Abstract:

To be able to pinpoint the relationship between qualitative research and neuroscience in accessing and exploring the unconscious thoughts and emotions of consumers, there are a number of fundamental misconceptions that need to be cleared up. Taking a look at how qual and quant have coexisted and contributed to each other until today, can help to determine neuroscience’s relative role in the research universe – but also prompts a couple of key questions: will neuroscience spell the end for qual – or is it actually a much bigger threat for quant? To what extent can neuroscience really be counted as a qual tool? And what’s the role of “context” in all this?