This paper outlines the challenges of conducting qualitative research in the aftermath of a national tragedy. As the circumstances in which the research was conducted was traumatic for all involved, intense emotion work was required, especially in the recruitment of participants and moderation of discussions. The paper demonstrates that conducting research on subjects that are socially and culturally sensitive in nature can be emotionally demanding for a researcher, and may have a powerful personal impact on them as individuals. We bring to light how emotional skills become central in such studies and are as important as the intellectual and cognitive skills utilised - if not more. Qualitative researchers need to be resilient in not only managing the emotions of participants in a study, but also at managing the emotions of other stakeholders along with their own emotions.
This paper focuses on the manifestation of masculinity in the domestic space in India, one that demonstrates signs of reduction of gender differences and of emergence of alternative domestic masculinity that actively engages itself with everyday domestic chores. The purpose of this paper is to dissect the emerging notion of domestic masculinity and identify what is driving Indian men to tie the apron at home and its impact on how men buy and consume household products and brands. The paper makes a strong argument to marketers to acknowledge the growing trend of equal sharing of domestic chores between millennial couples and target household brands to them and not treat the husbands as bumbling idiots who are best ignored and kept away from the domestic space.
This paper explores the mindset of an emerging consuming class: the domestic dudes. These are married millennial men who, unlike their fathers, are adept at domestic matters ranging from grocery shopping to cooking and home aesthetics alongside playing the traditional role of the manly breadwinner. What is really driving these men to tie the apron after work when they could have got away being the stereotypical couch potatoes? Is it about succumbing to pressures of gender equality? Not really. Actually there are other reasons, which are highly emotional and rewarding, that are driving men to be domesticated which this paper will pinpoint and nudge marketers of household products to look at men from a new lens.
Thew purpose of this paper is to dissect this intricate phenomenon and argue that grey emotions (twisted, ambiguous and double edged sentiments which people secretly and maliciously enjoy and and which are different from negative emotions) often act as triggers to consumption or contribute in making post purchase experiences more enjoyable. Additionally the paper also discusses that qualitative research has the resources to unlock these complex grey emotions with the help of appropriate tools and suggests that marketers should consider tapping into them to give their brands a touch of gritty authenticity.
Researchers are forever looking for newer ways of engaging and understanding consumers. In this paper, I will be discussing how Dramaturgy, a concept borrowed from the study of theatre and introduced to sociology, can be applied in consumer research to gain deeper insights into their life-worlds. Dramaturgy has the potential to be the overarching research philosophy that influences how we collect, analyse and interpret data. Dramaturgy, or the theatric metaphor, has a special connect with people in the Indian subcontinent who have been nurtured on a diet of Bollywood. These films, whose origin lies in India's traditional drama forms (e.g. Yatra) are widely known for their high voltage dramatic contents and emotional impact. People in India are passionate about Bollywood and view it as a consolidation of their everyday lives. This paper celebrates the Indian passion for drama and explores how it can be harnessed and leveraged in consumer research through a case study on women and their multiple identity roles.
The study demonstrates that the concept of Dramaturgy can be successfully applied in consumer research to explore complex phenomenon such as multiple identities and relate these with needs, aspirations and behaviour. It is an effective substitution of ethnography and apt for a range of studies that include explaining the concept of Dramaturgy with the help of Bollywood, people across cultures will be able to relate to the concept as it is based on the fundamental human instinct of impression management and identity projection.
This presentation will focus on a case study involving the use of a community platform on Facebook with youth, undertaken by Coca- Cola with tNS. Coca- Cola needed the youth to become partners in the decision-making process. But youth do not behave naturally in traditional research environments - it is necessary to meet them in their natural habitat, when we need the youth to be Creative, connected, engaged, available 24 / 7. youth are known to become bored easily, have short attention spans, and easily dismiss the un-cool (research!). So we decided to meet them in their playing field - Facebook. By developing an ongoing relationship with the consumer, we were able to achieve low attrition rates. Brand teams can access the community in real time - and are using it for multiple tactical and strategic research.
This presentation demonstrates how a cultural model was constructed and applied to gain a textured understanding of the new age Indian rural consumers whose lives are significantly different from traditional rural consumers. At the core of this model is Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), a popular social research method that was successfully adapted to understand the affluent rural consumers. This was flanked by ethnography, material anthropology and trend spotting each complementing the other to generate actionable insights for the client.