Research Methodology_Understanding Customers Tradeoffs during Home Buying
1. Research Philosophy
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have their place in research but it is important to assess which form is most preferred for certain subjects of inquiry. This is an important discussion thread because the most dominant form of investigation defines the outcome in research. Ultimately, the most important goal of research (be it qualitative or quantitative or a mix of both) is to closer to the truth. Truth is elusive and no matter how scientific you may get the fact remains that the most that you can do is to get closer to it. Difficulties are further compounded because most social phenomenon has no commonly accepted definition of “truthfulness”. The findings of great scientists even in physical sciences (which lends itself the most to scientific rigor) have been successfully refuted later on by other scientists collecting contrarian data. Hence, it becomes important to carefully select a research approach which gets you closer to the “truth”. It is here where qualitative research is most useful, as mentioned in the subsequent paragraphs. Qualitative research and the various tools that it has spawned enable the researcher to understand the research problem in rich myriad ways that are not possible in a quantitative method of inquiry. However, Qualitative research findings are subjective and an accurate understanding of the problem depends heavily upon the interpretation expertise of the researcher. Quantitative research on the other hand, has a “scientific” flavor to it that it more reassuring, even it is flawed. Quantitative research tools seek to validate the researcher's preconceived notions about a particular research question through the application of statistical and mathematical tools. Hence, its findings are compelling as they can be expressed in the universal language of mathematics that finds acceptability and favor with many scientists. However, this is not to state that quantitative research is more rigorous or “scientific” as compared to qualitative research. Often, the scientific language employed by quantitative research is pseudo intellectual and serves no other purpose than to obfuscate the quest for truth in research. Hence, a judicious mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods is always recommended when examining a problem. The proportion or the choice of tools may vary but there should always been a healthy measure of qualitative research methods followed up or preceded by the more precise language of quantitative methods.
2. Qualitative and Quantitative Research | A Case for an Hybrid approach
Qualitative research is a method of investigation which seeks to reveal a rich and in-depth understanding of human behavior and the motives underlying such behavioral outcomes. The qualitative method addresses the why and how of how decisions are made and is not limited to what, where, when. Hence, smaller and precisely defined samples are needed more often than not as against large random samples.
Quantitative research on the other hand, is the rule-based, systematic and scientific investigation of measurable properties of phenomena and the relationships between them. The aim of quantitative research is to create mathematical models, theories or hypotheses pertaining to the phenomenon under investigation. Measurement of variables is core to quantitative research because without it would be nearly impossible to establish the fundamental connections between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. The tools that Quantitative Research has spawned all directly or indirectly seek to accept or reject a measurable and precisely defined “null” hypothesis. Restated the objective of quantitative research is to gather enough evidence in order to reject the null hypothesis, whatever that may be.
Qualitative and Quantitative research have been typically divided based on their intent. While the intent of Qualitative methods is centered on exploring phenomenon to generate hypothesis or to validate quantitative results, the intent of quantitative methods is centered on hypotheses testing, as mentioned earlier. Establishing content validity i.e do measures actually measure what they purport to measure? - is perceived as one of the key strengths of qualitative research. On the other hand, quantitative methods are perceived as contributing more representative, reliable and precise measures through focused hypotheses, measurement tools and applied mathematics. Qualitative data is generally difficult to graph or express in mathematical terms.
Hence, there is a valid case for developing a methodology that has best of both the worlds and can bridge the gap existing between these two disparate methods. However, it must be noted here that quantitative research is most often used in business settings because its findings are measurable and can be explained in precise terms that easily fit into business realities of all managers. Also, measurable findings can be defended easily and leave less room for interpretation than qualitative findings. Therefore, our current methodology has measurable findings along with qualitative inputs.
3. The Research Problem
The client is in the process of selecting the right product mix in a parcel of land (which lies in a significant cultural - religious territory approximately 20 kms South of the Central Business District). It has come with several product concepts that it feels are right for that parcel of land. However, before finalizing & committing resources, it needs to validate these product concepts directly from potential customers which form part of its desired customer profile. It also wants to find out the key reasons that customers have for selecting one product over the other.
4. Research Objectives
Following are the key objectives of the research:-
i) Determining the level of customer acceptance to product concepts presented.
ii) Determine the key selecting criteria for product concepts presented.
5. Research Output
i) Product Concept Ranks
ii) Criteria most preferred for selecting the Concepts
iii) Open ended - stated reasons for selecting the criteria.
6. Research Design
The research design is a mixed - methods design with a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods. However, the focus is very clearly on eliciting qualitative opinions from respondents by using a quantitative styled method. It is not a pure quantitative method wherein data can lend itself to tabulation and hypothesis testing. What is sought to be achieved is to present a choice situation in an easy to understand manner and then ask respondents to articulate the reasons behind their choice. This is done so because of a fundamental issue that plagues quantitative methods in socio-behavioral research, the inability of respondents to clearly articulate their opinion. Put simply, researchers should “help” consumers to elicit their true opinions rather than just “asking” them to state their opinions. Unless, we have a way to understand their internal state of mind we are not really going anywhere. Put differently researchers are very comfortable helping respondents understand product and service offerings than they are at encouraging consumers express buried, latent, and emerging thoughts and feelings. Nonetheless, these protected, nested thoughts and feelings is the real information that adds value to the research activity. Without accessing them, research findings are crippled and unable to paint a compelling picture. Respondents are typically very comfortable representing the external world and its objects clearly and are usually not aware about the inside world of their thoughts and feelings, and hence are unable to express their true views. The need to present findings to users in a manner that is helpful and involving is extremely important. When data is presented in a manner consonant with how the "data" is actually experienced by consumers, is when researchers make any headway in deriving insight.
Hence, for our particular research study we have presented choices or product bundles to respondents and followed up with a laddering interview (an excerpt which is included in the section “Interview Flow”)
7. Methodology
The methodology to be followed, as mentioned, is a hybrid approach, which involves creating card-sets that contain one complete product concept. These product concepts have been created in discussion with the product development team of the client and represent products that they believe would be most suited to that parcel of land. However, their key challenge is to understand how customers perceive these products in terms of their preference.
The methodology involves the following broad steps that have been articulated as under:-
Step 1. Product Concepts created have been converted into a card-set
Step 2. Present Cards sequentially to the customer
Step 3. Ask him to Rank these cards according to his preference
Step 4. Cards not ranked are eliminated and considered to be the ones that don't lie in the customers consideration set.
Step 5. Ask him the key differentiating reason in the card most preferred and the card next most preferred
Step 6. Probe & ask him why that is so? The intent here is to ladder his responses to arrive at intangible values from tangible criteria in a means - end chain
Step 7. Continue this process until all the cards in his preference set are extinguished
Step 8. Reasons for his selection are then grouped, classified and reduced to a coherent set.
8. Interview Flow
Following is the precise interview flow that is going to be followed:-
Hi I am [Interviewer Name] from [Client Name]. We are based out of [Mention Location] and have been developing residential projects for the past 10 years. We have developed projects in posh locations in the city; you must have seen our projects: [Mention the name of the project]. Both these projects are landmarks and have been designed carefully considering customer requirements in mind. Feedback from potential buyers has always been part of the process we follow before launching any project. We are finalizing a location for launching a new project 20 kms (which is at the maximum of a 30 minute drive) away from the Central Business District and we want some feedback from you. Can I take 10 minutes of your time?
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