Basic ideas on Qualitative Market Research

Based on Imms and Ereautt (2002), I note the following main ideas about the nature of Qualitative Market Research:

1. Qualitative Market Research is a form of Market Research; it is thus a commercial activity, with a commercial researcher and a commercial user. Thus, it is not an academic enquiry.
2. Qualitative Market Research makes use of qualitative research methods, thus it has certain characteristics in its research process. Th process involves using interviews and field work to gather data, which is then subject to analysis, interpretation and presentation (with reports) to client organizations.
3. Due to the qualitative nature of this form of Market Research, we need to be aware of the problems of using criteria of research evaluation based on quantitative research metthods to assess the quality of Qualitative Market Research.

Qualitative Market Research (QMR) possesses a number of characterisics, including the following:

1. Qualitative Market Research is constrained by commercial contracts
2. QMR has a narrow and clearly defined research scope
3. QMR is pragmatic and eclectic in its stance on theory, drawing on inspiration from subjects such as sociology, social psychology, marketing & consumer behaviour theories and cultural analysis, etc. [Broadly, QMR consider 2 broad models: (i) cognitive model of QMR and (ii) conatve model of QMR.]
4. In current practices, QMRs are mainly interview-based in the form of group discussion and depth interviews.

Reference
Imms, M. and Ereaut, G. (2002) An Introduction to Qualitative Market Research, Sage Publications. [Mainly on Chapters 1and 2]