management research: The influence of The Achievement Motive
6. Designing and conducting virtual focus groups
7. Methodology or “methodolatry”? An evaluation of focus groups and depth interviews
8. Sensitive research topics: netnography revisited
9. Using netnography research method to reveal the underlying dimensions of the customer/tourist experience
10. Conducting case study research in non-profit organisations

They are freely accessible until 3rd March.

The original reason for my writing ‘Sample Size for Qualitative Research’ was that for many years I had been looking for a paper to justify the choice of sample size in the qualitative market research projects I undertook. I could not find a paper that comprehensively reviewed the arguments for different sample sizes and eventually (I’m a slow learner) I decided that I’d have to write the paper myself. It appears that many people were looking for the same paper as the number of downloads and citations it attracts has exceeded all expectations.

The moral of this story is that if you find yourself in the same situation and are looking for a paper that does not yet seem to exist, then have a go at writing it yourself.

A purpose of the paper on sample size was to help qualitative researchers justify their sample size choices in their research and the paper addresses the issue of what sample sizes are appropriate and valid within different scientific approaches to qualitative research. The second paper in the VSI, (the papers are in no particular order), is the paper ‘Methodological proposals for the study of consumer experience’. This paper proposes what it claims are three little-used data collection methods that can contribute to a broader view of consumer experience (Becker, 2018). These are phenomenological interviews, event-based approaches to research and diary methods. The paper states that practitioners can apply these methods to gain a more complete view of consumers’ experiences from a consumer centric point of view, incorporating first-hand descriptions of experience, the involvement of multiple actors in the consumer’s experience and an understanding of the processes involved.

Phenomenological interviews are unstructured, open-ended conversations where the aim is to gain a first-hand contextualised, understanding of a domain of experience from the subjective perspective of the subject being interviewed. Themes emerge from this conversation, and it becomes respondent directed rather than researcher directed. In other words, it is what most commercial market researchers would call a semi-structured, in-depth interview. Event-based approaches focus on incidents or events as a way to understand the consumer experience. For example, an event could be the consumer’s journey towards an unhealthier lifestyle involving sloth, greed and laziness. Diary based methods involve using a longitudinal diary to collect data concerning events, thoughts and observations over time. Becker indicates that few academic papers describe diary-based research, but commercial researchers may be more familiar with this method for collecting data on shopping habits, TV watching and other events which take place regularly and are of interest to manufacturing and marketing companies. A paper called ‘Grounded theory: the missing methodology on the interpretivist agenda’ was published in the first edition of QMR and is a bit of a classic of its genre. Looking back over my commercial research career I have often thought that grounded theory is more or less the default position adopted, albeit unknowingly in terms of the nomenclature, of commercial qualitative market research, as practiced in market research companies. For example, there is often no prior reading in qualitative commercial research, expected hypotheses are not generated and findings direct the trajectory of further inquiry. To this extent Goulding’s paper gives a name to the research approach commonly adopted by professional qualitative researchers. In academia this approach is regarded as a specific approach in its own right, although its principal authors have split in terms of what they expect a grounded theory approach to comprise of. Like Goulding I recommend the original 1967 Glaser and Strauss book “The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research” if you want to know more about this method.

I have always been a supporter of the benefits of using projective techniques and have used them in educational research such as for gaining insights into my own teaching (Boddy, 2004) and examining the reasons for student success and attrition in terms of gaining a degree or dropping out of university (Boddy, 2010, Boddy, 2020). This qualitative approach gave insights that rational positivistic questioning simply does not uncover, in particular the insights that undergraduate students decide to stay or leave university based on emotional criteria – have they made friends? do they fit in? is home a more emotionally fulfilling environment? – rather than on evaluations of whether they have chosen the right course/degree/university or not. Simple student retention surveys using question and answer formats do not uncover the underlying affective choice criteria that undergraduates actually use in making stay or leave decisions. Using projective techniques allows these non-rational and emotional criteria to emerge. Despite the classical economists view of the rational economic human it is only psychopaths who make entirely rational decisions – the rest of us are emotional to lesser or greater degrees (Boddy, 2023, Yamagishi et al., 2014).

Projective techniques are widely used in commercial market research because of the easily obtained and quick insights they give (Boddy, 2005a, Boddy, 2007, Boddy, 2008a) and for example they can be successfully used in children’s research (Banister and Booth, 2005) and for exploring brand image (Tran et al., 2015). However, they are underused in academic research, possibly because many academics have not come across them (Bond et al., 2011, Soley, 2010b). Nonetheless, academics do show an interest in using them once they know what they are (Boddy, 2005c).

Because of my interest in and extensive usage of the technique, I seem to have written more than anyone else on using projective techniques in market research. However, for this special issue I include a paper called; ‘Projective techniques in US marketing and management research: The influence of The Achievement Motive’ because I think it is better written and more comprehensive than some of my own papers. It gives another view of using projective techniques and is a well-written and informative paper (Soley, 2010b). The paper can be found in a special issue of Qualitative Market Research which I co-edited with Robin Croft, in 2010, which was on the use of projective techniques.

In this paper Soley describes some of the shortcomings of a purely positivist approach to research, which can be narrow and simplistic, and he delineates how useful and insightful the insights gained from using projective techniques can be. Soley claims that, at least in the USA, projective techniques have not been widely taught within universities and so have been sparsely used, wrongly criticised, and improperly understood. Soley points out that users of projective techniques tend to rate them as valid, reliable, and often superior to other research techniques and that they are used in psychology, anthropology, education, management, and sociological research. As mentioned, Soley writes well on projective techniques and I recommend that you read his other papers on this technique, for example (Soley and Smith, 2008, Soley, 2010a). The paper ‘Projecting the right image: using projective techniques to measure brand image’ (Hussey and Duncombe, 1999) is also included in this VSI as it is a specific introduction to using the projective techniques of word association and a type of photo-elicitation in qualitative market research. I remember reading one research report involving this type of personification, where a self-important salesforce was described as a bunch of ‘donkeys’ by their clients, thereby telling the reader, in a single word, all they really needed to know about that salesforce. A paper called ‘Designing and conducting virtual focus groups’ from 2001, takes us back almost to the start of internet based research and reminds us of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of research (Sweet, 2001). Sweet claims that some techniques do not work as well in on-line groups, such as using picture sort exercises or mind mapping techniques but that others such as sentence-completion and pantry checks work just as well. The importance of screening to recruit the correct research group participants is vital in both on-line and in-person approaches, as the expertise and experience of the focus group moderator. On-line groups may also have advantages where participants are otherwise hard to recruit and unwilling to travel to a central point, are rarely found in the general population or are geographically dispersed or hard to reach. ‘Methodology or “methodolatry”? is a paper giving an evaluation of focus groups and depth interviews’ compares the relative merits of using focus groups versus in-depth interviews (Stokes and Bergin, 2006). It thus provides a useful comparison for those new to qualitative research to consider. Stokes and Bergin examine the literature concerning focus groups versus in-depth interviews and also conduct simultaneous research using both methodologies. They find that research using groups uncovers a wide breadth of views but that there is a tendency towards reaching a consensus position which obscures individual viewpoints and skirts around potentially contentious issues. In-depth interviews are better at identifying a spread of firm opinions in a clear and deep manner and are better at uncovering subtle differences in attitudes.

For international researchers it may be useful to understand the different scientific and cultural backgrounds that researchers bring towards undertaking focus group research and one of my papers explores this if needed (Boddy, 2005b). This is not included in the VSI but is referenced here in case it is of any interest to some readers. Similarly if researchers want to establish an element of causality via their methodological approaches then this paper on causality in qualitative research may be useful (Boddy, 2019a).

Ethnographic approaches to market research seem to come and go in commercial market research, like fads (Boddy, 2009) and are deemed useful techniques (Agafonoff, 2006, Elliott and Jankel-Elliott, 2003, Canniford, 2005). However, with the increasing dominance of on-line research, on-line ethnographic approaches are becoming increasingly used. Therefore, I include a couple of papers on netnography in this Virtual Special Issue. ‘Sensitive research topics: netnography revisited’ concerns the use of on-line commentary as an ethnographic source of market research material (Langer and Beckman, 2005). Langer and Beckman’s paper argues that netnography, in terms of viewing the narratives generated by publically accessible on-line communities of consumers, is an ethical and appropriate way to conduct research, particularly when the subject of the research is a sensitive one.

On-line communities are usually anonymous, involving the use of on-line monikers that are not readily associated with people’s real names. This allows people to uninhibitedly express otherwise embarrassing attitudes, opinions and thoughts in an anonymous and therefore free and open manner, giving deep insights into people’s behaviour. Analysis, as poinrted out by Langer and Beckman, is arguably thereafter a cross between content analysis, discourse analysis and ethnography. ‘Using netnography research method to reveal the underlying dimensions of the customer/tourist experience’ (Rageh et al., 2013) is another paper exploring online ethnography as a source of useful research data. Rageh, Melewar and Woodside used a netnographic approach to examine the on-line comments of tourists who had visited hotels in Egypt. They uncovered that findings from this netnographic study corresponded with those from previous tourism studies implying that the findings were valid. The paper ‘Conducting case study research in non-profit organisations’ (Shekhar Singh, 2014) informs the reader of the steps and processes used to conduct case study research as they apply it in this study where the buyer-supplier relationship in the handicraft sector was the unit of analysis. Secondary data was analysed as well as in-depth interviews and focus groups. This paper discusses issues of validity, reliability and generalisability in case study research and so is also a useful read from that point of view.

Research involving a case study incorporates an in-depth investigation of a specific unit of analysis such as a particular person or organisation, an event or a process or an activity. Data can be collected in a variety of manners such as viz analysing secondary data, conducting interviews and undertaking surveys. The aim of the case study can be to explain events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 in order to understand political decision making in a time of perceived crisis. As another example I once conducted a longitudinal case study investigation of a charity in the UK to understand the effects of a CEO with psychopathic characteristics. In a nutshell the charity lost its reputation, employees lost their pride in their work and all existing employees left the organisation as did new recruits once they found out what the CEO was like (Boddy, 2017). This situation was similar to one found under nearly identical conditions in another case study involving a marketing organisation in the UK (Boddy and Croft, 2016).

Another aim of case study research could be to explore a phenomenon to identify avenues of research which may be followed up in subsequent studies. Alternatively, description may be an aim of case study research, where an understanding of what happens in the real world is needed.

I hope that neophytes in qualitative research find this collection useful in their exploration of qualitative techniques and that experienced researchers are reminded just how well-written some of these earlier papers are and how useful some of these approaches to research can be.