Abstract
Orientation: The evolution of technology has given rise to numerous computer-aided programs for analysing textual data, shaping the advancement of qualitative research. Research purpose: This study aimed to demonstrate how some of the critique associated with text analysis programs, as well as the dilemmas experienced in conducting research in the social sciences (achieving either precision or depth in the results, but seldom both), may be overcome. Motivation for the study: The South African luxury consumer market is described as complex and heterogeneous. Through the application of the text analysis software DICTION, this study demonstrated how this software can be applied to analyse in-depth interviews, and gain not only unique behavioural insights into a complex consumer group, but also produce quantitative output that allows for the development of distinct customer market segments. Research design, method and approach: A qualitative approach was adopted to collect the data, while the analysis using the text analysis program DICTION produced both qualitative insights and quantitative scores. The latter were used to perform a cluster analysis and develop unique customer segments. Practical/managerial implications: This study reveals how managers may swiftly obtain insights into lengthy transcripts of interview data, obtain quick answers about consumers’ behaviour and develop consumer market segments using the output obtained from the text analysis software DICTION. Contribution/value-add: The results demonstrate how both precision (statistical analysis) and richness (context from the transcripts) may be achieved in a research study, and provide a unique method to research, understand and segment a complex consumer market.
Highlights
In his landmark work on the dilemmatics of research, McGrath (1981) argues that research involves dealing not so much with a set of problems to be solved as with a set of dilemmas to be resolved
The analysis of the interview transcripts in DICTION revealed that most of the participants used language relating to Optimism when discussing luxury brands, suggesting an overall positive feeling associated with luxury brands in this market
This study aimed to demonstrate how some of the critique associated with text analysis programs (Schmidt 2010), as well as the challenges associated with the dilemmas in conducting research in the social sciences (McGrath 1981), may be overcome
Summary
In his landmark work on the dilemmatics of research, McGrath (1981) argues that research involves dealing not so much with a set of problems to be solved as with a set of dilemmas to be resolved. In order to be able to generalise, social scientists, and marketing scholars in particular, resort to survey research. If precision and control are the prime research objectives, some kind of experiment is required; but, this method lacks any kind of richness or context, and foregoes generalisability. Methodologies such as focus groups, case studies and in-depth interviews provide richness and context, but do so at the cost of losing generalisability, control and precision. As McGrath might put it, ‘the researcher is always sitting on a threehorned dilemma’
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