#2 WEEK---WEEKLY DISCUSSION QUESTION: PAGE 84, #3.8
3.8
a. How do researchers identify and measure human motives? Give examples.
Human beings motivation shows a high degree of complexity. Freudian concept of unconscious motivation adds the possibility of different forms of activity springing from the same motive. This has necessitated the development of a variety of tools and techniques measuring motivation. Researchers have developed the two approaches to the measurement of human motives are: (a) dir measurement, and (b) indirect measurement.
When motives are measured directly through objective observation, approach is the "Direct Measurement of Motives". This approach also includes conscious self-reports, administering questionnaires, and inventories assess specific motives as required by the observer. To measure the drink like hunger, thirst, many gadgets have been derived. These gadgets have a precise quantitative measure of the level of deprivation, physiological changes accompanying the drive and some behavioral changes, as a whole. In these types of measures, the tools are basically structured and responses classified into predetermined categories.
The most popular projective technique used by experts in motivational arch is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT test consists of a series of pictures about which the person is asked to write stories. These stories are analyzed and coded as motives, needs, wishes, and desires etc., which are assumed to have been projected by the respondent into the characters in the pictures.
Example
For example, why do women tend to increase their expenditures on clothing and personal adornment products as they approach the age of 50 to 55? The reasons relate to the loss of youth’s beauty and the loss of fertility, and to related fears of losing their husbands' love. It is also a time of life when discretionary incomes are rising (the children are leaving the nest). Other motives are at work as well (women are complicated creatures), but a standard marketing research survey would never reveal these motives, because most women are not really aware of why their interest in expensive adornments increases at this particular point in their lives.
b. Does motivational research differ from quantitative research? Discuss.
Motivational research is a type of marketing research that attempts to explain why consumers behave as they do. Motivational research assumes the existence of underlying or unconscious motives that influence consumer behavior. Motivational research attempts to identify forces and influences that consumers may not be aware of (e.g., cultural factors, sociological forces). Motivational research attempts to sift through all influences and factors, so that the marketer better understands the target audience and how to influence that audience.
Quantitative research is concerned with measurement of a market, including the calculation of market size, the size of market segments, brand shares, purchase frequencies, awareness of brands, distribution levels, and so on. This quantitative data is required at varying levels of accuracy and the methods used must be capable of achieving this.
While quantitative research can tell you when, where, and how often things happen, qualitative research looks at the “why” and “how”. Whereas, market research produces observations, notes, and descriptions of behavior and motivation. Research methods in this category include:
Interviews: either a series of structured questions, or allowing a subject to narrate their experience.
Focus groups: soliciting observations from groups of people who share a similar attribute (for example,