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Bahçeşehir UniversitySocial Science InstitutionsPh D. Business ProgramQualitative Research MethodsElif Karaosmanoğlu

Observation Methodologies and Application

Prep. by: Selim Sarıyerli& İlhan Çiftçi15 April 2010

The past, present and future ofobservational research in

marketing

Nick Lee and Amanda J. BroderickAston Business School, Birmingham, UK

Abstract Purpose – To introduce the contents of the special issue, and provide an integrative

overview of the development of observational methodologies in marketing research, as well as some directions for the future.

Design/methodology/approach – A historical review of the development of observational methods, beginning with philosophical foundations, is provided. Key philosophical debates are summarized, and trends in observational methods are described and analyzed, with particular reference to the impact of technology. Following this, the contributions to the special issue are summarized and brought together.

Findings – Observational research in marketing is more than the well-known method of “participant-observation.” In fact, technology has the potential to revolutionize observational research, and move it beyond a solely “qualitative” method. The internet, video, scanner-tracking, and neuroimaging methods are all likely to have a big impact on the development of traditional and innovative observation methods in the future. The articles in the special issue provide a good overview of these developments.

Research limitations/implications – The views of the authors may differ from those of others.

Practical implications – Observation is a far more wide-ranging strategy than many perceive.There is a need for more expertise in all types of observational methodologies within marketing research schools and departments, in order to take account of the vast opportunities which are currently emerging.

Originality/value – Provides an original perspective on observational methods, and serves as a useful overview of trends and developments in the field.

Observation in Marketing Research Rationalist viewpoint lies in direct opposition to the empiricist viewpoint of those such as John

Locke, Francis Bacon and later the logical positivists, such as Rudolf Carnap, that the only knowledge we can have must be that which we can directly observe.

Another rationalism-empiricism debate is physicsts’ approach to string theory.

In social science, however is accepted in general terms,but the debate continues around foloowing three issues: exactly what the “social world” is and what we can know about it; how we should obtain formation about this world; and the role of a priori theory in shaping our empirical processes.

These three questions are interlinked in that one’s beliefs about the nature of the social world should as a matter of course influence thoughts about what can be known about the world, and then exactly how data should be collected. Unfortunately, these debates have tended to focus on the least important aspect, how one should collect data, or what is informally known as the “qualitative-quantitative divide.”

In marketing research ,the use of observation was believed by most scholars to most often used as a qualitative technique.

However, in more contemporary times,qualitative methods have evolved beyond their marginal status to begin to play a major role in marketing research, particularly in consumer behavior Nevertheless, the evolution of qualitative research in marketing appears to have been primarily driven by the phenomenologically-based methods such as interviewing, rather than observational methods

One upshot of this is that the general term “observation” is likely to be synonymous with the common ethnographic method of “participant observation” in the minds of many scholars.

Challenges of “Participant Observation” in Marketing

Participant observation is not commonly used in marketing may lead to a situation where it is not often part of the “evoked set” of research methods which come to mind for many researchers when they are considering collecting data.

The use of participant observation to collect data may be extremely time-consuming,highly expensive and difficult.

In the current “publish or perish” environment this is not a very highly popular choice.

When the time comes for analysing this data, few marketing academics are routinely trained in the analysis of field notes and other types of data which result from participant observation.

Finally there are few mentors to guide the progress of participant observation researcher.

At the end, the specific “participant observation” is not particularly appropriate for marketing scholarly researchers

Data Collection Methods in Marketing Churchill’s prominent “Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations”

(Churchill and Iacobucci, 2004) defines two main types of data collection methodology; communication and observation.

Communication is defined as any data collection method where we must ask our research participants to give us the data we need, such as interviews or surveys.

On the other hand, observational methods do not require our participants to do so. Yet, such methods are not necessarily qualitative in nature, just as communication methods are not necessarily quantitative as was shown above.

Even Churchill and Iacobucci (2004) give examples of quantitative observational methods such as head counts, and physiological measures. In fact, as technology advances inexorably, the qualitative “participant observation” model has become only one small component of a vast and exciting set of observational methods.

One method in particular which has proven to be extremely influential in contemporary marketing research is the historical approach to modeling the behavioral impacts of marketing variables (Wittink, 2005).

Econometric modeling based on historical data (such as supermarket scanner tracking) has become the dominant force in contemporary marketing research, at least in the so-called “A-list” journals

Data Collection Methods in Marketing(cnt’d) This method is quite observational because it is observed over the course of a given

time period by way of a direct record of overall consumer purchasing.

Technology has allowed us to leverage the theoretical advantages of observational work, such as the possibility of objective measurement of activity and ability to follow behavior over a given time period, along with the traditional merits of quantitative surveys (e.g. large sample size) No researcher is required to follow consumers, recording their purchases. As well as this, researchers are able to access historical behavioral data, which is traditionally unavailable to observational researchers, who need to wait for a behavior to occur before recording it. Such developments have the potential to revolutionize how we understand the impacts of marketing variables on consumer purchasing.

Technology is also allowing us to push the boundaries of what is possible in qualitative and interpretive observational methodologies as well. This is most clearly seen with the rise of the internet and a methodology which has come to be known as “netnography” (Kozinets, 2002; Nelson and Otnes, 2005).

The vast amount of interaction which now goes on between individuals participating in web-based social contact or information seeking and sending behaviors has resulted in a virtual goldmine of information for those researchers who are interested in issues such as word-of-mouth, branding and the sociocultural aspects of consumer products.

In the context of netnography the interest is not on pure behavior, but on deeper social and cultural interaction both between consumers themselves and between consumers and products/brands.

Data Collection Methods in Marketing(cnt’d) Even though such methods deal with the “words” of participants, they are not

communication methods as researchers are not asking questions of participants. Instead, researchers are observing the social behavior of participants, which areexpressed in words (and also in other ways).

With the increasing amount of web-connected cameras and the like, researchers may soon be able to carry out observational research in contexts which were impossible in the recent past. Such contexts may have been too dangerous, too remote, or perhaps simply too expensive to get to.

However, the development which may have the potential to make the most telling advances in our understanding is the rise of neuroscientific tools to directly observe the various activities which occur in the brain (Senior and Rippon, 2007).

The ability to directly observe the neural activity which occurs in correlation with various behaviors and decisions seems likely to lead eventually to a revolution in our understanding of why and how individuals make decisions regarding marketing activities.

The idea of “neuromarketing” seems to have developed a negative reputation amongst many neuroscientists (Nature Neuroscience, 2004). Yet brain imaging has the potential to contribute to our understanding of almost all areas of marketing in ways we can only begin to imagine at present (Lee et al., 2007). Such research is quite clearly observational in nature, although it may involve some questioning if attitudinal and decision-related correlates are sought rather than purely behavioral ones. However, neuroimaging is clearly a long way from what many marketing scholars consider to be “observational” research.

Data Collection Methods in Marketing(cnt’d)(Mindcam Method)

Observational research (according to researcher) is any research which collects empirical data not by questioning respondents, but by observing behavior and/or other forms of activity. The recognition that direct observation of human activity is a necessary and important methodology, even if it is not often the easiest or most resource-effective.

Another data collection method is Starr and Fernandez’s “Mindcam” methodology. This methodology uses advanced miniaturized video recording equipment to provide observational data from the perspective of the subject, not the researcher, i.e. a first-person perspective. These data are then used as stimuli in an in-depth interview process. As such, the Mindcam method provides an almost perfect example of how technology is able to enhance our ability to do observational research in what could be called a “traditional” sense.

Fernandez explain, traditional observation relies on the researcher’s interpretation of event and even when using video recording equipment, the researcher is essentially “directing” how events are recorded. We are then in a situation of having a partial record (the video) of a partial view of the subject’s reality (i.e. the observation by the researcher).

The Mindcam method has the potential to remove this layer of interpretation from observational research, allowing a closer and richer view of how the subject experiences the world.

Data Collection Methods in Marketing(cnt’d)(Neuroscientific Research)

1st article of Senior et al. is an introduction to three different neuroscientific methodologies which have the potential to revolutionize marketing research.

Senior et al. describe the core principles behind functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation, and also provide an interesting historical overview of their development.

The aim is to introduce to general marketing researchers the techniques and to show their possible usage. Senior et al. also provide the results of a qualitative study examining the experiences of subjects of fMRI and MEG data collection procedures. Taken together, the authors hope that this work will help to increase the usage of neuroimaging among marketers and also help ensure that it is done in an ethical manner.

The next article by Kenning, Plassmann and Alhert is also about neuroimaging, but the focus is squarely on fMRI.

Kenning, Plassmann and Alhert provide a useful preamble describing previous work in consumer research and follow this up with a wide-ranging introduction to different forms of neuroscientific data collection.

The concentration on fMRI allows Kenning, Plassmann and Alhert to explicate the form of a typical fMRI study, including how data might be collected, analyzed and interpreted. Some current limitations of fMRI are also detailed, which leads the authors to the conclusion that it may be some time before fMRI is used as a matter of course by marketers.


This article and that by Senior et al. should enhance the dissemination of neuroimaging methodologies into marketing research, thus making a significant contribution to what we know about how and why consumers and other marketing actors behave in the ways they do.

Chamberlain and Broderick’s article is also concerned with the use of physiological observational methods.

However, this paper shows how such methods can be used to study a topic which has been of interest to marketing and consumer researchers for many years: emotions.

The main contribution of the article is to show how modern observational methodologies can provide new ways of measuring constructs which have heretofore mainly been operationalized using traditional methods (such as self-report psychometric measures).

The final article, by Schlosser shows how observational methodologies and technology can combine in order to enhance the actual practice of marketing “in the field,”

More specifically, the study shows how mobile observational technologies such as handheld computers can change the employee-manager relationship.

While Schlosser focuses on the sales manager-salesperson relationship, the article is relevant to all researchers, particularly given the often close relationship between an observational researcher and his or her subjects.


Professor Gummesson is an iconoclastic thinker and has already made a significant contribution to management research methodology. In his commentary Gummesson presents his belief that observational methods are under-utilized in marketing research, even though they can provide many unique insights

He sets out his belief that reliance on verbal data is in no way enough to illuminate the full richness of the marketing milieu.

Gummesson presents his own very personal strategy for research, interactive research, focusing on the interaction between the researcher and the subject, the researcher and the data, and the researcher and the audience of the research. While this approach may not suit all readers, it certainly provides an interesting and valuable counterpoint to much contemporary and traditional marketing research.

In conclusion, traditional or “newer” observational methodologies, are or can be powerful indication of the opportunities available to researchers within marketing.

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Application of Observation

Bahçeşehir University - Qualitative Research Methods

How Turkey’s Abkhaz

Community Resolves

Interpersonal Conflict:

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Abkhaz Community


The Abkhaz is a branch of the Cerkes or Circassians, the native people of the Caucasus region.

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Abkhaz Community


In the late 19 th Centruy, Czarist Russia attempted to expand its power towards the black sea. Circassians lost the war and a large number of Cicassians became exiles.

Whereas, red painted shows the Abkhaz migration to Balkans and Blue is Ottoman and today Anatolia.

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Abkhaz Community


Today, Abkhaz community is a relatively small minority, having a population of approximately half a million

people

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Observation Selection


Prof. Muzaffer Ercan Yılmaz

Author is a professor of conflict resolution and

international relations at Balıkesir University. This

research is related to interpersonal confict

resolution method. Abkhaz is a community its

members seek to resolve interpersonal conflicts

quickly and constructively

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Research Method


This reseach into the traditional conflict resolution methods of Abkhaz Community was based on in – depth personal interviews and observations, including participant observation.

The interviews were selected through snowball sampling. (First, he interviewed two professors in Balıkesir University and they lead him for potantial interviews.)

Bahçeşehir University - Organizational Theory

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Research Method

Professor interviewed 20 people, mainly from Bandırma province in Balıkesir.

Sample Charecteristics:

12 Men, 8 WomanAges are ranged from 17 – 48Age Mean 22,8 and SD 7,0585 % had a college degree and 10 % had a Phd, 5 % High Scholl.


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Indepth - Interview

Professor conducted unstructred interviews to obtain preliminary data. Later he developed semi – structured questions to ask in the interviews.

During the interview, respondents were basically asked to describe the types of interpersonal conflict they have experienced and how they unofficially resolved them.


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Observation Professor spent a few weeks with the Abkhaz in Balıkesir, visiting many Abkhaz families and obserbving them in different settings, including at popular gatherings, festivals, and during activities of daily living.

He also visited some Abkhaz non – govermental organizations and inquired into the basic rules governing interpersonal relations.

He also observed some informal dispute resolution process.


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ObservationProffesor stressed,

The rule of the Abkhaz Community is defined ALEYFE.

These rules are not written, and its İnformal.

Ayhabra is a Community Board. They manage Community rules with respect to the Aleyfe Rules.


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ObservationAyhabıra leader is selected from the high status elder of the community.These are mainly males, though women can be members as well.

Rarely, young and well educated are take in place.

Candidates must not have a criminal record.


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Observation

How do community issues and serious interpersonal conflicts come to the attention of the ayhabıra?

1 – Most Frequent method is direct initistion by a party of the conflict or all parties

2- People, who have no direct stake in resolution of the conflict, but are concerned about its general ramifications.


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CritiseA major shortcoming of the Abkhaz way ofresolving interpersonal conflicts is that it is based on community traditions. Another is that male elders usually make up the ayhabıra and serve as ayhabas, which could lead to structural discriminationin decision making. This could explainwhy women do not commonly bring disputes to the ayhabıra.


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Findings

Abkhaz have adapted to living in Turkish society. Nevertheless, compared to other communities inTurkey, the Abkhaz are a relatively cohesive group, consciously trying to preserve, as much as possible, their ethnic identity and culture againstexternal influences or perceived threats.


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Limitations

This research may ve concluded differently when Abkhaz observation performed other region except Balıkesir.

Although the gender structure is homogeneous, education level is high. Low educated samples may lead to divergent inference.

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Questions and Explanations