Download - MRA-Lecture8PG

8/3/2019 MRA-Lecture8PG

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It is an unstructured and longish interviewon the subject.

Most questions are open ended and ask foropinions, feelings about products,

occasions of use and so on. It has minimal instructions for the

interviewer, and the respondent is free torespond in any way he likes, not

constrained by predetermined categories. E.g. Car owner feels about his car, what it

means top him, how he feels when he isdriving it, who he takes out with him or whoelse he allows to drive it


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Depth interview could be called a process ofprobing for the feelings, associations, reasons forbehavior of a consumer of a product category orbrand through a mostly unstructured interview

consisting of a lot of open ended questions, by atrained interviewer. This tends to be subjective rather than objective, and

therefore difficult to interpret. Capable of revealing much more about the

underlying thought process and feelings of consumerabout the product and service being researched ,compared with traditional structured interviews.


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The interviewer must have the training to

make a focused but an unstructuredconversation.

The interviewer has to be skilled to be

able to get the respondent to give afree-wheeling interview, with minimumprodding.


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This is a group discussion on a givensubject conducted by a trained

moderator. The purpose of this is to create a less

than formal situation, where people canexchange views, bringing out theiropinions, attitudes and feelings aboutthe given subject.


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To bring out a fruitful discussion, thesubject has to be carefully thought out,and moderated if it veers away from thegiven subject.

The participants have to be called to thevenue and a system of video or audio

recording should be used to record thediscussion for later analysis. It is possiblefor the moderator and the `analyzer tobe different persons.


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The sample is selected as usual from atarget population which is specified by

the needs of the study. Usually, a groupconsists of about 6-10 persons.

The length of the discussion can beabout an hour to hour and a half, or untilthe group has nothing left to add.


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This technique is used frequently tocheck out opinions about new

concepts, before a product is launched,and in general , as an exploratoryresearch tool.

It could be used in combination with asurvey, as a cross check for theimportant findings from the survey.


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Different techniques that can be calledprojective.

A popular method is to show arespondent a picture and ask him todescribe the persons or objects in thepicture. A particular product or brand

can be shown being used, or displayedand the respondent can be asked toguess the type of consumer who woulduse the product shown.


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This is essentially a technique whichseeks to get indirectly at the underlyingmotivations, attitudes or emotions of therespondent, which he would not revealunder direct questioning. This method ofquestioning overcomes some commoninhibitions of respondents such as thewish to give socially desirable responses,or giving answers` acceptable to theinterviewer.


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Another variation of projectivetechniques is to ask respondents to

associate brands with one word that theycan think of when they think of thebrand.

It could be a person or a celebritydepending on the interviewers oranalysts view point.


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Another type of projective technique isgiving an incomplete sentence to the

respondent, and asking him to completeit. People who use brand B Tea tend tobe

This method is may result in unexpectedassociations. It is difficult to interpret andneeds a trained hand to do it.


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Pricing is one of the more technicalareas of market research. The aim is not

to find what customers like, but whatthey are willing to pay and so what theoptimum price point is to maximize profitor revenue or market share.


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Pricing research can delve into questionssuch as appropriate pricing levels from

the customers point of view, or thedealers point of view. It could try to findout how the current price of a product isperceived, whether it is a barrier for

purchase, how a brand is perceived withrespect to its price and relative to otherbrands prices(brand positioning)


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Pricing is important because it has apsychological as well as functional role.

High price may be an indicator of highquality or high esteem value for certaincustomer segments. Therefore ,questionsregarding price may need carefulframing, and careful interpretationduring the analysis.


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Associating price with value is a delicatetask, and may require indirect methods

of research at times. It may require experience of several

pricing related studies before one beginsto appreciate nuances of consumerbehavior related to price as a functionaland psychological measure of the valueof a product offering.


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Area of research into pricing has beendetermining price elasticity at various pricepoints for a given brand through

experiments or simulations. Price framing, orwhat the consumer compares(frames) priceagainst, is another area of research. Forexample, one consumer may compare the

price of a car against an expensive twowheeler(his frame of reference),whereasanother may compare it with an investmentin the stock market or real estate.


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Distribution research focuses on various issuesrelated to the distribution of products includingservice levels provided by current channels,frequency of salespeople visits to distribution

points, routing/transport related issues fordeliveries to and from distribution pointsthroughout the channel, testing of newchannels, channel displays, linkages betweendisplays and sales performance, and so on.

Eg: Soft drink manufacturer may want to knowwhere to set up vending machines. Researchwould help identify factors that would make aparticular location a success.


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In many service businesses where acustomer has to visit the location, it

becomes very important to research thelocation itself.

For example, a big hotel may want toknow where to locate themselves forbetter visibility and occupancy rates.