In the ethnographic tradition, it is more appropriate to talk about a research draft
than a research design. The researcher must to go with the flow of the research
process. During the exploration of the brand community unexpected observations
or information that was not thought to be relevant before colleting data may guide
the researcher’s attention in new directions. This unstructured collection of data is
often characterized by a combination of formal and informal methods. An
example could be an interview in a private home, the interview being the formal
method. During the course of the interview it becomes clear that the respondent
becomes uncomfortable when the interview touches upon certain subjects.
Observations of blushing cheeks and a shifty glance might also count as data if
they serve the aim of the research (even though these observations are informal
and not planned ahead).
Even though the ethnographic research tradition hails qualitative data it does not
reject the use of quantitative data. Qualitative data may be triangulated with quanti-
tative measures if it furthers the deeper understanding of the object of research.
Ethnography allows for creative interpretations. The deep analysis of the sample
of data should manifest itself in rich, insightful (‘thick’) description uncovering as
many details as possible in order to provide understanding of as many layers of
meaning as possible.
194 Seven brand approaches
Box 9.4 Quantitative triangulation of qualitative data
Algesheimer et al. (2005) conducted ethnographic research in ‘The social
influence of brand community: evidence from European car clubs’,
attempting to ‘develop and estimate a conceptual model of how different
aspects of customers’ relationships with the brand community influence
their intentions and behaviors’ (p. 19). Algesheimer et al. identify five
central hypotheses in the body of academic literature. During the devel-
opment of a quantitative research design for studying these hypotheses, the
authors conducted exploratory qualitative research through in-depth inter-
views with car club presidents and focus groups with car club members,
experts and graduate marketing students to evaluate and secure the best
possible research design. The survey was developed, 282 car clubs were
contacted and a potential of 2,440 members were reached with the survey.
The survey was made available on line and all participants were contacted
via e-mail with additional questions. Through a mathematically based
analysis the five hypotheses were assigned different weights, which made
the managerial implications very precise. Including quantitative methods
and broadening the range of data to include a large number of members
from many different car clubs ensured that it was possible to derive
generally applicable conclusions based on the results of the inquiry.
SourceAlgesheimer et al. (2005)