When the need for market research is clear, which research methodology is likely to achieve the project's aims? Traditionally, qualitative and quantitative approaches have been regarded as mutually exclusive. However, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches to tackle the business need of the brand can add significant value.
Rina Valeny 
Vicky McLellan 
Karen Petticrew 
17 Mar, 2009
Qualitative and Quantitative Research?
Traditionally, qualitative and quantitative approaches have been regarded as mutually exclusive. Each approach to generating data has characteristics that lend themselves to fulfilling the remit of specific types of projects. However, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches to tackle the business need of the brand can add significant value. Effective integration and collaboration offers the possibility that one approach may help to better inform the use of the other and thus generate outputs that are richer and more insightful.
This month we contrast the key features of quantitative and qualitative research and outline how the two are mutually complementary.
What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative
research is primarily focused on answering ‘how much and how many’ questions.
It allows the identification of numerical differences between groups that can
be tracked over time. Typically it describes patterns and shapes in terms of
sizes and quantities. Tracking over time can be used to help forecast future
attitudes, opinions and behaviour. In essence quantitative research gathers
breadth of opinion, while qualitative research focuses on depth of opinion.
Quantitative research is defined by some key elements:
- The overall quantitative stance is fundamentally deductive, it typically works by testing hypotheses, measuring features and factors that have already been established as of interest or importance.
- Data collection is structured and formalised encompassing both paper-based and on-line methods. Questions are worded in exactly the same way and asked in exactly the same order in each interview. There is no scope, as in qualitative research, for the flexibility that allows researchers to adapt questions and probes
- The research process typically involves large samples of individuals that allows reliable extrapolation of measurements to parent populations
- Analysis is statistical and the data produced resented in tables, graphs and so on. Outputs are nomothetic– sparse descriptions of a relatively large number of cases
- In comparison to qualitative studies, quantitative studies are more easily replicated and direct comparisons can then be made across the results
What is Qualitative Research?
Qualitative
research is principally concerned with unearthing the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.
It typically tries to look beyond a respondent’s rationalisations or surface
responses in order to explore and understand their complex, taken for granted
world. It focuses on elucidating the underlying motivations, perspectives and
experiences that shape and influence a respondent’s beliefs and behaviours.
Moreover, a qualitative approach can be used to reveal the context and processes
that a respondent operates in or is exposed to during their everyday lives.
Qualitative research is defined by some key elements:
- The quantitative stance is fundamentally inductive, it builds theories and hypotheses from the ground up, it explores the world and then builds accounts and explanations of it.
- Data is collected in a flexible manner via in-depth interviews, focus groups or observation. Unlike quantitative research, the interview approach can be modified during the research. Research interviews do not replicate one another, questions are often, can be posed in any order and can be expressed using the respondent’s own language.
- Typically qualitative work is about depth rather than breadth. The subjective and detailed nature of qualitative research requires more intensive exploration of smaller samples. The qualitative approach is not standardised.
- Qualitative analysis involves reviewing and interpreting interview notes, transcripts and ideas. This then generates outputs that contribute to in-depth understanding and insight.
- Unlike quantitative research, the lack of standardisation together with the use of small sample sizes means that qualitative outputs are not statistically significant or replicable to the wider population.
Using Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Practice
Qualitative and quantitative research are not mutually exclusive, they are mutually complementary. Previously in Third Tuesday we have identified some of the key pre and post launch research needs in the healthcare brand life cycle.
Key pre-launch phases are:
- Insight and understanding
- Positioning
- Targeting and segmentation
- Messaging and strategy
- Brand iconography and imagery
Key post launch phases are:
- Post launch assessment
- Tracking and monitoring
- Brand health
- Line extensions and formulations
- Exit strategy
So how and what can quantitative and qualitative be expected to deliver at each of the key stages that arise during each of the pre and post launch phases? Diagram 1 outlines key ways in which qualitative and quantitative research offerings can help during the pre-launch phase, whilst diagram 2 illustrates those for the post launch phase.
Diagram 1: Pre-launch research Needs: How Quantitative and Qualitative Research can help
| Qualitative | Quantitative | |
| Identifying and understanding the drivers of current beliefs and behaviours and the potential to move or change these | Mapping the current shape of the market, how brands perform within it and the attributes most likely to drive brand choice | |
| INSIGHT and UNDERSTANDING | ||
| Developing positioning by identifying how the brand can either best fit the market place or transform it | Measuring how effectively different positioning options resonate with or challenge potential customers | |
| POSITIONING | ||
| Identifying and profiling potential target customer groups, understanding their needs and drivers | Validating segments, their profiles and needs, establishing segment sizes | |
| TARGETING and SEGMENTATION | ||
| Developing the brand story as an expression of positioning, drawing together its core messages and claims | Testing the brand story against target segments, measuring fit to positioning | |
| MESSAGING and STRATEGY | ||
| Developing the visualisation and expression of the brand, encapsulating its emotional tone and values | Testing the visualisation and expression of the brand amongst target segments | |
| BRAND ICONOGRAPHY, PERSONALITY and IMAGERY |
Diagram 2: Post-launch Outputs of Quantitative and Qualitative Research
| Qualitative | Quantitative | |
| Understanding the market’s initial reaction to the brand, and what more has to be done to get it where it needs to be in the minds of customers | Benchmarking core parameters (awareness, usage, brand equity) and using these to prioritise and shape both tactical and strategic communications | |
| POST LAUNCH ASSESSMENT | ||
| Assessing softer measures (e.g. the impact of PR, patient perceptions, salesforce-customer interaction) to ensure brand strategy is fully attuned to the market’s needs | Assessing core parameters, sales force and other communication, the impact of new competitors and other developments), again to ensure strategy is attuned to the market’s needs | |
| TRACKING and MONITORING | ||
| Ensuring the brand is evaluated “in-depth” on a regular basis, to ensure any problems can be diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible | Establishing the prevalence of issues from the qualitative health check, and in particular how they may vary by customer segments and target groups | |
| BRAND HEALTH | ||
| Identifying the optimal platform for launching line extensions and new formulations, whilst assessing the impact of such launches on the core brand strategy | Measuring and modelling the impact of line extensions on prescribing, and in particular identifying and avoiding potential cannibalisation of the brand | |
| LINE EXTENSIONS and FORMULATIONS | ||
| Exploring and evaluating reactions to, and potential implementation of, marketing options to maximise brand loyalty in the face of imminent generic competition | Measuring and modelling how these options will impact on prescribing, giving further guidance on which options will best maximise brand loyalty | |
| EXIT STRATEGY |
Qualitative and Quantitative – Complementarity and convergence
Using both qualitative and quantitative research to answer key research questions we take the strengths of each to maximise brand success.
The qualitative research will:
- Allow a fuller, deeper exploration of the research issues
- Enable the development of ideas and hypothesises
- Help tell the story behind the numbers
Whereas, the quantitative research will:
- Measure attitudes and behaviours that have been identified from the qualitative research as being relevant and important
- Test/confirm any hypothesises arising from the qualitative research
- Be supported by robust sample sizes
In future features we will look beyond these complementary roles, exploring how these can be more closely integrated and how blurring the boundaries between the two can add new value to research outputs.
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