Qualitative research in marketing

Purpose – To discuss and analyse three themes in qualitative research in marketing which are objects of both frustration and confusion: analysis and interpretation; theory generation; and a quest for scientific pluralism and individual researcher lifestyles.Design/methodology/approach – Underpinning the discussion is that complexity, ambiguity, fuzziness, chaos, change, uncertainty and unpredictability are characteristics of a market economy; that qualitative and subjective interpretation is necessary to add the spark of life to marketing data; and that general marketing theory needs more attention from researchers.Practical implications – The proper use of methodology and the generation of better marketing theory will make it easier for practitioners to reach the right decisions.Findings – Quantitative and qualitative research processes are not by nature antagonistic, although their advocates may be; quantitative methodology carries qualitative “bugs”, necessary for its sustenance.Originality/value – The...

[1]  Jackie Clarke,et al.  Different to ‘dust collectors’? The giving and receiving of experience gifts , 2006 .

[2]  Michael K. Hussey,et al.  Quantitative Methods in Marketing , 1999 .

[3]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. , 1964 .

[4]  C. Perry,et al.  Qualitative Marketing Research , 2001 .

[5]  R. Gurrea,et al.  Consumer Behavior in Press Sector: The Influence of Reasons for Reading on the Choice of Digital Channel , 2007 .

[6]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[7]  A framework for brand revitalization through an upscale line extension , 2006 .

[8]  Merrie Brucks,et al.  Introspection in Consumer Research: Implementation and Implications , 1993 .

[9]  E. Gummesson.  Quality Research in Management: addressing Complexity, Context and Persona , 2006 .

[10]  B. Gustavsson.  The nature and understanding of organization from a "samhita" perspective , 2004 .

[11]  C. Cherry.  Making Sense of Management , 2002 .

[12]  Barney G. Glaser.  Examples of grounded theory : a reader , 1993 .

[13]  B. Glaser.  The Grounded Theory Perspective: Conceptualization Contrasted With Description , 2001 .

[14]  Harold A. Linstone,et al.  Towards synergy in multiperspective management: An American–Chinese case , 2000 .

[15]  Evert Gummesson,et al.  Total Relationship Marketing , 1999 .

[16]  Nicholas J. Ashill,et al.  Purchaser‐provider interaction in UK public health: improving stakeholder cooperation , 2007 .

[17]  R. Gurrea,et al.  Duality of newspaper distribution channels: An analysis of readers' motivations , 2007 .

[18]  Christian Grönroos,et al.  Relationship Marketing: The Nordic School Perspective , 2000 .

[19]  D. Cohen,et al.  Toward a Knowledge Context: Report on the First Annual U.C. Berkeley Forum on Knowledge and the Firm , 1998 .

[20]  M. Saren,et al.  Time and the customer relationship management process: conceptual and methodological insights , 2006 .

[21]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[22]  John M. T. Balmer,et al.  Student corporate brand identification: an exploratory case study , 2007 .

[23]  Yvonne von Friedrichs Grängsjö,et al.  Hotel networks and social capital in destination marketing , 2006 .

[24]  Alan Bryman,et al.  Analyzing Qualitative Data , 1994 .

[25]  Evert Gummesson.  Access to reality: observations on observational methods , 2007 .

[26]  Stephen A. Greyser,et al.  Corporate brands with a heritage , 2007 .

[27]  Edward Toomer,et al.  Qualitative Methods in Management Research , 1989 .

[28]  Edward De Bono.  New think : the use of lateral thinking in the generation of new ideas , 1968 .

[29]  Alan Kitchener,et al.  Quantitative Methods in Marketing , 1970 .

[30]  R. Stake.  The art of case study research , 1995 .

[31]  Carlos Flavián,et al.  Perceived substitutability between digital and physical channels: the case of newspapers , 2007, Online Inf. Rev..

[32]  Patricia Bazeley,et al.  The Nvivo Qualitative Project Book , 2000 .

[33]  E. Gummesson.  Practical value of adequate marketing management theory , 2002 .

[34]  J. Morse.  Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed): Mathew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994. Price: $65.00 hardback, $32.00 paperback. 238 pp , 1996 .

[35]  P. Atkinson,et al.  Making sense of qualitative data , 1996 .

[36]  Ignatius U. Ekanem,et al.  “Insider accounts”: a qualitative research method for small firms , 2007 .

[37]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[38]  C. Lovelock,et al.  Whither Services Marketing? , 2004 .

[39]  Chad Perry,et al.  Action research in marketing , 2004 .

[40]  M. Grimmer,et al.  The mix of qualitative and quantitative research in major marketing journals, 1993‐2002 , 2007 .

[41]  J. Schumpeter,et al.  Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy , 1943 .

[42]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[43]  Annika Olsson,et al.  Operationalizing the concept of value – an action research‐based model , 2006 .

[44]  D. Coghlan,et al.  Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization , 2000 .

[45]  Karen Locke.  Grounded Theory in Management Research , 2000 .

[46]  N. Piercy.  Research in marketing: teasing with trivia or risking relevance? , 2002 .