Qualitative Market Research: Volume 2 Issue 2

A guide to the qualitative research process: evidence from a small firm study

Eleanor Shaw

Provides a detailed description of the qualitative research process experienced by the author when undertaking doctoral research. Recognising that there are few articles to guide…

The development and application of a qualitative approach to researching the marketing networks of small firm entrepreneurs

Jimmy Hill, Pauric McGowan, Paula Drummond

Outlines a qualitative methodology for researching in entrepreneurial small firms and through an application of this methodology to a group of five entrepreneurs, illustrates its…

The use of qualitative methods to research networking in SMEs

Aodheen O’Donnell, Darryl Cummins

Network theory is becoming increasingly popular as a means of describing marketing in SMEs, stemming from the growing recognition that traditional marketing theories are somewhat…

Issue‐based nets: a methodological approach to the sampling issue in industrial networks research

Carlos Melo Brito

Connectedness is a central characteristic of industrial networks with significant methodological implications. One of the most important implications has to do with the choice of…

Integrating deductive and inductive approaches in a study of new ventures and customer perceived risk

Haider Ali, Sue Birley

Draws upon a study of the ways in which entrepreneurs use trust to mediate customer perceived risk at the start of a venture in order to show how researchers can combine elements…

The pursuit of value through qualitative market research

Malcolm Robert Victor Goodman

Offers a positive example of how small firms can benefit from low cost qualitative market research techniques to determine achievable advantageous marketing strategies. The issue…

Using qualitative research to establish SME support needs

John Sparrow

SMEs are both users of marketing research and subjects of market research. There is clear evidence that the decision processes in such firms often render the products/services…

Research into small firm marketing: a contextual stepwise approach

Wai‐sum Siu, David A. Kirby

Though the authors propose the use of an integrative approach ‐ blending the process model and the contingency approach ‐ to build and advance small firm marketing theory, they do…

Growth and the small firm: using causal mapping to assess the decision‐making process ‐ a case study

Sean Ennis

Examines the issue of growth within the small firm and considers the main influences that impinge on the evolution of the enterprise. An interpretative methodological technique…