CHAPTER 4

Evidence-Based Research

Overview

Evidence-based research is one of the most used methodologies in qualitative research across disciplines from social sciences to medicine and health care. Qualitative research based on cognitive and community-led evidences provides small, but profoundly significant, proofs in social, cultural, and entrepreneurial development emerging from governmental and organizational interventions. This chapter addresses the contemporary trends in evidence-based qualitative research in addition to community-driven methodologies in qualitative research. Action research is another qualitative methodology developed and implemented in social and ethnological perspectives. This chapter defines action research as social development projects are networked around various human elements. In addition, participatory research appraisal, case research, focus group administration, and anthropomorphic research studies as extended evidence-based qualitative research designs are discussed in this chapter. Complexity of information loops is not uncommon in qualitative inquiries. Information loops during information acquisition process occur due to unclear presentation of questions to the subjects. Contextual discussions on qualitative loops analysis has been presented in this chapter. This chapter also highlights theoretical aspects of reasoned action and differential strategies.

Qualitative research has several touch points like liberal narrations, storytelling, retrieval of memories, and text-data-mining. However, information acquired through each mode needs to be validated through appropriate evidence. This task often turns the qualitative research process into a complex one and makes it ambiguous without tangible proofs that can validate the narrations of the subjects. The pursuit of evidence-based qualitative research implies a move beyond individual opinions and lays greater focus on the organization and management systems that fall with the research study. For example, while conducting qualitative research on social health care marketing, researchers need to move beyond acquiring information from the beneficiaries and collect evidences from the various role players such government and community health care teams, service delivery systems, service settings, and packages of social health care. More opinions need to be collected for exploring effective ways of managing change within systems, and at the level of individual professionals. Qualitative research extended to the organizational perspective in each research projects would help researchers to document evidence for validating the individual opinions (Black 1994).

Qualitative evidence is the true measures of data interpretation in empirical research unlike quantitative figures. Qualitative research often involves vague measurements to validate the information acquired from the subjects using words and phrases such as “a lot,” “a little,” “many,” “most.” However, the strength of content analysis can be enhanced by presenting the quantified statements against the open-ended narrations. Such evidence-based qualitative research can be defined as cautious ­positivism. Qualitative evaluations can identify small but profoundly significant evidences in social, cultural, and entrepreneurial developments resulting from governmental and organizational interventions. These small evidences can be images, videos, or documents, which can be integrated into the content analysis. A good qualitative research resists examining the views of those being researched merely through the unstructured instrument but tends to document the interrelated facts from different public sources. While documenting evidences, the qualitative researchers should be able to explain how different sources of knowledge about the same issue can be compared and contrasted. In the absence of public evidence, it is necessary for the researchers to validate whether the subjective perceptions and experiences analyzed in the study can be treated as knowledge in their own right (Popay and Williams 1998).

Qualitative data analysis is often challenged, as it is not a stand-alone methodological approach to the opinion analysis of subjects on various social, anthropological, ethnographic, and cognitive studies. A study design depends on the nature of the research problem, its conceptual and theoretical framework, and the quality of information collected. Thus, narrative analysis supported by the imagery or documented evidence would be able to authenticate the results and the possibility of its generalization. Information analysis needs validation because most qualitative studies use self-explanatory common knowledge or even intuitive phases. Many qualitative studies restrict the explanation of data analysis to the phrase “categories and themes emerged from the data,” or invoke mention of a computer package that has been used to manage the data. This is a prevailing issue in the qualitative research, which often jeopardizes the study due to lack of clarity in expressions. Hence, there exists the demand for tangible evidence to support the information analysis and conclusions of the study (Green et al. 2007).

Research-based practice program like social laboratories, action research programs, and community health care system provide a systematic, participative approach to the design, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based practice guidelines for the qualitative researchers. Evidence in qualitative research studies can also help to shape and clarify key questions by informing the interventions, comparisons, and organizational outcomes that each response should focus on. For example, subjects cite their experiences upon reviewing the existing social developments, the benefits of community health projects, or the benefits of consumer products marketing programs initiated by the companies as compared to the projected measures. Acceptability of a social innovation, co-created business initiatives, or development intervention toward creating value to stakeholders can be defined as organizational or community evidence to support the opinion of stakeholders. The guideline to document the evidence lies in the process of cause, action, and effect performed through a systematic process. The stages and gates (review points) in a consumer marketing, social marketing, or community development programs provide the scope to conduct an evidence-based qualitative research. Qualitative evidence synthesis offers a schematic platform for measuring and validating attitudes, beliefs and feelings of the subjects interviewed in the qualitative research. Systematic evidence can be synthesized against isolated findings by integrating the multilayered views from longitudinal studies (Dalton et al. 2017). Therefore, evidence-based decision-making is becoming increasingly important in many diverse domains, which has created the need for improved tools to aggregate evidence from multiple sources in qualitative research. For instance, in consumer products ­marketing, much valuable evidence emerges in the form of the concept test of products, and prototype trials that compare the relative merits of consumer satisfaction.

Evidence-based qualitative research sometimes fails to analyze the cognitive perceptions of consumers, as emotion-led responses are largely subjective. When researchers get involved with emotions of the consumers, the perceptions revealed by the subjects can be complex. Qualitative consumer research is regarded more as an art than science. However, ­evidence on qualitative perspectives of consumers can be analyzed by listing the emotional lexicon from initial inquiries and reviewing previous studies. Big Data analytics is also linked to specific consumer behaviors and loyalty programs. Most of the consumer product companies identify and leverage the specific motivators that maximize their competitive advantage, and such qualitative information analysis can be used in consumer-centric growth. Evidence-based qualitative research process helps in mapping the consumer perceptions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior across time and geo-demographic segments. Researchers should thoroughly review the existing consumer research and customer insight data and look for qualitative descriptions of what motivates the consumers’ need, desire, and expectations. The lexicons on emotions and motivations should be documented during qualitative enquiries and explained by the researchers as evidence in support of expressions. Such documentation provides a guideline to map the emotions and explain the association of consumers with the products, brands, and companies (Magids, Zorfas, and Leemon 2015).

Action Research

Qualitative research on ethnological and social perspectives, and clinical and social preventive medicine has been historically leading to developmental concerns through the action research programs, which enables researchers to participate in implementation of evidence-based research recommendations. In business today, most consumer-centric companies have also adapted to the action research process in implementing the suggestions emerging out of the qualitative research on consumer emotions, motivational factors, value perspectives based on the satisfaction measures. Companies accordingly organize action research laboratories focusing on society in general and consumers in particular. Action research educates the researchers and their sponsors on how the subjects of the research interpret their own behavior rather than imposing a theory from outside. It considers that context is as important as the actions it studies, and attempts to represent the totality of the social, cultural, and economic situation (Reason and Bradbury 2001). In planning action research as an extended part of the qualitative research, the research agenda must be set following the sequential stages suggested as follows:

• Data collection of the existing social and business situation from records, previous studies, and interviews with experts, using participatory maps and flowcharts to document the flow opinions of subject and expertise, cause-and-effect relationships, and organizational interactions.
• Identification of action research projects in the social, ethnological, or business area by interviews with local businesses and social development leaders.
• Mapping of attributes of identified action research projects using chart key infrastructure, inputs and support services, action research players, and constructing the value chain for implementing the project.
• Identifying the participating business, governmental, and public institutions, rules, norms and trends of the market environment.
• Developing a stage-gate process of action research by identifying the tools and techniques of data collection, analysis, linking suggestions to the goals and objectives of action research, identifying implementation phases, and founding gates. Gates need to the clearly labeled with the quality checks, social and business reviews, and the work breakdown phases.
• Analysis of collected data can be conducted by using data display and reduction techniques for qualitative data to identify main themes and trends. Supplementing descriptive statistics for data to comprehend qualitative information.
• Implementing the action research points, reviewing results, drawing inferences, and drawing conclusions.

The action research projects developed and implemented in the social and ethnological perspectives are commonly defined as social development projects driven on the human elements. The action research projects promoted by the companies are largely seen as corporate social responsibility projects aimed to benefit stakeholders and society. Such projects are strategically planned and continue for long time alike the social development projects. The popular methodology action research is shown in the Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Pathway of conducting action research

The action research guidelines described in Figure 4.1 explain three major dimensions: methodological, technical, and practical. Action research projects are built on the predetermined grounded theory, based on which the research propositions for action research are developed. The study design of action research includes determining data collection tools and determining causes and effects. The project charter is developed accordingly, and information is collected on several principal and intervening variables by empowering the subjects and role players associated with the action research. In order to conduct longitudinal action research projects, work stations are established across geographic destinations. Researchers conduct brainstorming sessions in teams to map the concepts and action points for implementation.

As action research is derived from qualitative research design, it is implemented using a participatory methodology by involving subjects and project role players. In action research projects, teams of participants are constituted with the allocation of tasks within the predetermined research domains. Participants derive causal maps for action research to express their views on the cause and effect, and the strategic perspectives of the project. Maps are prepared on convenient platforms with identifying tags using colors. In social development and ethnological research, rural participants draw concept and action maps on the ground using various natural indicators like stones, flowers, leaves, and the like. Concept maps represent the existing situation and the expected development based on grounded theory built during the initial qualitative research. By developing these maps, and participating in brainstorming sessions and thematic focus groups, subjects demonstrate their perceptions on the maps drawn. The perceptual maps are subsequently adjusted to reflect the action points associated with the objectives of research and implementation. Accordingly, thematic clusters are developed and subsequently adjusted to reflect the peer judgments about how these strategic issues can be resolved. The mapping exercise results in the creation of a group causal map where new clusters emerge by evaluating the external factors. The concept and action maps developed by the action research participants help researchers to continuously discuss and refine issues, prioritize actions, find means and ends for effective execution of actions, and then progress with the action research projects (e.g., Eden and Ackermann 2018). Broad areas, ­methodology, and approaches to carry out analysis and findings are summarized as follows:

• Common areas of action research projects

  º Family, society, political subjects, governance, impact ­studies

• Theory-led methodology

  º Naturalistic-interpretive (involvement)

  º Constructivist-problem-solving (analytical and strategic)

  º Pragmatic philosophy-historicity (documentary, spatial, and temporal)

• Popular approaches to carry out analysis and findings in action research projects

  º Observations

  º In-depth interviews (representative)

  º Public poll analysis

  º Ideographic (derived meaning)

  º Nomothetic (generalization)

Participatory action research is an effective method of actively guiding and engaging the qualitative research teams in a reflective and collaborative research practice to implement the emerging results on the social, ethnographic, and business-related developmental actions. In the process of action research, participants and researchers learn to conduct applied interviews and need assessments and gain confidence to build rapport with the social or business stakeholders (Hickey, et al. 2018). Action research is an iterative process involving action, reflection, theory, and practice ­(Brydon-Miller, Greenwood, and Maguire 2003). Action research ­projects are specific to the stakeholder needs and possess developmental orientation because research informs practice and practice informs research (Avison, Lau, Myers, and Nielsen 1999).

Participatory Research Appraisal

Participatory research appraisal (PRA) is a qualitative approach used to plan action research projects. This approach is based on community participation to document the knowledge and opinions of subjects in planning social and business development projects and programs. PRA engages the total population, irrespective of a defined sample size to develop concept maps and action research plans. Since PRA is a community-based research approach, it tends to eliminate the individual biases and validate the populist opinions. In this research approach, cognitive appraisal of the subjects is situational and is shared across members of the community in the study area. Action research, therefore, leads to the developmental activities that are creative, productive, and sustainable over a period. Action research evolves through participatory learning methods (PALM) to implement the suggested action plan.

PRA methodology is described as a social learning tool with the growing family of approaches and methods that enable people within the community to share, enhance, and analyze their knowledge and living conditions to plan and to act. PRA has evolved within the social research and ethnographic methods in social sciences. This approach embeds direct learning from local people offsetting biases, optimizing opinion trade-offs, triangulating information, and seeking diversity. In the PRA study, design researchers can facilitate content analysis in two phases: by the subjects (unfiltered) and systematically using coding and analysis (filtered). The subjects in the PRA process should be able to ensure critical self-awareness and responsibility and share the true and contextual (evidence-based) information with the researchers. The major attributes of PRA are as follows:

• Evidence mapping and interpretation
• Socio-cultural considerations in field work design
• Individuals vs society, content analysis of qualitative research, triangulation
• Styles of participation and observation, and
• Ethics in field research: conduct of investigator and subjects of the study.

The advanced methods of PRA allow subjects to practice participatory mapping and modeling, transect walks, and matrix scoring. In PRA exercise, subject also work on mapping their well-being grouping, and ranking community amenities and infrastructure. The subjects in the PRA process also express the existing gaps and future plans. Research also motivates subjects to develop institutional diagrams indicating the institutions involved in the development projects, their role, and performance. Such institutional diagrams are useful in analyzing the perceptions of people not only for social development project, but also to evaluate the corporate social responsibility projects. In addition, PRA encourages subjects to develop seasonal calendars, trend, and change analysis, and suggest pathways of information analysis. In the PRA investigation, sharing and analysis are open-ended and often visual to society in general and the subjects in particular through comparisons across spatial and temporal dimensions.

The PRA methodology has been widely used to explore business opportunities in rural or bottom-of-the-pyramid geodemographic segments. The participatory research has been useful in exploring the ways in which businesses use and create diverse forms of rural and social capital. PRA methodology helps entrepreneurs describe the attributes of manufacturers, marketers, and consumers distinctively in the small businesses. Therefore, PRA triggers the debate about whether location alone is a sufficient parameter for defining rural-ness and understanding the dynamics of social change driven by local business development (Bosworth and Turner 2018). An effective participatory appraisal requires greater empowerment of the subjects. In general, sometimes the information paths are complex and chronologically discrete in PRA compared to the other qualitative research methods and tools. Therefore, it is not possible to establish standardized methods and tools in PRA, because each process of participatory research must be tailored for the specific community where subjects express their views and construct maps (Menconi, Grohmann, and Mancinelli 2017).

Besides concept and action mapping, PRA adapts to the common qualitative research tools such as semistructured interviewing and focus groups. PRA applications include natural resources management, agriculture, poverty and social programs, and health and food security. The participatory research method can be used to develop matrix scoring for varieties of social indicators like income, education, employment, health, consumption culture. The matrix drawn by the subjects with the help of PRA researchers provides fascinating and useful information and insights, and good-looking tables with diagrams derived by the subjects ­(Chambers 1994). Sharing knowledge, experience, and opinions of the subjects take three main forms:

• Subjects initially brainstorm and share knowledge among themselves by analyzing the responses in groups and develop concept maps using visual indicators in a natural setting.
• Subjects then share information with the researchers. As a condition for facilitating this process, researchers or ­community anchors clarify doubts, explain the ­purpose of the research, and restrain themselves from putting ­forward their own ideas over the prevailing reality in the study area.
• Researchers learn from each other and maintain field diary with their observation to complement the content analysis.

Applied and grassroots qualitative research has contributed to the PRA momentum. This methodology has usually proved enjoyable and has generated rapport among researchers, subjects, and community in general. Information and insights emerging from the PRA exercise are often diverse, detailed, complex, interesting and useful, which are shared in a short time. Hence, the PRA qualitative methodology has proved to be both powerful and popular.

One of the best examples of PRA-led development is the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a women’s trade union started by women workers in Gujarat, India, in 1972. The organization conducts PRA exercises with rural women to learn the current socioeconomic conditions, their expectations toward improving the quality of life, economic status, and family earnings. SEWA supports formation of member-based organizations of poor working women, and put them in business, manufacturing and marketing activities. The first such organization was SEWA Bank, followed by diverse cooperatives and producer groups of women with livelihoods as artisans, milk producers, and farmers. Later on, women formed service cooperatives like those around health and child care. Since 2013, SEWA has provided energy solutions to communities with little or no access to energy. Energy is a critical input for women in the informal sector, both for quality of life and economic mobility.

Case Research

Case research is a narrative analysis of a given social or business-related problem, which is explained with a protagonist. A business case study is essentially a story about a problem, challenge, or opportunity faced by a manager or stakeholders. A case research can be conducted using qualitative tools and techniques. A decision maker and a few stakeholders are aligned with in-depth interviews to share their opinion on a predetermined research theme. Contents of a case study including narrative details, direct quotations from those involved in the events of the case, and opinions form the basis for an analytic discussion in the case research. The case research has been defined in several ways, prominently as an investigation on the existing situations. Robson (2005) identifies case research as a strategy used to explore and explain a given situation in business or society using multiple sources of evidence, while Yin (2003) expresses that it is an inquiry to document phenomenological perspectives through qualitative research. Narrations and storyboards enrich the case research process. Case research involves gathering of information from some entities such as people, groups, or organizations on the qualitative approaches, which lacks in experimental control (Benbasat, Goldstein, and Mead 1987).

Qualitative case research methodology provides tools to study complex phenomena within social and business contexts. Case research is also useful in building inductive theory, evaluating development programs and projects, and developing action-based interventions. Case research includes writing the research questions, developing propositions, determining the attributes of the case under study, binding the case, and a discussion of data sources and triangulation (Baxter and Jack 2008). Though case research is a part of wider qualitative inquiries, it has many complexities. Interpretive approach in qualitative studies commonly faces problems of fluidity and flexibility of the research process, use of contextual basis for research questions and research method, and multidimensional narrations, and interpretation of the contents. However, a case study is considered to be parallel with the field study and observational study, each focusing on different aspects of the qualitative research methodology. All case studies developed using qualitative research methodology do not generate the same results on causal relationships like controlled experiments. However, they provide deeper understanding of facts in an ethnographic study. Case studies have been criticized for being of less value as they cannot be generalized and remain as just a research reference (Runeson and Höst 2009). In developing case research, the following points need to be considered by every researcher:

• Case environment

  º Market, organization, consumers, governance

• Case plot

  º Objective(s), the crux, and the focus

• Case players

  º The anchor, supporting cast, intervening roles, and pacifiers

• Case information

  º Strategies, statistics, semantics (logic), and synergy ­(interaction)

• Case description

  º Narrative, progressive, negative, realistic

• Case conclusion

  º Abrupt, futuristic, indecisive

Researchers need to assess the case study environment by determining the discussion stream related to market, organization, consumers, or social governance. Accordingly, the objectives of case research need to be developed in context of the problem to be addressed. The role of the protagonist, decision-maker, and other role players in the case need to be clearly set in the discussion, with the support of evidence, narrations, semantics, and synergy. Case study methodology has been intuitively developed for exploratory research and some researchers still limit case studies for this purpose (Flyvbjerg 2007). Nonetheless, case studies are also extended to conduct descriptive research like consumer behavior, ethnic and cultural effects on business, and community development, which need to be discussed case-by-case with the generalization of results. Case studies may also be used for testing the existing theories in confirmatory studies (Andersson and Runeson 2007).

Case research is popularly used in ethnographic studies as the major research methodology to explore the problems associated with the human elements in society, business, and governance. Ethnographic study is a specialized type of case research with focus on cultural practices or longitudinal studies with large amounts of participant–observer data and narrations of subjects. A case study can also be integrated with other research methods, for example, a survey, literature search, or archival analyses may be part of its data collection. Ethnographic methods, like interviews and observations, are mostly used for data collection in case studies (Robinson, Segal, and Sharp 2007). Case research is often large, as narrations and information might be repetitive, complex, and biased. As the information is based on qualitative data, it cannot be presented in condensed form in tables, diagrams, and statistical results unlike quantitative data. Qualitative analyses are not based on statistical significance and cannot be interpreted in terms of a probability or temporal projections. However, reasoning and linking of observations lead to conclusions in the case research, which can also be subjectively interpreted.

Qualitative case research must be conducted systematically and rigorously, and should be accountable for its quality and its claims. It should be strategically conducted with flexible research design and should be contextual to the predetermined objectives. Essentially, this means that qualitative researchers should make decisions by developing a sound research design and stay sensitive to the changing contexts in which the research takes place and to the ecosystem of qualitative research comprising the study area, respondents, questionnaire, and code of ethics. Qualitative research should involve critical self-scrutiny of information or exhibit active reflexivity during data collection process. Accordingly, researchers should constantly take stock of their actions, informant’s attitude and their role in the research process, and refine the information acquisition modalities accordingly. However, at times, a researcher cannot be neutral, or objective, or detached, from the knowledge and evidence that are being generated during data collection process. Researchers conducting qualitative studies should seek to understand their role in the process, stay proactive, interactive, and reactive, and exhibit reflexivity to moderate the qualitative responses.

A researcher must be truly interested in, and passionate about, the case research to be conducted, and should get involved in managing open discussions with the protagonist and other role-players of the case. Such involvement of investigator helps in setting the scenario for managing narrations and information acquisition by creating adequate interest among the respondents. Thoroughness of researchers on the subject can fill a knowledge gap among respondents, drive respondents to follow through the research process, and stay close to the research goals (Farber 2006). Research questions are not the same questions that are presented during the process of interviewing participants within the study. They are the most important facets within the qualitative study and should be open-ended at large. Most qualitative researches are inductive in nature and allow the researcher to generate research propositions from analysis of the collected data. The questions supporting the research propositions are one of the distinguishing factors between qualitative research and quantitative research. Upon reviewing the previous qualitative studies, research propositions are formed based on the research data to confirm or reject preconceived notions, relationships, or correlations (Burck 2005). A researcher must develop skills that enable him to gain trust with the participant being interviewed. Qualitative research questions should be open-ended also to help investigator to stay with an open mind. These questions guide the research study, and at the same time, allow subquestions and incepting questions to pave the way for new and emerging questions (Ohman 2005).

Language is an important cultural tool for effectively conducting international business in the host countries. Language has a deep-rooted sentiment in people. It is not just a spoken word, but also symbolic communication of time, space, things, friendship, and agreements. The language people speak is part of the culture in which they are raised. Therefore, the language used in all marketing communications including advertising, public relations, and general communications should reflect the unique cultural expressions and values of the target locale. Nonverbal communication occurs through gestures, expressions, and other body movements.

Market research firms provide solution to the multinational companies through qualitative case research studies by conducting trade surveys on who the respondents should be, when to administer the questionnaires, what should be the nature of questions, and the number of questions to be used in the trade surveys. These market research firms provide a good starting point for further data gathering and analysis. Market research also involves direct observation on customers who are buying and using the products. This method enables companies to know the consumer behavior toward existing products and develop competitive marketing strategy accordingly. The behavior of consumers toward the existing products gives important clues to customer preferences, especially in mature markets. In markets, where access is free and the customers have well-­developed preferences, the sales records of various products constitute a shortcut to understanding customer preferences. This method is very useful during the prelaunch stage for the foreign firms to develop an appropriate launch of their products in the segmented markets. The method of observation also faces some practical difficulties if certain assumptions are made to interpret the observed issues. A firm may assume that existing products reflect customer preferences, and such assumption is likely to hold only in mature markets with no entry barriers. However, in markets where customers have been deprived of products because of trade barriers, consumer preferences might well display a desire for something different. Such latent preferences cannot be uncovered through observation. On the other hand, causal marketing research is sometimes combined with experimental methods of research and causal models (Rajagopal 2018). The aim of such research may be to determine the extent to which a causal variable such as price or advertising affects variables such as brand preference or purchase. There are typical research designs that may be used in such experimental methods to estimate and validate causal business models. The problems addressed in the casual market researches tend to be about the fine-tuning of price levels, testing of alternative advertising copy and visuals, and the link between postsales service and customer satisfaction. The basic notion underlying the research is that a multinational company needs to understand precisely which of the contemplated marketing activities will have an appropriate bearing on the results.

Observation and narratives approach is commonly used in case research for formulating descriptive marketing research plans. Focus group and participatory approaches are useful exercises for exploratory marketing research. The survey method has proved to be an effective research approach in exploratory studies for analyzing data. This makes use of quantitative methods leading to a distinctive analysis of factors and future projections. This approach is identified as one of the most scientific methods in relating a research approach with its results. However, a good marketing research approach needs to possess the following qualities:

• Scientific method
• Originality and creativity
• Potential to use multiple methods for cross checking the emerging results
• Interdependence on analytical models and data sets
• Cost of research

A marketing research plan should comprise the aforementioned qualities for drawing effective results, and for preparing a useful document to be used for optimizing business propositions in and any situation.

Market research is an important tool for companies in the emerging markets to develop appropriate strategies for stakeholders, suppliers, and alliance partners. The emerging markets of developing countries have received signals from global competition and are rising fast. However, there are many hidden complexities such as innovation, technology, and dynamic market competition in the growth of potential firms to global marketplace. For example, previous observations in various research studies reveal that four factors that drove Japanese firms’ early export growth include strong corporate models and cultures, a domestic market isolated from competition, an agreeable labor force, and a cohesive, homogenous leadership. But when the firms moved into foreign markets, those strengths became downfalls. Entrenched in their corporate ways, they were too narrow-minded to look for local insights, and they lacked leaders who had international knowledge. They were also unprepared for contentious overseas labor relations and the sophistication and expertise of their global competitors. Thus, to avoid Japan’s fate, emerging giants must change their business models, reduce their reliance on protected domestic markets, learn to cope with diverse labor, and shake up their leadership (Black and Morrison 2010).

Focus Group Administration

Focus group is a specially invited forum that reviews the scope of research, and participants express their views with circular reasoning.¹ A focus group shares many common features with less structured interviews. Commonly, a focus group may be understood as a group discussion on a particular topic organized for research purposes. This discussion is monitored and recorded, and sometimes guided by a researcher called a moderator or facilitator. Focus groups, originating in the 1940s in the work of the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University, were first used in market research. Eventually the success of focus groups as a marketing tool in the private sector resulted in its use in public sector marketing, such as in the assessment of the impact of health education campaigns. However, focus group techniques, as used in public and private sectors, have diverged over time.

Focus group studies can be conducted by inviting some respondents who are knowledgeable in the subject of research and can share their unbiased opinion. The size of a focus group varies from 6 to 12 participants. The optimum size for a focus group is six to eight participants (excluding researchers). However, the ideal size of focus group to hold discussions could be eight participants. To initiate the focus group discussion, the researcher should brief the focus group about the objectives of the study, proposed research instrument, and study design. Upon setting the house for interactions, researcher should allow brainstorming among the group participants and stimulate critical analysis to explore key variables for the study. The proceedings of the focus group can be recorded in an electronic devise with the permission of group members, and the researcher should adhere to the confidentiality and ethical code of research in managing the information. Conventionally, researchers document minutes of the meeting and take out key indicators that are contextual and relevant to the study. One of the principal objectives of organizing a focus group is to explore variables of the study as expressed by the respondents and use them in developing research instrument for survey. A questionnaire developed in this way is easy to qualify in the pilot testing process and provides quality data for analysis. Group size is an important consideration in focus group research. It is advised that a researcher might slightly overinvite members than the standard quorum for a focus group, and potentially manage a slightly larger group. The rate of attendance in focus groups is sensitive to cost, time, interest, and the sitting fee. Hence, focus groups are often cancelled due to low attendance and unsatisfactory discussion. Small groups have the risk of limited discussion, while large groups can be chaotic and hard to streamline for the moderator if the discussion turns to sensitive issues like caste, religion, leaders, or political ideologies. If the focus groups are not streamlined properly, the discussions turn personal and become frustrating for participants who feel their voice has been slashed and they have not been given sufficient opportunity to speak (Rajagopal 2018).

A researcher serves as moderator in a focus group to streamline the discussion of a preselected topic. Consequently, the information leans toward the researcher-directed and publicly stated data administration systems. Therefore, focus group is considered as a compromise between the strengths of participant observation and individual interviewing. As a compromise between strengths and weaknesses of these other two qualitative techniques, focus groups are not as strong as they are within their specialized domain. Focus groups operate across traditional boundaries, and therefore researchers need to refine their observation, and streamline individual interviewing process. This flexibility would generate sustainable strength of focus groups. A researcher should inquire from the participants about their knowledge and experience on the topic of research to verify the appropriateness of the focus group. With participants having poor knowledge on the topic, the focus group research cannot be built to backup data collection strategies and integrated in the research design.

The composition of a focus group can be homogeneous or heterogeneous. A researcher needs to take meticulous care to get the best quality of discussion. It is advised that for a research study evaluating a community program, constitution of a homogeneous group comprising the beneficiaries of the program would be appropriate. On the other hand, for research on innovation and technology, a heterogeneous focus group comprising innovators, technocrats, market players, consumers, and regulators would be the right choice. However, there is no single approach to group composition, and group-mix will always have an impact on the data. A significant parameter in constituting the focus group is to ensure quality interaction, valid information, and noncontroversial discussion during the session. Effective interaction is key to a successful focus group, which means that a preexisting group might interact best for research purposes. A researcher should observe both controlled and noncontrolled group interactions during the variable selection process. Preexisting groups may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences, and enjoy a comfort and familiarity, which facilitates discussion or the ability to challenge each other comfortably. In health settings, preexisting groups can overcome the issues relating to disclosure of potentially stigmatizing status, which people may find uncomfortable in stranger groups. In other research projects, it may be decided that noncontrol groups are able to speak more freely without the fear of repercussion, and challenges to other participants may be more probing, leading to richer data.

In view of the strengths of focus groups, qualitative inquiries in the groups serve as the best source to produce an opportunity to conduct longitudinal and wider geo-demographic research on the topic. This combination enables researchers to learn about the participant in detail and arrange the observations systematically to support the content analysis of individual interviews. Focus groups are more controlled than liberal participation and observation forums, as the researcher defines the discussion topics in the focus groups. However, as the participants widely define the nature of group interaction, the focus group setting often turns less controlled than individual interviewing, unless there is a systematic stage-gate process to conduct the focus group research. Focus groups are created and directed by the researchers on a specific topic. Accordingly, the groups make the information flow distinctly less naturalistic than participant observation. Therefore, there is always some residual uncertainty about the accuracy of what the participants say. However, there is a significant concern that the moderator, in the name of maintaining the interview’s focus, may influence the group’s interactions. This problem is very common in the focus groups because the researcher influences the data collection process in most social science research studies.

Anthropomorphic Research Studies

Qualitative research methodology is an appropriate design to study anthropomorphic expressions of the subjects in the areas of sociocultural, ethnic, political, and consumption patterns. Most consumers exhibit satisfaction as a materialistic perception instead of deriving perceptual value based on self-congruity, motivations, and consumption experience derived through consumer relationships. Conventionally, consumers tend to be more responsible in acquiring comprehensive information about brands for making buying decisions in reference to perceived satisfaction and societal values (Giesler and Veresiu 2014). Consumer expectations are portrayed for self-image revelation, which play a major role in making buying decisions and determining consumer behavior. Vogue brands are generally positioned as high-end products. They motivate middle- and upper-class consumers for experimentation and develop a social pattern-based consumption spread across spatial and temporal dimension. Self-congruity theory explains that the congruence resulting from a cognitive comparison involving the product, user image, and the self-concept of consumers, affects the consumer behavior. Self-congruence leads to satisfaction by developing consumer values in reference to the attributes of products and services comprising referred experience, image, and brand reputation. Millennial consumers develop self-congruence on brands in view of the peer culture, and contemporary social values. Peer motivation drives them to assimilate to their social group by conforming on identity-signaling attributes such as premium brands, uniqueness attributes such as color, and the price-affordability ratio (Chan et al. 2012; Gofman et al. 2010).

Self-image congruence analyzes the cognitive dimensions of attention (self and social), interest, desire, and derived satisfaction that develop preferences for brands among millennial consumers. Self-­image congruence affects positive attitudes toward brands built through advertising effectiveness, market and social influence on consumer preferences, peer attitude, perceived quality, and brand preferences. Self-image congruence is related to the self-concept of the consumer and the social significance of vogue brands that determine the market trends. Millennial consumers, therefore, prefer vogue brands to boost their ideal social self-concept. A positive relationship between self-image congruence and the high-end vogue brands develops consumer preferences toward buying and getting associated with such brands in the long run (Rhee and Johnson 2012). The relationship between self-image congruence and cognitive variables, such as consumption experience, satisfaction, and brand value, affects consumer behavior. Self-concept describes individuals’ ideas and perceptions concerning a brand. The self-concept includes perceived abilities public image, and personality. Consumers express their self-image through brand personality, which attributes to emotions, and perceived satisfaction of fashion brands. Therefore, brand manifestation plays key role in driving consumer cognition toward trendy and unfamiliar brands.

Qualitative Loop Analysis

In longitudinal qualitative research, information loops are often generated due to repetition in interview questions and related responses at different space and time environments. Information loops occur during information acquisition process due to unclear presentation of questions to subjects. Research instruments, which consist of unstructured and semistructured questions, often trigger loops in qualitative inquiries as they lead to ambiguous responses and fuzzy interpretations to overlapping contents. The focus group and participatory research methods also tend to generate qualitative loops, as they are often unstructured and controlled by the subjects. Sometimes, as the focus of the research shifts over spatial and temporal dimensions, the core and peripheral variables, which are key to information acquisition, change, resulting into loop in the perceptions and expressions of respondents. Information loops deliver unclear responses, which are disjointed to earlier viewpoints. Therefore, information loops in qualitative research need to be carefully analyzed by applying necessary information filters to complete set of information or in partial segments. The critical responses need to be analyzed in reference to causes and effects, self-image congruence of the subjects in context of the questions asked, and their psychosocial perspectives. The critical analysis of contents would help researcher in breaking the loop and rationally examining the responses. The researchers should minimize intercept questions and determine their need by evaluating the quality of responses shared by the subjects. The nonconventional wisdom suggests that the researchers should smoothen the qualitative research loop by developing intercept questions as inductive, response-induced, disruptive, or as a radical requirement to seek refined information from the subjects. However, seeking feedback from the subjects on the researcher’s observation and fast-track information analysis also open the loop for extended qualitative inquiries. In the feedback sessions, subjects generally reinforce value to the statements, though some may change the opinion. The principal factors affecting the qualitative inquiry loop are shown in Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2 Qualitative inquiry loop: concepts and path

Loops in qualitative research are formed when the research focus is changed over time due to sociopolitical changes and ideological shifts in a longitudinal research. Feedback loop analysis, simply referred as loop analysis, is a method that applies qualitative models to dynamic systems. It allows representing the dimensions of research and interactions between variables. The study interactions to predict the response of the subjects by modifying the core and peripheral variables in qualitative inquiry is called perturbation. The loop analysis method is frequently applied in ecology and social development and is currently used for exploring associations of consumers between cognitive variables related to consumption pattern and behavioral trends in the marketplace.

Reasoned Action and Differentiation Strategy

Theory of reasoned action (TRA) may be explained in context to the consumer choices under market competition, in which consumer behavior is determined by the intention to lean toward a choice of product and service and develops norms of association with it. Intention to choose a product or service is the cognitive representation of a consumer’s readiness to explore satisfaction and derive comparative use values and value for money. Consumer’s intention to buy products and services is determined by their specific perceptions on gaining value through comparative advantages, and perceived behavioral control. Supplementing to the variables of consumers’ purchase intentions behavior, theory of planned behavior argues that attitudes of consumers derived by the social media and peer influences help in fostering their preferences on products and services in competitive markets. Majority of companies engage market research agencies to monitor and measure the dynamics of consumer attitudes that are governed by continuously updating their knowledge, changing beliefs, and social interactions. The perceived behavioral control of consumers also influences intentions.

Theory of planned behavior (TPB) emerged in the late twentieth century as an outgrowth of TRA and has been used successfully to predict and explain a wide range of organizational behavior of business companies in the global marketplace. Most companies growing amidst market competition drive their efforts to change the purchase intentions of consumers in their favor to gain sustainable advantage over the competition and inject butterfly effect in the market. The TPB states that the consumer behavior is largely driven by motivation, which develops intention, while behavioral control demonstrates the ability of consumers to turn buying intentions into action. Such planned behavior and reasoned action distinguishes between beliefs, normative behavior, and behavioral control. The TPB exhibits the following constructs that collectively represent the analytical insights and carry out dynamic expulsion of small changes for large difference that explains the butterfly effect:

• Attitudes: This refers to the critical evaluation of purchase intentions and expected benefits of the buying behavior of consumers. It entails a consideration of the outcomes of right buying decision.
• Behavioral intention: This exhibits the motivational factors that influence a given behavior, which demonstrates that the stronger the purchase intention, the more sustainable the consumer behavior.
• Subjective norms: This refers to the opinion whether most consumers approve or disapprove of the behavior and seek second opinion from the peers or look for public outlook. It relates to consumers’ opinion whether peers guide the ­personal insights toward decision-making.
• Social norms: This refers to the social code of behavior in a group of people or larger cultural settings. Social norms, which most consumers set as their decision-making ­benchmark, are considered normative, or standard, in a group of people.
• Perceived power: This refers to the consumers’ ­bargaining power and perceived value analysis on the ­decisions that may facilitate or impede the ­judgmental ­behavior of ­consumers. Perceived power contributes to a ­consumer’s perceived ­behavior also in reference to the ­competitive ­products.

Some studies counterargue cognitive intricacies between behavioral intention and actual behavior in determining consumer preferences and giving a lead to the brand in the marketplace. Perceived behavioral control analysis also helps companies in predicting behavioral intention and probable shifts in the consumer behavior. In addition, consumers are also driven by social cognitive elements such as motivation and performance, and feelings of frustration associated with repeated failures that determine effect and behavioral reactions. In a competitive marketplace, where determining the comparative advantages are complex, the consumer behavior is largely determined by self-efficacy and value expectancy parameters. Self-efficacy may be defined as the conviction emerging from ACCA model (Rajagopal 2011) comprising accessibility to products, comprehension, conviction, and action. Self-efficacy attitude successfully executes the behavior required to produce the desired values. The value expectancy refers to a consumers’ estimation about the degree of satisfaction that will lead to certain outcomes. The self-efficacy is the most important precondition for behavioral change, since it has the potential to induce the community behavior.

Summary

Many qualitative studies are founded on inductive theories, which allow the researcher to generate research propositions from analyzing the initial round of collected data. The questions supporting the research propositions are the distinguishing factors between qualitative and quantitative research. Therefore, qualitative data analysis is often challenged, as it is not a stand-alone methodological approach to the opinion analysis of subjects on various social, anthropological, ethnographic, and cognitive studies. Narrative analysis supported by the imagery or documented evidence would be able to authenticate the results and the possibility of its generalization. Consequently, evidence-based research has become prominent in qualitative research. The research-based practice programs like social laboratories, action research programs, and community health care system provide a systematic, participative approach to the design, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based practice guidelines for the qualitative researchers to evaluate its causes and effects. Evidence-based qualitative research process helps in mapping consumer perceptions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior across time and geo-demographic segments.

Another dimension in evidence-based qualitative research has emerged as action research over time. Confirmatory study design exhibits how the subjects interpret their behavior in a study environment. The action research projects developed and implemented in social and ethnological perspectives are commonly defined as social development projects driven on the human elements. As action research is derived from the qualitative research design, it is implemented using a participatory methodology by involving subjects and role players in a research project. In action research projects, participants are constituted in teams with allocation of tasks within the predetermined research domains.

Participatory research appraisal (PRA) has evolved over time, within the broad context of evidence-based research, as a qualitative approach to plan community research projects. This approach is based on ­voluntary participation of subjects to document their knowledge and opinions in planning social and business development projects and programs. PRA engages the total population, irrespective of a defined sample size to develop concept maps and action research plans. PRA methodology has been widely used to explore business opportunities in the rural or bottom-of-the-pyramid geo-demographic segments. The participatory research has been useful in exploring the ways in which businesses use and create diverse forms of rural and social capital.

Researchers in view of managing information from small samples have further fragmented the qualitative research designs into convenience samples. Evidence-based research is usually conduced within a small, representative sample population. Case research has emerged as an extended dimension of qualitative research in the recent past to put forth evidence derived from narrow samples for wider discussions and interpretations. It is a narrative analysis of a given social or business related problem explained with a protagonist. A business case study is essentially a story about a problem, challenge, or opportunity faced by a manager or stakeholders. A case research can be conducted using qualitative tools and techniques. Case research is popularly used in ethnographic studies as the major research methodology to explore the problems associated with the human elements in society, business and governance.

A focus group shares many common features with less structured interviews. Commonly, a focus group may be understood as a group discussion on a particular topic organized for research purposes. Focus groups are monitored and recorded, and sometimes guided by a researcher called a moderator or facilitator. The focus group and participatory approaches are useful exercises for exploratory marketing research. However, small groups have the risk of having limited discussion, while large groups can be chaotic and hard to streamline for the moderator if the discussion turns to sensitive issues like caste, religion, leaders, or political ideologies. The focus groups serve as the best source to conduct the longitudinal studies.

This chapter argues that in longitudinal qualitative research, often information loops are generated due to repetition in interview questions and related responses at different space and time environments. The information loops during the information acquisition process occur due to unclear presentation of questions to subjects. The loops in qualitative research are formed when research focus is changes over time due to socio-political changes and ideological shifts in a longitudinal research. Feedback loop analysis, referred to simply as loop analysis is a method that applies qualitative models to dynamic systems.

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