Quantitative research methods

1
Quantitative research methods

• Module 1 Course
• Session 7
• Kim Schrøder

2
Agenda

• Target group segmentation
• Questionnaire design for survey research

3
Audience survey research

• "Surveys gather information from people by asking
  them questions about themselves. Surveying
  implies space viewing a whole, such as a social
  landscape, from a particular vantage point"
  (Schrøder et al. 2003225) (Murray)
• Ex. Australian Everyday Cultures Study
• Surveys use questionnaires we concentrate on
  questionnaire construction, not the use of
  surveys or the statistical analysis of the data.
• BUT FIRST

4
The logic of target group segmentation

• The need to identify target groups (Ascheberg
  article)
• The need to design relevant, meaningful
  communication
• The need to identify groups that have shared
  universes of meaning and relevance
  (interpretative repertoires)
• Traditional segmentation demographically defined
  groups social class (income, education), gender,
  age, urbanicity, ethnicity, etc.
• This approach has increasing validity problems,
  due to

5

• The late modern condition
• Less stability, more 'mobility' in the social and
  cultural landscape
• Interests and priorities are fluid, decreasing
  loyalty and stability (e.g. political
  inclination, product preferences, shopping
  patterns)
• More freedom of choice cultural tastes,
  lifestyles, social values. Therefore
• The demographic fallacy you miss the target!
• The value segmentation alternative
• SIGMA, SINUS, MINERVA, RISC, etc.

6
Value segmentation modelProcedure

• Start with values, tastes, lifestyles ask people
  through a survey
• Identify patterns here lifestyle segmentation!
• Correllate with demographic variables there are
  correspondences with economic and cultural
  capital (Bourdieu 1979/1984, Dahl 1996)
• P. Bourdieu, Distinction. A social critique of
  the judgement of taste, 1979/1984, London RKP.
• Henrik Dahl, "Sociologi og målgrupper. Nogle
  erfaringer med at operationalisere Bourdieu",
  MedieKultur 24, 1996.

7
How to do lifestyle segmentation

• Empirical generation of set of values/tastes
  (through qualitative interviews)
• Mapping value- and taste relations in the
  sociocultural landscape Minerva Value Chart
  (through surveys, correspondence analysis)
• Correllate value chart with social theory what
  does the value pattern mean? The search for
  generative causes Innovation/Tradition,
  Idealism/Pragmaticism.
• Other segmentation models SIGMA/SINU, KOMPAS
  (left/right mirror!).
• Relate RISC/Minerva value chart to people
  individuals and groups 4 colours / 4 corners of
  the world

8
Minerva value chart
9
(No Transcript)
10
Gallup Kompas
11
The 4 Minerva (colour) segments

• BLUE (north-west) Pragmatic-innovative,
  self-confident, consumption-oriented, rich in
  economic and cultural capital (esp. the former).
  Central values technology, challenge, work over
  leisure. Business manager.
• GREEN (north-east) Idealistic-innovative,
  goal-oriented, 'good taste', ecological
  attitudes, rich in cultural capital not quite
  matched by economic capital. Central values
  personal expression, the environment before
  industry, heterarchy. Highschool teacher.

12

• PINK (south-east) Idealistic-traditional,
  family- and health-oriented, more cultural than
  economic capital, but not too much of either.
  Central values fitness and health, exploring
  mental frontiers, fear of technology. Office
  worker, health care worker.
• PURPLE (south-west) Pragmatic-traditional,
  stability-oriented, low in both economic and
  cultural capital, tending towards the
  underprivileged Central values conformity,
  selfishness, economic security. Unskilled
  labourer.

13
(No Transcript)
14
How to do lifestyle segmentation (2)

• 6. Once you have identified the segments Locate
  specific consumption/political/cultural practices
  in the chart
• Newspaper/magazine readers, TV-channel and
  program viewers, etc.
• Holiday makers by holiday type
• Car owners by brand preference
• Political party voters
• Overweight, fast-food individuals
• Alcohol, smoking individuals
• Etc.
• 7. Plan the media exposure of your target group

15
Benefits of the segmentation model

• Improving campaign aim the model is 'rifle
  ammunition'!
• Knowledge of the value/meaning universe of the
  target group
• Appeal to the values that are relevant to the
  intended recipients
• Choose the media that fit your product's consumer
  profile
• A new theoretical relationship between
  individuals, groups and the wider social
  structure (e.g. Bourdieu habitus practices,
  capital, etc.)

16
Segmentation exercise

• Test yourself on the Gallup KOMPAS website
  www.tns-gallup.dk/test/kompas.asp
• One Dane in each group
• Each group chooses one member as guinea pig
  he/she fills out the questionnaire
• Bring the KOMPAS profile back to the class.

17
Critical comments to test

• Reductionism Minerva has only 4 segments. Kompas
  has 8, Sigma 10. This doesn't do justice to the
  complexity of lifestyles.
• Inaccuracy a certain margin of error, esp. with
  the shorthand versions (MiniRISC Kompas
  self-test battery)

18
(No Transcript)
19
Questionnaire construction(Researching Audiences
ch. 13)

• The questionnaire is a lens it determines what
  you can see choose the right one!
• A survey delivers a snapshot of the target group
• The photography metaphor useful because it
  alerts us to the constructedness in many
  dimensions of surveys
• "Apparently documentary in its realism, but
  equally constructive of its object" (245)

20
The survey as process The photo metaphor

• Choosing the lens
• Setting the F-stop (aperture) how much light to
  let in (closed- vs. open-ended)
• Focus behavioral, knowledge, attitudes,
  emotions.
• Camera angles (question types) dichotomous,
  ranking, rating, trade-offs.
• Dark room, developing the film interpretation
• Coding for the database. Numbers, percentages,
  means/medians, cross-tabulation, regression,
  cluster, factor.
• The photo gallery writing it up and
  communicating findings

21
Designing a questionnaire

• Many aspects of questionnaire construction are
  shared with qualitative fieldwork design (because
  verbal)
• Rapport, trust
• Ethics of interaction (anonymity, intrusion)
• Epistemology (playing the interview game, the
  halo effect, managing non-attitudes, saying
  versus doing, lying, etc.)

22
Exercise for Session 7Designing a questionnaire

• Scenario A qualitative study of the Danes' use
  of news media as a democratic resource found
  that
• "any evaluation of the Danish news market must
  now also take into account the growing readiness
  of large sections of the Danish population to
  supplement a staple diet of Danish media with
  English and American ones, especially
  international TV channels like CNN and BBC World,
  and Internet based news sources. Consequently,
  assessment of the democratic enlightenment of the
  Danish population must include the extent to
  which Danes draw on news sources in English"
  (K.C. Schrøder L. Phillips

23
Designing a questionnaire (cont.)

• Topic of investigation The use of international
  media in English among the Danish population.
• Task With a maximum of app. 10 questions, design
  a questionnaire that explores the topic of
  investigation. Bring the draft questionnaire to
  the next class on a USB, or email it to your own
  email account so that you may access it from
  campus.
• Now group members compare notes, produce a
  common product.
• Discussion of draft questionnaire by KSc.