This document contains the most important information regarding Consumer Research in Marketing. This course is part of MSc in Business Administration at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). I passed this course with a 95.
Marketing
Business Administration
2019-2020
Consumer Research in Marketing
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,Consumer Research in Marketing – Summaries
Week 1
1. Alternative ways of seeking knowledge in consumer research – Hudson &
Ozanne (1988)
Abstract
Two dominant approaches to gaining knowledge in the
social sciences are the positivist and interpretive
approaches. Different philosophical assumptions and
goals underlie both. We are better able to see the
strengths and weaknesses in the two approaches by
comparing and contrasting different perspectives.
Here, we show the influence of assumptions on
different research processes, cite problems inherent in
both perspectives, point out the range of positions
within the interpretive approach, and discuss the
consequences of diverse ways of seeking knowledge for
consumer research.
Introduction
Positivism is the initial approach to seeking knowledge
about customers, however, the interpretive approach is
beginning to receive some attention as alternative way.
Positivist and Interpretive approaches
Ontological assumptions
Nature of reality
All research approaches in the social sciences make ontological assumptions
about the nature of reality and social beings. The positivists tend to take a
realist position and assume that a single, objective reality exists independently of
what individuals perceive. Reality exists as a structure composed of
relationships. This reality is divisible and fragmentable; therefore, precise,
accurate measurements and observations of this world are possible. The
laboratory experiment exemplifies these beliefs about the nature of reality. Parts
of reality are separated from their usual context and placed in controlled settings
for observation; it is assumed that behaviour displayed may correspond to the
subject’s behavior in a natural setting.
In contrast, the interpretivists deny that one real world exists; reality is
essentially mental and perceived. Thus, multiple realities exist because of the
different individual and group perspectives. Reality is made up of systems that
are dependent on other systems for their meaning. It is crucial for the researcher
to know the context (holistic picture) of a behavior because social beings
construct reality and give it meaning based on context. Therefore, consumers
would view information differently if they are in a retail store or laboratory
setting. If the systems are separated and fragmented, their meanings change.
,Nature of Social Beings
These two approaches also make different assumptions about the nature of
social beings. On one hand, the positivist approach holds a deterministic view:
human behavior is determined. Conversely, the interpretive approach views
people as more voluntaristic: people actively create and interact in order to
shape their environment. They are not merely acted upon by outside influences.
Axiological Assumptions
Underlying each of these worldviews are different fundamental goals or
axiologies. Worldviews differ not so much in the presence or absence of a
specific goal, but in the relative weighting of a goal and in what counts as
fulfilling the goal. The positivists' overriding goal is "explanation"; the goal of
explanation is prediction. An explanation is achieved when one validates the
systematic association of variables underlying a phenomenon.
For the interpretivists, the primary goal of research is understanding behavior,
not predicting it. The interpretivists' view of understanding, however, is radically
different from the positivists' view. Interpretive researchers view understanding
more as a process than an end product. At points in time, researchers may state
interpretations à their present understanding. Yet, a process of understanding
is never-ending; interpretations are always incomplete. One never achieves the
understanding; one achieves an understanding. A prerequisite for doing research
and seeking understanding is Verstehen; grasping the shared meanings within a
culture of language, contexts, roles, and so on. Through active participation in the
culture, the researcher strives for an insider's view. Seeking Verstehen is an
active process because language, customs, meanings, and culture are
continuously created by joint activities of people. To gain Verstehen, the
researcher tries to drop the assumption (of the positivistic researcher) of shared
meanings and tries to see the world from an insider's perspective.
Epistemological Assumptions
Knowledge generated
The difference between what counts as knowledge within the two research
approaches is striking. Based on their goals and their assumptions of reality,
positivists take a generalizing approach to research; they seek out general,
abstract laws that ideally can be applied to an infinitely large number of
phenomena, people, settings, and times. The positivists endeavor to identify
time- and context-free generalizations, or nomothetic statements.
Conversely, interpretivists take a more historical, particularistic approach to
research; that is, they study a specific phenomenon in a particular place and
time. Rather than seeking to determine law- like regularities, the interpretivists
seek to determine motives, meanings, reasons, and other subjective experiences
that are time- and context-bound. This difference in focus- generalistic vs.
particularistic- is the primary difference between the two research approaches.
View of causality
The positivists, with their goal of explanation and prediction, place a high
priority on identifying causal linkages. They believe that human action can be
, explained as the result of a real cause that temporally precedes the behavior
(deterministic). The interpretivists view the world as being so complex and
changing that it is impossible to distinguish a cause from an effect. Viewing the
world holistically, the interpretivists' stance is that mutual, simultaneous
shaping occurs between entities (voluntaristic).
Research relationship
The positivists' position regarding the relationship of the researcher to the
subject is to assume a pronounced separation in which the researcher does not
influence and is independent from the subject.
In contrast, the interpretivists hold that the researcher and the people under
investigation interact with each other, creating a cooperative inquiry.
General Research Process
Here, we discuss general differences in research processes from each approach.
Positivist Research Approach
The positivists' approach to research includes the adherence to scientific
protocol. The protocol for the proper research process is well established; we
refer to this step-by-step organization as the principles of research design.
At some point the questions to be addressed, the design, and the hypotheses
become fixed, at least until the next study. This control provides the ability to
isolate and examine only those behaviors that are specified by the hypotheses.
This stance regarding protocol reflects the connection between positivist
assumptions and their research process. Through adherence to protocol, the
positivists strive toward certitude that the researcher's descriptions correspond
to true reality. The use of protocol is based on the researcher's assumptions
about reality as well as on assumptions about social beings, the need for the
separation of the researcher from the subject, the possibility of causal relations,
and the desire to reveal the true reality and predict the outcome of events.
Interpretivist Research Approach
The interpretivists' approach to research is typified by a continually evolving
research design. The interpretivists seek to describe many perceived realities
that cannot be known a priori because they are time- and context-specific. Thus,
research is an emergent process. As perceived realities change; research design
adapts. In contrast to experimentalists, to whom the control of all experimental
conditions is paramount, the interpretivists conduct research in a natural,
changing environment. The use of an evolving design is consistent with the
interpretivists' beliefs. One cannot have a priori knowledge of the many socially
constructed realities.
Data-Gathering Techniques
Although it is tempting to assign quantitative data-gathering techniques to the
positivist worldview and qualitative techniques to the interpretivist worldview,
many techniques are used by both approaches. Researchers just change the
technique and the data produced by the technique. Even if a researcher is
creating an ethnography, we do not know the researcher's orientation. We
cannot only look at the data-gathering techniques to know what methodological
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