Arijit Ray continues the series exploring how different qualitative research techniques work and where they fit in. Last month we examined the use of diaries within research, this month we explore how mapping exercises can be effectively utilised.
Arijit Ray 
21 Jul, 2009
Qualitative corner: Mapping Exercises
The Role of Research Techniques
Qualitative research embraces an enormous variety of different styles and approaches. What unites the ‘qualitative method’ is its flexible, responsive and reactive approach. In qualitative interviewing, lines of questioning and probing are adapted in response to what has gone before. This ‘methodological individualism’ encourages the participants in qualitative research to engage more with the process. This also allows the interviewer to find their way beyond the ‘stock’ answers and post rationalizations that HCPs can so easily provide.
In market research we are often seeking to understand why one drug outperforms
another even though they are functionally similar or why brands elicit different
responses in customers. Uncovering what brands communicate, the attachments
(both rational and emotional) people have formed with brands and how these
attachments arose can be challenging. Simple questioning, albeit useful in
answering such questions, tends to provide ‘expected’ responses which add little
insight.
Getting beyond surface rationalisation is partly about styles of interviewing. However, it is also about using research approaches and techniques to help move beyond the surface. Mapping exercises are one such enabling technique which can help move beyond the surface and explore deeper into the minds of the customer.
Mapping exercises can be used to identify consumer’s view of the market place
and associations they may have with certain brands. This knowledge can then
be used to discover areas that are currently unaddressed or under-served. This
can be particularly useful when considering a saturated market place or when
trying to position a product within a particular niche within the market.
The exercises themselves can vary in their approach which is one of their key benefits and thus they can be utilised in numerous research settings with groups or with individuals. The main objective is for customers to create some kind of physical representation or ‘map’ of a given market place, whether that map be of products, prescribing patterns, treatment pathways or patient pathways.
This can either involve the creation of perceptual maps and identifying the
relative significance of elements within them.
Or more typically these exercises are undertaken with representations of the products themselves, for example brand names or logos which can then be grouped in relation to one another, thus highlighting any perceived similarities or differences.
In some instances this approach can be undertaken by giving respondents specific indications of the appropriate criteria, however, it is often interesting to allow respondents to identify their own mapping techniques.
As well as being a useful technique to understand consumers’ needs and associations with brands, in a healthcare setting this can also be used amongst patient groups in an effort to understand patient views and experiences within different therapeutic areas. This can help to uncover needs or gaps which are currently hidden and potentially provide companies with an edge if such needs can be fulfilled. They can also help understand the impact of future market entrants or potential changes to guidelines or management plans – how will the map change or shift, what might be displaced or alternative pathways created and what impact might this have practically and emotionally.
Mapping exercises are a useful technique at any stage of the brand development process; by highlighting core strengths and differences between brands, it can aid in the consolidation and strengthening of a brand identity.
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