EXPLORATORY

RESEARCH

Useful to find the most likely alternatives

Useful to develop hypotheses

When the perceived problem is much less

general

Discover new relationships

Types of Exploratory
Research
Survey
Case
study
of individuals
analysis with ideas

Secondary research

Secondary data quickest &

economical

Reports form research organizations

Trade association sales data

Company records

Professional and trade journals

Government documents

Exploratory research based

on secondary data

A large food manufacturer wanted to get a

particular network radio show.

The manufacturer had to take stations in markets

in which it was already advertising as much as
potential warranted.

Nielsen data on sales in all markets revealed that

sales had shown significant gains in those
markets in which the new radio show caused an
overspending on advertising.

From this experience came the hypothesis that

larger advertising expenditures generally would
be profitable in all markets.

Experimental research substantiated the

hypothesis.

Advertising was increased from 5.6 % to 9.3% of

sales.

Within three years, the firms market share rose

form 20 to 50%.

Survey of individuals
with ideas

Top executives

Sales managers

Sales representative

Wholesalers

Retailers

Consumers

General Motors, at one time built a list of

consumers who had a special interest in
automobile engineering and design and
who were imaginative about future
developments in these fields.

A typical exploratory survey is made by

interviewing individuals known to be cooperative
and to have ideas on the subject, plus others
selected randomly.

Freedom of response
Stimuli to bring out attitudes and ideas

Depth interviews

Attempts to influence respondents to talk freely

about the subject of interest.

Put respondents at ease

Additional information by probing

No formal questionnaire, but outline.

Pros

Bring out information otherwise not obtained

Flexibility in interviewing

Interviewer uses ingenuity to stimulate

respondents

Cons

Flexibility on the part of interviewer

Difficult to compare results

Interviewers with special skills and training

Results might get affected by interviewer bias

Takes longer than other interviews

Subjective interpretations

Focus Group Interview

Focus groups

Usually consists of 6 to 12 members brought

together at one place to discuss the topic of
interest.

Discussions to be tape recorded or video

recorded.

Marketers/ researchers watch proceedings

through one way glass or closed TV circuit.

Brief general comment on purpose and

suggestion of topic by the moderator.

Pros

Reveals complex, subtle aspects of relationship

between the consumer and the
product/advertising/sales efforts.

Qualitative evidence of things as consumer

language used in talking about
Product
Emotional and behavioral reactions to advertising
Lifestyle relationship to the product category, and the

specific brand
Unconscious consumer motivations relative to the
product and its promotion.

Cons

Needs to be followed by conclusive research.

Tendency to use formal conference rooms.

Difficult to compare results.

Dominant personalities may take over groups.

Projective Techniques

Insight into affective and cognitive thought

processes peculiar to brands and products

Identifying feelings, motivations, attitudes, biases

and cognitions that are below rational, conscious
awareness.

Helps consumers express different images of

competitive brands

Types

Rorschach Ink Bolt Test

Thematic Apperception Test

Word-Association Test

Sentence-Completion Test

Play Technique

Drawing and Painting

Role Playing

Rorschach InkBlot Test

Rorschach InkBlot Test

Developed by Herman Rorschach (early

1990s).

Inkblots are shown one at a time.

Respondents are asked what do you

see?

Responses are analyzed based on

psychoanalytic theory.

Responses are examined to understand

the unconscious of the respondent.

Psychologists use it to examine personality and

emotional functioning.

Used in cases where respondents are reluctant to

describe their feelings openly.

How people find and create meaning through

their thought processes?

Thematic
Apperception Test

Thematic Apperception
Test

Developed during the 1930s by the American

psychologist Henry A. Murray and psychoanalyst
Christiana D. Morgan at Harvard university.

Subject gives response by making narratives about

ambiguous pictures of people. Known as picture
interpretation technique.

Responses reveal underlying motives, concerns and

perceptions.

The complete version of the test contains 32 picture

cards.

Word Association Test

Word Association Test

Developed by Francis Gulton and subsequently

by Carl Jung as a clinical diagnostic tool in early
1990s.

Respondents are given a list a words with one

word at a time.

A game which stimulates an associative

pattern by a word.

Gives access to the unconscious.

 Success
Time
Connect
Red
Sense
Paradise
Road
Surprise
Glass

Sentence Completion

Semi-structured projective technique, first SCT in

1897 by Herman Ebbinghaus.

Respondents are given beginning of sentences

(stems) and are asked to complete.

Reflect attitudes, beliefs, motivations, or other

mental states.

Allows respondents to reveal their hidden

feelings.

I
I
I

wish ..
love..
hate

Expressive Methods

Much emphasis upon the manner and style in

which the product is created as upon the product
itself.

They are often considered to be therapeutic as

well as diagnostic devices.

The subject is presumed to relieve his difficulties

in the process of revealing them.

Play

Diagnosis and measurement of personality.

Examiner responsible for recording as much of

the subjects behavior as possible,
including his choice and arrangement of toys,
accompanying comments, and
expressive behavior.

Examiner recognize important motives and

conflicts when he sees them.

Drawing and painting

The examiner usually notes the subjects comments, the

sequence of parts drawn, and other procedural details.

Scoring is concerned with such stylistic features

as the figures stance, size, and position on the page,

disproportions, shading, and erasures.

Interpretation - clinical wisdom + specific rules or

generalizations (relating certain features of the drawing
or painting to personality characteristics).

Visualising inner feelings, reflecting upon shapes and

colours.

Role Playing

A learning method that

involves learners
assuming the role
profile of certain
characters in a fictional
setting.

Roleplay simulation
revives the ease and joy
of experiential learning.

Stepping into a role allows a richer experience.

Role play offers greater emotional depth, and

when that experience is not easy to put into
words.
Role Projection (where respondents become the brand),
Role Drama (scenarios and stories with the brand)
Role enactment, where respondents become product and

user.

Analysing the results

(PTs)

Content:
what themes are there?
What hypotheses emerge?
What theories might it link into?
What are the barriers or defence mechanisms

in place and why?

What states of mind and ways of thinking do
they suggest?

Meaning:
what kind of personal significance might it

have?
What role does it play in peoples lives?
How does it make life richer, more meaningful?
What metaphors are implicit or explicit?

The symbolic and cultural aspects:

Where else can you see these colours,

symbols, themes?
What do they relate to in our society in
general /the respondents reference group in
particular?
Do the stories reflect any myths or archetypes?

Interpreting the results

(PTs)

Interpretative manuals to assist the user in

extracting useful psychological information from
them,

Dozens of books and monographs

Hundreds of articles dealing with general and

specific problems of interpretation.

In spite of the bulk and diversity of this

interpretative array, there are certain
generalizations that can be made concerning
customary interpretative practice.

Responses are
influenced by ..

temporary or fleeting psychological states,

by the nature of the stimuli that are presented,

by a number of response sets,

by individual differences unrelated to personality

factors (for example, differences in intelligence),
and

by a wide variety of situational factors (for

example, examiner-subject interaction).

Without the use of projective

techniques, research can be
superficial, inaccurate and
misleading.

Easier and more engaging to describe things that

people are willing to talk about
How does it feel when you have to see a doctor?
What kind of relationship do you have with your favourite brand

of shampoo?

Safer to talk about things that people are reluctant to

talk about
bad parenting, cheating in the workplace, anti-social habits.

Possible to discuss things that are of interest to

marketers and communicators, but people are not able
to conceptualize,
e.g. brand images, organisational values.