To be able to reach greater insights, qualitative researchers have explored and adapted a vast amount of techniques from various disciplines. The aim of such techniques is generally the disclosure of thoughts and feelings without overtly engaging cognitive defences, thus preventing the use of ‘stock’ and stereotypical answers. In this article, we will discuss a technique called laddering which provides a window to understand why specific decisions or associations are made.
Daniele Buccheri 
25 Aug, 2009
Laddering
David Hinkle, a personal construct psychologist, developed laddering as a technique with which to explore the more abstract, and therefore more stable, personal constructs (i.e. personal representations used when making sense of our surroundings). Since then this technique has been widely employed in clinical psychology and a number of other areas including marketing, advertising as well as workshops with police officers and nurses.
Laddering, as used in market research represents another variation of the word association principle. In laddering, respondents may be asked to provide examples or illustrate associations with a particular brand. For example the discussion may be focussed around respondents’ thoughts or associations with coffee shops. A respondent may associate the word ‘comfortable’ with Starbucks and the moderator may then ask ‘in what way is it comfortable’, can you give me an example. The response to this probe can then be used to expand the associations with a brand by introducing further probes, such as; ‘ what do you associate with that’, ‘why is that important to you’ or ‘what does that provide you with’. 
The value in laddering lies in the ability to use the technique in many different research settings. Laddering could be used to determine what associations’ respondents have with a communications/marketing campaign and what impact this has on the related brand. For example, a respondent may associate the word ‘powerful’ with a BMW TV advertisement. The moderator can build on this association using laddering to understand what brought about this association and the impact it has on the BMW brand. For example ‘what is powerful’ and ‘how does that make you feel about BMW cars’. Understanding consumers associations with marketing campaigns allows development of more effective and motivating communication.
The reason that laddering lends itself so readily to research, therapy and personal growth is a consequence of its step-wise, yet free flowing, approach. It is important that laddering questions are ‘open’ rather than closed questions to allow the associations to be come from the respondent and not the moderator. Laddering facilitates the explorations of attributes of a product or activity and then the consequences of such attributes. Thus, laddering provides a method to understand the underlying reasons responsible for choosing a particular product, service or action and it can be particularly useful in differentiating brands or understanding motivational drivers.
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