Mr. Drakeford commented in his paper upon a number of possible problems related to qualitative methods , bearing in mind the recent growth of sophisticated analysis techniques relying upon preliminary work of a qualitative nature. Mr. Drakeford mentions in his synopsis of his paper that the constructs obtained from the use of the Kelly Repetory Grid type of interview describe physical rather than psychological differences between products and brands. Mr. Drakeford added that he would like to see some comparison of a number of qualitative techniques in terms of the questionnaire for quantification purposes produced subsequent to each of these techniques, as he was worried that the growth in analysis sophistication might be founded on unstable or incomplete foundations.
I am happy to say that today we have entered the age of reason, enlightenment and science, where research and television programmes are concerned. Much of the credit must go to Dr. Haldane and the ITA, for instigating research into 'the state of public opinion concerning programmes', and also to the Television Contractors themselves who have co-operated, and to the "new wave" of Research Managers, who between them have broken the old taboo which said that "Market Researchers must not poke their noses into the programming side of television". I welcome the new era, and the research, but I do have some reservations. In the introduction to his paper, Dr. Haldane states that his concern is with the point of view of the user rather than the practitioner, and therefore, because this emphasis is more concerned with application rather than techniques. My remarks will be largely confined to applications.
One of the principal difficulties in the field of attitude-research seems to be, that the concept attitude means so many different things to so many people. I believe we are now adequately armed to take a closer look at attitudes. But first of all I think we have to define the concept of opinion, which I shall call a reaction to a statement which connects an expressed like, dislike or neutral position with a perceived object or part of an object. Perhaps you will be worried about the implication that people who do not react have no opinions, but this only expresses the operationalistic conviction that no reality exists in a scientific way before you can link it with an instrument of measurement and objectively at that.
At this stage it is important to realise that in international trade attitude and motivation research should not be confined to the country or countries which are the export targets but should include similar research within the exporting country preferably extended to the exporting company. Attitude research within the exporting company, even in its most simple form, will pin-point areas of incompatibility which would doom to failure a particular export venture unless recognised and acted upon by management. Incredible as it may seem, virtually no company ever undertakes such a precautionary internal study to assist management in its decision making process.
In many ways the qualitative research techniques have remained static over the years and have come to be taken very much for granted. It is perhaps instructive therefore, in the context of greater sophistication in quantifying attitudes, to re-appraise these basic qualitative techniques. This paper suggests that perhaps we are not always critical enough of the ways in which, and occasions on which, we use the various pilot techniques open to us.