Editorial

Citation

Tiu Wright, L. (2003), "Editorial", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 6 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr.2003.21606baa.001

Editorial

This journal maintains its international profile and the papers for this particular publication are no exeption, coming from countries such as Australia and Belgium. The papers deal with a variety of complex issues and methodologies with important contributions to the diverse applications of qualitative research.

The first paper is by Andreas Riege who makes an informed assessment of the literature and proposes a way of justifying qualitative case study work. Unlike quantitative research where claims for reliability and validity are justified with large numbers of samples and statitistically proven methods of obtaining results, qualitative research has more of a problem. This problem, faced by many qualitative researchers, is about justifying the use of small sample sizes to deduce facts, attitudes, behaviour and motivations of respondents that are seen as either representative of the wider population. or of holding universal truths about certain types of people. So a paper that goes into detail about the application of tests to prove validity and reliability in qualitative research is a welcome addition. The author considers the need for such tests and deals with a number of important issues. Each piece of case study work reported within the literature is different and, as stated by the author, there is no single or coherent set of reliability and validity tests. So the author goes in search of theoretical paradigms to construct a framework for social research and to make sense of the case method for drawing attention to the needs of objectivity and relevancy to support marketing actions. There is also a sense that this paper has a good perception of the problems in such qualitative work, such as those besetting testing without sacrificing quality. By drawing from the literature it has achieved the goal of setting out some logical guidelines towards dealing with the ongoing problems of reliability and validity tests in each case of new research.

A case method is used in practitioner research in the next paper by Julian Bond and Leigh Morris. This is a scintillating paper which is also innovative in its segmentation analysis. It discusses the results of research with more than 300 women respondents concerning their buying behaviour and purchases of health and beauty products, and the shops visited. An image battery of consumer preferences is constructed. From the authors' experiences and knowledge of the discussion, as presented in published information about the needs of categorisng people using segmentation analysis, they argue that traditional segmentation methods are not always as helpful as had been indicated. Their discussion as to why this appears to be the case stems from the fact that some categories are homogenous while others have differing need states. Their paper gives useful insights about the applications of cluster and conjoint analyses as well as the nominal grouping technique, thereby making a clear contribution to the field. They argue that traditional attitudinal segmentation methods have limitations so that latent class segmentation as an innovative approach is more meaningful for market segmentation. The authors establish good grounds for such thinking and their advocacy of latent class segmentation certainly gives much food for thought.

Genetically modified food forms the subject for research in the the third paper from Annelies Verdurme and Jacques Viaene. It is an interesting paper and one where the qualitative method employed is developed to make sense of consumer sensitivities and intentions towards GM foods. There are important issues related to consumer health, environmental concerns and the demands of markets. The paper takes account of the implications of the debate about such issues and is both informative and practical in its approach. Given a lack of consumer studies about GM foods in Belgium and consumer concerns about such foods, this paper is timely to investigate such concerns. The authors state their aims of examining consumer beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions, and ultimately to derive a hypothetical model to explain and predict future consumer intentions. While the conclusions could have been less generalised and more focused about the applications of their research outcomes for further work, the paper does provide a useful list of consumer preferences and a model of buying behaviour towards the end.

The emotional associations that consumers have for brands can be difficult to guage, given the profound feelings generated in people by their consumption and ownership of objects. The fourth paper, by Brian Wansink, looks at the reasons behind such consumer emotions and values in relation to brands. The method of laddering is advocated. Laddering is explained as a series of progressive questions asked of consumers to understand how a product's attributes and the effects of its use can lead to the satisfaction of these consumers. Values are related to deep emotional needs leading to the motivations for the purchases of high equity brands. Laddering benefits from the application of means-end theory. By developing this, and as supported by the earlier work of others within the literature, the author develops his application of the method of laddering from an analysis of 1,200 interviews to examine the basis for the formation of brand equity and consumer loyalty. The use of laddering is seen as akin to a psychologist tending to a patient and expecting the latter to reveal his or her innermost thoughts and intentions. By understanding what personal attributes people associate with brands, the author develops the belief that only seven basic values lie at the core of most brand purchases.

The technique of laddering is also applied in the unstructured interviews in the paper by Syed Rahman. The intention of the research is to apply the method of grounded theory in investigating the internationalisation processes of firms. The use of qualitative data redresses the problem of context stripping by providing contextual information. The author puts the view that the role of grounded theory in conceptualising data that is context specific establishes good grounds for its use. He constructs a methodology through a series of interviews and the early development of a model to discover how Australian international businesses that are deemed to be successful go about their international market selection processes (IMSP). He draws three main conclusions that Australian international businesses follow a step-wise approach with considerations of macro and micro variables that are firm based and that are in turn affected by structural and government policy considerations. The contribution of this paper lies in its attempt to use grounded theory to discover information for the construction of a model.

The sixth paper, by Henrietta O'Connor and Claire Madge from the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, reports on a new project being developed. It is included in this issue as a special report about the aims, funding and development of work concerned with Internet research that has a strong human focus. The cyberparents' initiative is innovative and expresses the human touch and care taken by the researchers in their dealing with the respondents.

Finally, I end this editorial with a note of thanks to all the contributors and reviewers for their contributions, and to Richard Whitfield for overseeing the production of this issue at MCB.

Len Tiu Wrightlwright@dmu.ac.uk