As a secondary research method, the q-sorting technique was conducted to compliment findings from the focus group discussions. As mentioned on page 129, the q-sample for this research approach is the 23 commercials shown earlier to participants of the focus group discussions who were required to pick two commercials of their choice and evaluate them based on the cultural contents in the chosen advertisements. It must be reiterated that the same commercials were deliberately used so that the additional data contributed from the q-study would provide a continuous link to the data from the focus group interviews. In turn, this integration would assure that the validity of the results is intact.
The q-sorting technique was used because it was not practical to spend additional time in each focus group to evaluate all the 23 commercials. Additionally, this research approach is capable of producing groupings of Malaysia’s middle class segment according to similarity of attitudes, opinions and viewpoints in relation to their perception of global brands. Theoretically, the factors produced as a consequence to the q-sorts of the commercials would add value to the findings from the focus groups
since they represent the underlying significant drives of the respondents’ behaviours.
Here, respondents for the q-study would comprise individuals that represent a cross-section of the various segments of the middle class identified earlier for the focus group discussions.
Step One: Quota Sampling
The experience I had in conducting a mock q-sort procedure for the pilot study in the third week of March 2004 was very useful when the q-sorting technique was executed between December 20, 2004 and January 12, 2005. The plan to have q-sorts completed within three weeks went on smoothly without any hitches whatsoever.
On the first week of December 2004, I charted a sampling strategy for the q-study.
First, my acquaintances were identified according to the variables required in the study, that is, the middle class social level, locality, age group, gender and ethnicity and their phone numbers listed. Subsequently, a short list of the names and phone numbers was made in accordance with the needs of the study. Although only nine of the 20 contacts agreed to be respondents, a number of them agreed to assist me by providing telephone numbers of their own network of friends. By the end of the second week of December 2004, I had achieved 22 respondents for the q-study which is sufficient as they represent a cross-section of Malaysia’s middle class group of all social levels, ethnic groups, locality, gender and age levels.
Of the 22 respondents, five were from the provincial town of Kuala Selangor while the remaining 17 respondents who represent the urban middle class sub-group live in the vicinity of Shah Alam, the capital city of the state of Selangor which is about 40 kilometres or 25 miles from Kuala Lumpur. Altogether, the respondents comprised five upper urban affluent, ten middle level middle class and seven lower middle class with 13 males and nine females of which there were 12 Malays (two of whom were categorized as folk urbanites), five Chinese and five Indians. In terms of age group, there were seven young middle class aged between 25 and 34 while the remaining 15 were older middle class aged 35 and above.
Step Two: The Q-sort Procedure
On 20th and 21st December, 2004, I supervised the q-sorting technique among the five provincial respondents in an office in Kuala Selangor which was owned by one of the respondents. Between 26th December 2004 and 12th January 2005, the 17 q-sorts in Shah Alam were conducted in six residences of the respondents who agreed to allow me to use their homes as venue for the q-sort procedure. On average, each one of the six homes became the venue for three respondents to execute their q-sorts.
The q-sorting technique was carried out successfully on an individual basis among the respondents. Every respondent took an average of 40 minutes to complete the q-sort.
Using the q-sort instruction guide (see Appendix C) as an instrument, the procedure employed was as follows:
a. Each respondent was briefed on the purpose of the q-sort, that is to choose
the commercials that appealed to him/her most and those that he/she disliked most. More importantly, he/she was instructed to focus on the cultural elements in the commercial when making his/her decision. These are aspects like the food or drink taken by the characters in the commercial and the way they are taken, the clothes worn and language used by the actors, the socializing aspects, home furnishings in the commercial, and the setting of the commercial. A score sheet (see Appendix E) was then given and the respondent was asked to fill in his/her name on it.
b. He/she was then given a stack of 23 numbered q-cards (see Appendix D);
each card had the brand name of a global product and a statement: “This commercial appeals to me” at the bottom. The number on each card, from 1 to 23, represented the sequence of global commercial that would appear on the screen later.
c. He/She was then shown the 23 global commercials from a compact disc screened on a laptop computer.
d. Next the commercials were screened again and he/she was asked to view each
one of the commercials closely and to place the cards representing the commercials he/she “liked most” on the left, the cards representing the commercials he/she “disliked most” on the right and the cards representing the commercials he/she considered "confusing", "ambiguous" or he/she was “not
sure” of in the middle.
e. He/She was then asked to review his/her decision and ensure that there were nine (9) cards on the left, nine (9) cards on the right and five (5) cards in the middle stack.
f. The respondent was further asked to sort the nine (9) cards on the left into three (3) piles representing “strongly agree”, “agree” and “slightly agree”. The same process was to be repeated for the nine (9) cards on the right.
g. The respondent was consequently asked to record his/her decision by filling in the number printed on each q-card, on the score sheet given to him/her earlier with his/her name on.
h. Finally, the respondent was interviewed using four (4) open-ended questions which included the reasons for choosing the commercial he/she liked most and the one he/she disliked most.
The four follow-up questions were:
(a) Choose a commercial which you ranked as +3 and tell me what influenced you to do so?
(b) Choose a commercial which you ranked as -3 and tell me what influenced you to do so?
(c) Discuss your feelings about the commercials (refer to (a) and (b)).
(d) Should any of the commercials that do not appeal to you stop you from buying the product? Why?
Responses for the above questions were tape recorded and transcribed for further analysis.
Step Three: Q-analysis
As indicated earlier, analysis of the data for this research approach is based on the 22 q-sorts represented by 22 score sheets filled up by each one of the respondents. The q-sample comprises 23 commercials on global brands. It must be reiterated that each of the advertisement commercial which represents various cultural opinions of the respondents was ranked by each one of the respondent comparative to the other commercials in the sample.
The analysis entails correlations amongst respondents with regards to their choice of groups of advertisement commercials that appeal to them and those that do not appeal to them. Data from the 22 q-sorts were analyzed using the SPSS package wherein factor analysis was employed in order to create categories of respondents based on their attitudes and thinking towards the commercials. The factor analysis works to identify similarities of opinions amongst the respondents in relation to the commercials they have rank-ordered.
Using the principle component analysis, followed with the rotated component matrix, the computer package reduced data complexity by lessening the number of variables being studied. As detailed in Chapter Seven, the computer output created eight factors comprising a total of 18 commercials. This means that the initial result of the factor analysis found that five commercials were insignificant as they did not reach the positive loadings of a minimum of 0.50 for any of the components.
Out of the eight factors, I used only three factors for data interpretation. One of the primary reasons for this decision is that, unlike the three factors selected, the other five factors only had one commercial in each factor. Based on the total number of commercials in the three factors selected for interpretation, the final result of the factor analysis involved the understanding of only 12 out of the 23 commercials. For instance, interpretation for Factor 1 was confined to the five commercials factored as one group since these commercials share a significant pattern of cultural relationship in respect of the opinions of a group of respondents. In short, each of the three factors symbolises a middle class category. A comprehensive analysis of the results are laid out in Chapter Seven.
4. 4. 4 Informal Personal Interviews
The informal personal interviews, which engaged five decision-makers in the advertising industry, were conducted individually between 7th March 2005 and 21st March 2005. These individuals who represent the various organisations involved in the Malaysian advertising industry were the Managing Director of a local advertising agency, DNA Comm Sdn Bhd; the Managing Director of an internationally affiliated media specialist firm, Pakar Media; the Deputy Director General of Tourism Malaysia, the biggest local advertiser that advertise globally; the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Information, the Ministry that was formerly responsible for advertisement control and lastly, the former Marketing Manager of TV3, the premier television station with majority control of Malaysia’s television advertisement revenue. As the description implies, the interviews were conducted face to face in an informal manner. Each interview lasted between 45 minutes and 80 minutes.
While the questions formulated for each of the interviewees were semi-structured in nature, the content of the interviews differ as every one of the interviewees represented differing organisations (see Appendix F). Because of the informality of the interviews and the semi-structured nature of the questions, there was no specific order in the questions asked. This situation was advantageous to me as it allowed me the freedom to establish new questions and skip some of the questions prepared earlier that were considered irrelevant.
In general, the interviews revolved around the interviewee’s responsibilities, his or her organisation’s structure and roles and the organisation’s sensitivities to the local culture and the latest update on the Malaysian advertising scene.
The data gathered from these interviews were transcribed one week after the last interview. The relevant information gathered from these interviews were used as supporting arguments for this dissertation, particularly for Chapter Three which covers the contextual background and theoretical framework of this dissertation.
4.5 Concluding Remarks
This research employs two techniques to gather primary data to accomplish its objectives. They are the focus group discussions which is the primary research method and the q-sorting technique which was used as a secondary research approach.
Besides the collection of primary data, I made the effort to add background information or secondary data for this dissertation. To accomplish this, informal personal interviews were conducted among five key personnel who represent the vital organisations within the Malaysian advertising industry.
The goal of the eleven focus group discussions that comprised nine sub-segments of the middle class participants and two special-interest groups was to elicit viewpoints, opinions and comments relating to their perception and the extent of influence of the global advertisements on their cultural values. Throughout the process of the focus group discussions, systematic procedures in data collection, data handling and data analysis were ascertained. The discussion guide and a number of advertisement commercials portraying global brands were the research instruments used in the study.
In general, the various activities involved the research procedure for the focus group discussions including recruitment of participants, arrangement of discussion venue, audio and video recordings, transcriptions of data and final data analysis went on smoothly and according to schedule.
The q-sorting technique which was conducted concurrent with the focus group discussions was aimed at complementing the results from focus group discussions.
This technique which is capable of intensively probing self-reference perspectives, exclusively emphasises on the thinking patterns of the Malaysian middle class in respect of the cultural values depicted in the global brands. The q-sorts were carried out without any hitches.
As for the informal personal interviews, although they were not used as a method to collect primary data, the information and updates on the latest happenings in the
industry gathered from the five interviews were utilized as important support for the facts provided in Chapter Three of this dissertation.
To conclude, the research techniques used in this study were proven to be the most suitable approaches as they have accomplished the goal of measuring the impact of the global brands on the cultural values of Malaysia’s middle class population.