Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications

We have written this book for undergraduate and masters students of public
relations and marketing communications, especially those undertaking dissertation
research, or studying on research methods courses. Doctoral students may find
this useful as an introduction to the available literature on distinctive qualitative
methodologies.
Students of advertising, corporate communication, public affairs, communication
management, internal communications and marketing are included within our focus.
Practitioners in the field may find some of the chapters interesting for their alternative approach to the more commonly practised evaluative research with its
numbers and statistics.
When writing the first edition of this text we had three aims in mind, which
have continued (with only slight amendments) to motivate us when producing this
second edition nine years later.
1 We want to help students make an informed judgement about the relevance
of qualitative research to the investigation of core questions and current issues
related to public relations and marketing communications. We want them to
appreciate its value as an autonomous research methodology or as a complement to quantitative research in a mixed methods research design.
2 We wish to provide a tool that will enable students to engage effectively and
critically with the practices and discourses of professional communication.
3 We hope to make a contribution towards raising the profile of qualitative
methods within public relations and marketing communications research more
generally, and to encourage those who already do qualitative research to write
more transparently about their work.
We have sought to do this by offering practical guidance together with examples
of empirical studies that are based on a qualitative approach, often from an
interpretive or critical-interpretive stance. In places, we have presented the views
of student researchers about their experiences of researching.
The idea for writing this book grew out of our experience of empirical social
science as researchers and teachers. We came to the project with diverse interests
which converged at the point of qualitative research theory and practice. We both
have a keen desire to demonstrate how qualitative research can be used to provide
critical, innovative insights into communicative processes, the motivations and
involvement of human beings, and the cultural contexts in which they are situated.
These areas relate to the depth, diversity and complexity of human (and societal
and organizational) relationships and meanings that are constructed through communication, aspects that are intrinsic to the study of public relations and marketing
communications.
In terms of layout, the book divides the research process into five parts and is
structured accordingly, although, of course, in reality data collection, analysis and
writing often occur simultaneously rather than in discrete stages. Part I deals with
how to get started with research. This covers the ground between coming to an
awareness of the nature of qualitative research and its relevance for contemporary
public relations and marketing communications, through to writing a research
proposal based on qualitative methods.
Part II is concerned with the design of a research project. It begins by extending
the discussion in Chapter 1 on the philosophies of research, including the implicit
stance of this book, which is interpretive underpinned by social constructivism. It
also offers advice on how to choose between the different and often co-existing
orientations towards research, examining each in detail in the subsequent chapters
on case studies, grounded theory, ethnography, discourse analysis, phenomenology,
historical research and action research. It notes that each of these approaches may
encompass a number of specific techniques or methods.
Part III, which discusses the data collection stage, presents a variety of methods
for sampling and gathering the data.
Part IV focuses on analysing and interpreting the data and writing them up. Part
V considers the mixed methods approach, which, although likely to be too difficult
for novice researchers to tackle, is stimulating increasing interest from researchers
in a range of disciplines. We consider the contribution of qualitative methods to
this approach and note some of the debates concerning the underlying philosophies
associated with the mixing of methodologies and methods.
The second edition differs from the first in the following ways. Throughout this
edition, we have given greater prominence to the notions of reflexivity and transparency because of their importance within both ethical and critical frameworks.
We decided not to create a separate chapter on Internet-based research on the basis
that because it is now intrinsic in some way to all public relations and marketing
communications research it is more appropriate to include it within relevant
chapters. Therefore, alongside a discussion of how to use the Internet for communication research, we have considered issues concerning the application and ethics
of new technologies, multimedia platforms and software packages for data searching and analysis, as well as disseminating information.
Feedback from student readers told us of their difficulties in making decisions
about which of the different research approaches to choose in order to achieve
their research goals. Therefore, Chapter 6 offers guidance in this respect. Since
the first edition, the study of discourse has become a topical theme, especially in
public relations; for this reason, Chapter 10 is given over to discourse analysis and
x Preface
critical discourse analysis. Phenomenology also has a separate chapter because of
its importance to marketing communications and growing interest by public
relations scholars (Chapter 11). A new chapter covers two approaches which,
although unrelated, are still nascent as research approaches in the professional
communication disciplines; these are historical research and action research
(Chapter 12).
Chapter 20, on mixed methods research, is new. It is self-evident that the
emphasis and focus of this book are on qualitative research – particularly as an
autonomous research methodology. But we are also cognisant of its value within
a multiple methods research design, i.e. one that includes quantitative methods. For
this reason, we note the different roles and debates associated with the use of mixed
methods and the position of qualitative research as both a methodology and a
method within a mixed methods approach.
In terms of the different methods of data collection, we have paid greater attention
to documentary materials (Chapter 17), including written, visual and multi-media.
This chapter includes a brief mention of semiotics as a method of analysing visual
data. The chapter also outlines projective and elicitation techniques. In addition to
the extant chapter on a generic approach to analysing qualitative data (Chapter
18), we have introduced into each of the chapters in Part II a separate section on
the specific analytical techniques that are applied within the discrete research
approaches.
There are many people who have offered their support, ideas and contributions
to this text. We thank you all: Anne Surma, Catherine Archer, Elysha Hickey, Jo
Fawkes, John Oliver, Kate Fitch, Kate Price, Katharina Wolf, Kathy Durkin, Kelly
Gardiner, Kristin Demetrious, Lauren Magid, Nick Hookway, Nilam McGrath (née
Ashra), Paul Elmer, Pete Simmons, Richard Scase, Stuart Mills, Terry McGowan
and Veronica Lawrance