Editorial

Citation

Tiu Wright, L. (2002), "Editorial", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 5 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr.2002.21605caa.001

Editorial

New cover

I hope that the new cover of the Qualitative Market Research Journal in the two previous issues has come as a "pleasant surprise" to many of the readers, subscribers and those on the editorial board. I have fond memories of its former look. Though I say farewell to it I am also happy to mention that feedback about the new cover has been favourable.

Editorial Advisory Board: name change and new members

In this issue I should like to explain the name change of the Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) to that of the Editorial Advisory and Review Board (EARB). Since its foundation the QMR Journal has relied extensively on the help of its editorial advisory board to conduct double blind reviews of papers submitted to it. The change of name to the editorial advisory and review board more accurately reflects this role and also allows for flexibility to include new review members to the board. In a peer review journal the role of the board is the all-important factor in deciding on the papers to be accepted. The new name change retains the "advisory element" of the board because it is to the EARB that the editor (myself) turns to for advice and feedback whenever needed.

The names of Dr Miriam Catterall, Mr Rehan ul-Haq and Professor Clive Nancarrow, whose special sections have been with this journal from its first year of life, are included under the title of the EARB.

I am very pleased to welcome to the EARB the following new members: Dr Audrey Gilmore, Dr Adam Lindgreen and Professor Nicholas O'Shaughnessy.

Papers

The first and last papers in this issue are from market research practitioners while the second, third and fourth papers are academic contributions from the UK and overseas.

This issue starts with a paper by Alan Branthwaite, that is a thoughtful and insightful discussion into the topic of imagery and its effects on the human psyche, from the conscious to the subconscious in the various fields in which it has been studied. The paper captures the mood of qualitative market research because so much of what we do needs to be probed and analysed for deeper meanings, contexts and relationships. There is a need to appreciate the influence of imagery when it adds to the deeper understanding of the sights and sounds of advertising. For example, advertisers can target particular market segments consisting of individuals who belong to the same socio-economic, demographic, racial or residential neighbourhood group, the implications being that there are shared characteristics among individuals of such groups. However, even if we have the accumulated knowledge about "how people behave", how much do we really know about the symbolic connotations or the longer lasting effects of imagery on the human consciousness? While many market researchers and advertisers undertake market segmentation, despite the fact that people are widely different, one contribution of this paper is to add to the debate about what factors could be recognised and identified to encourage the growth of imagery as a research tool. The author has argued the case for qualitative market researchers to develop more widespread acceptance of such a tool for research.

The next three papers, though different in their discussions or in their research contexts, focus on the new technological sectors. The second paper is an exploration in the application of language and common building blocks in adopting a POSIT approach in soft systems thinking to the information technology (IT) sector. The next one is an examination of the need for the adoption of a technological process in the specific field of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software within the organisational context. The fourth paper deals with company-sponsored research into SME's adoption or non-adoption of mobile data technologies. The final paper departs from this as it examines how good quality consumer information is gathered in one country by conducting qualitative on-line interviewing with respondents in several countries.

The use of language as the cornerstone for the building of good communications within the commercial contexts is explored by the authors of the second paper. John Driver and Panos Louvieris have explored the "centrality of language to knowledge institutionalisation and exploitation" in enhancing how people could apply the concepts in their work. One simple interpretation is that there is a need to use a common language or the common building blocks within computing operations, despite the differing levels of technical and semi-technical skills within and outside an organisation. Why? The authors draw on qualitative knowledge in their explanations. Central to their argument is the perceived need for a soft systems methodology such as POSIT to create a structure. This would aid people within organisations, while understanding the technical aspects, to develop a "common language" and also to be able to "qualitatively evaluate" what it is they have done or the wider implications of what they are doing. The authors put the case that given the widely differing skills, expectations and resources within the IT industry the building blocks for such a structure could create the common elements within a computing system which could be readily understood, recognised and absorbed by people. Soundness in the theoretical arguments needs to be matched though by how applicable in practice it would be to have such a structure in place.

Information delivery, as Jacques Verville and Alannah Halingten have stated in the third paper, includes at least the following main areas; namely, that of appropriateness and the numerous uses to satisfy organisational demands, plus the needs of the integration and the comprehensiveness of software for enterprise resource planning. The authors in the USA explain the needs for packaged applications for enterprises and discuss the contexts of the interviews and the research methodology employed. Webster and Wind's traditional model of organisational buying is adopted to explain a scope of variables, though the authors have updated, within their research, the numerous influences affecting users in having such systems. There are five prominent characteristics that are recognised. Pointers towards future study for ERPAP systems are given.

The fourth paper comes from a sponsored project by Debra Harker and Jeanette Van Akkeren, in Australia. There is an extensive literature review that has quite a thorough summary of information and it is presented to support current assumptions. There is an implicit thread of argument that since the "adoption of marketing of mobile data technologies" is not developed "from within the empirical base" such existing limitations lead to the discussion of the mobile data technologies in "terms of their applications to business rather than the perceptions of adoption barriers or marketing strategies". It is with the latter in mind that focus groups for the research are seen by Harker and Akkeren as appropriate. To be effective, further research needs to examine actual costs and benefits in SME organisations that are actually operating these mobile data technologies. The paper focuses on why people do or do not adopt within different categories. The examination of their attitudes and apprehensions about the costs and appropriateness of adopting an innovation within the technological domain are carried out. The authors are helpful in pointing to the characteristics of the types of businesses to which mobile data technologies might have most appeal.

Interviewing using the Internet is developed in a research project by Norbert Scholl, Sabine Mulders and Robert Drent, for the fifth paper. The advantages of interviewing on-line, such as its speed and accessibility to respondents over large distances, are apparent. The problems of validity and reliability are not as readily resolved. The authors deal with these issues and the practicalities of interviewing on-line. A new shaver for men from Philips Domestic Appliance Products, in The Netherlands, provides the basis for the discussions and interview questions over the Internet. The paper details the sample and methodology for research in a lively manner. Pointers for further work are given.

The special sections and their editors

As with all the normal issues of this journal the papers are usually followed by special sections. The analyses and nature of work undertaken in these sections continue to encourage others and me in looking at both the detail and the broad scope of qualitative research. I hope other readers, too, will be sending contributions that they would wish to be featured or discussed within the special sections to their editors:

• •

  Miriam Catterall (m.catterall@queens-belfast.ac.uk);

• •

  Rehan ul-Haq (r.ul-haq@bham.ac.uk); and

• •

  Clive Nancarrow (cpnancar@aol.com).

Due to the pre-determined capacity of the journal and the inclusion of five papers we finish this particular issue with the one special section from Clive.

Len Tiu Wrightlwright@dmu.ac.uk