Riassunto esame Consumer behaviour, Prof. Lanzini Pietro, libro consigliato Responsible Citizens and Sustainable Consumer Behavior: New Interpretive Frameworks., Lanzini Pietro

RESEARCH METHODS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The objectives of consumer behaviour research are to understand how consumers think (their needs, attitudes, preferences, etc) and behave, for example their buying behaviours and to suggest ways to influence or change consumers' behaviours.

Primary research is divided in quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative possible methods of research are surveys, experiments, physiological measures and panel and scanner data.

SURVEYS: through surveys we collect information from a sample of individuals thanks to their responses to questions. The goal is to study the characteristics of a target population, their attitudes, perceptions, motives, beliefs and opinions.

EXPERIMENTS: experiments can take place in the laboratory or in the field. Their goal is to test cause-and-effect relationships, for example the occurrence of one event will have an influence on another event. With treatment we mean the manipulation of the independent variable. When a

1. When a group of participants is not exposed to the treatment, we talk about a control group.
2. In a field experiment, participants are observed in their natural settings, often without being aware. PROS: avoid response bias, avoid incorrect or dishonest answers. CONS: impossibility to control for confounding factors like in lab experiments.
3. In a lab experiment, participants are conducted in the lab and are aware that they are being observed. PROS: are repeatable and allow a great level of control over the variables, leading to more accurate results. CONS: are not always suitable due to ethical concerns, subject to response bias.

PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES: Physiological measures assess how the human body functions and reacts to certain external stimuli. Common examples are:

• Eye-tracking: studies consumers' eye movements to assess their visual attention.
• Electrodermal activity (EDA): measures the skin's electrical characteristics to study emotional reaction, arousal, and intensity.

facialelectromyography (EMG), recording facial muscle movements that reflect the conscious and subconscious expression of emotions, electroencephalography (EEG), recording the brain's electrical activity.
→ PANEL AND SCANNER DATA: these data are observations of the same individuals over a time period. Panel and scanner data can be used to calculate brand performance measures (for example market share, market penetration, purchase frequency, etc.).
PROS: they are accurate: record purchase behaviour that can be linked with other individual data and store-related data; record information over time which is useful for observing, analysing, and forecasting various behavioural phenomena.
CONS: they are expensive and hard to acquire, complex to analyse, requiring skilful researchers.
▫ Scanner data -> Record purchases that are registered in-store through scanners at the cash register. Consumers are unknown, unless they are members of a loyalty program. Record purchases in specific.

stores only.

Household panel data -> record purchases that are registered by households at home via home scanners or other methods (for example collect receipts, register purchases online). Consumers are known, from a selected number of households. Record purchases across all types of stores.

Qualitative methods of research are focus group, in-depth interviews, observations, ethnography, projective techniques.

FOCUS GROUP: it is a (small) group of participants who discuss on a topic of interest to the researcher who acts as the facilitator of the discussion. Participants can be asked about their perceptions, feelings, beliefs, and ideas about a brand, product, or service. Participants can interact with and be influenced by each other, which provides a more natural environment and results in rich data. The objective is to explore consumer views and ways to increase consumer acceptance. PROS: very rich data. CONS: not cheap, do not provide statistical data and not generalizable.

Participants should be comfortable to talk to each other, with minimal power differences. Consumers with diverse background often should be in separate focus groups. The groups should be large enough to generate discussion, but not too large that some people are left out. The length should be ideally around 60-90 min. The discussion's environment should comfortable so that participants feel safe and free to talk. Participants should be seated in a way that they can see each other and are not distracted. The moderator should be well-trained, make participants feel comfortable, control the dominant participants, make sure that the discussion does not go off-track, and manage the flow of the discussion. The discussion guide should contain questions and the assigned time for each. People should use audio-recorded/video-taped/observed through one-way mirrors. The analysis can be based on memory, note, tape or transcription.

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS: we mean intensive individual interviews

find meanings; 6. Verifying: account for issues of reliability, validity, and generalizability; 7. Reporting: communicate the findings.

1. Observations: they typically take place in a natural, real-world setting (although they can also be done in a lab). The objective is to explore unforeseen phenomena and give reasoning to them.
   • Participant observation: the researcher takes part in everyday activities related to the phenomenon, directly observing the events that take place.
   • Pure observation: The researcher is removed from the actions and behaviors, so that he/she does not influence them.
   Observations involve a variety of data collection methods such as text, field notes, audio and video recordings.
2. Ethnography: ethnography refers to both a method of research and the written product of that research. Ethnographic research requires fieldwork, it takes place in the native environment to see how people behave. Ethnographers spend extended time with the study subjects to assess their

Habits and Attitudes

Researchers studying habits and attitudes often use participant observation and field interviews. They may also incorporate other methods such as archival research or questionnaires.

PROS: This approach avoids artificial settings and self-reporting, providing an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviors, lifestyles, and daily activities.

CONS: However, this method can be expensive, time-consuming, and potentially intrusive.

Netnography

Netnography, pioneered by Robert Kozinets, is a specific approach to conducting ethnography on the internet. It is a qualitative, interpretive research methodology that adapts traditional ethnographic techniques to the study of social media.

By observing naturally occurring discussions and phenomena on the internet and social media, netnography is useful for studying online consumers' culture and consumption patterns. It is faster, simpler, and less expensive than traditional ethnography.

Projective Techniques

Projective techniques involve the use of vague, ambiguous, and unstructured stimuli or situations. By providing these stimuli or situations, researchers aim to uncover subconscious thoughts, feelings, and attitudes.

situation, expressing their thoughts and feelings through these creative mediums. - Projection: participants are shown ambiguous stimuli, such as inkblots or abstract images,and are asked to interpret what they see. Projective techniques are often used in psychology and market research to gain insights intothe subconscious thoughts and emotions of individuals. They can provide valuable informationthat may not be easily accessible through direct questioning. Overall, projective techniques have their advantages and disadvantages. On the positive side,they allow respondents to express themselves in a more indirect and intuitive way, reducingthe influence of social desirability bias. They also encourage creativity and can uncover hiddenmotivations and beliefs. However, projective techniques also have some drawbacks. The data collected can be complexand require skilled researchers to interpret. Additionally, conducting projective techniques maytake more time compared to other research methods. In summary, projective techniques offer a unique way to explore participants' personality,attitude, opinion, and self-concept. By using various types of stimuli and creative tasks, thesemethods can reveal valuable insights that may not be easily obtained through traditionalquestioning.

specific concept or situation.

Choice ordering: participants are asked to "rank" or "order" or "categorize" certain factors associated with a product, brand, or service and to explain their reasonings.

WHEN TO USE EACH METHOD?

Secondary research is a more or less systematic way of collecting and synthesizing previous research. Its objective is to create a foundation for advancing knowledge, facilitate theory development, uncover areas in which more research is needed, it is especially useful for providing an overview of areas in which the research is disparate and interdisciplinary.

There are three types of method research:

• Semi-systematic/narrative literature review.
• Systematic literature review, for example, meta-analysis -> meta-analysis is a specific type of systematic literature review. It is a secondary statistical research tool, that synthesizes evidence coming from a number of primary studies. When you conduct meta-analysis, you take findings

da several studies on the same subject and analyse these using standardized statistical procedures. In meta-analysis, patterns and relationships are detected and conclusions are drawn. The steps of a systematic literature review are:

1. Identify your RQ(s): clear, well-defined RQs of appropriate scope
2. Define search strategy and write a literature review protocol: search terms, databases, inclusion & exclusion criteria (for example publication year, language, article type, journal type, etc.). Possible databases are Google Scholar, SCOPUS, Web of Science, EBSCO.
3. Search for studies: in relevant databases, backward search (ancestry approach) and forward search
4. Select studies for inclusion based on pre-defined criteria: title/abstract screening to remove studies that are clearly not related to your topic
5. Evaluate the risk of bias of included studies, for example publication bias
6. Present results and assess the quality of evidence: detailed methodology should be included, and often

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