Abstract:

This paper attempts to illustrate, through example, the qualitative market research experience in Japan within the context of international research coordination/management. There are typically three frameworks for organizing international qualitative research: • Centralized coordination by a research agency with local agencies responsible for fieldwork and analysis of findings. • Centralized coordination by a research agency with local agencies responsible only for fieldwork (central coordinating researcher observes all groups and carries out analysis and reporting). • No coordinating agency. The client commissions the local research agencies directly. Local researcher is responsible for fieldwork and analysis of findings. Within each basic framework there are a number of possible players, for example, foreign clients, local clients, foreign creative people, local creative people, the moderator, a local research coordinator, etc.