Answer to Question 1
Qualitative marketing research is research that addresses marketing objectives through techniques that allow the researcher to provide elaborate interpretations of market phenomena without depending on numerical measurement. Its focus is on discovering true inner meanings and new insights. It is less structured than most quantitative approaches and does not rely on self-response questionnaires containing structured response formats. Instead, it is more researcher-dependent in that the researcher must extract meaning from unstructured responses such as text from a recorded interview or a collage representing the meaning of some experience. The researcher interprets the data to extract its meaning and converts it to information. Qualitative research is useful in these situations:
(1) Developing specific and actionable decision statements or research objectives is difficult.
(2) The research objective is to develop an understanding of some phenomena in greater detail and in much depth.
(3) The research objective involves learning how consumers use a product in its natural setting or learning how to express some concept in colloquial terms
(4) Some behavior the researcher is studying is particularly context-dependent.
Quantitative marketing research can be defined as marketing research that addresses research objectives through empirical assessments that involve numerical measurement and analysis approaches. It is more apt to stand on its own in the sense that it requires less interpretation.
Answer to Question 2
b