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AQR/QRCA Conference Barcelona Rosie Campbell 2008 Are We Confusing New Qual ‘Data’ Sources with Analysis? I can see now that this is a very unsexy paper title. And, what’s more, this paper’s proposition is that stories, how they are told and the words that are used to tell them are highly important; in fact they are the very lifeblood of qualitative enquiry. So, an early apology is due; I have privileged precision over expression. In an ideal world we create lucidity and elegance in both regards… So, this paper, then, intends to muse on language - the way and how of consumer expression, and the how and why of our own industry’s discourses around language. I intend - or hope, at least - to be inspiring and celebratory rather than didactic. (No doubt there will be didacticism enough over these two conference days…) What Quallies Love I know I am not alone in my love of language and words; most quallies I encounter are equally delighted by the apt metaphor, the recurrent phrase, the telling line, the recounted tale….in fact I am reasonably convinced that an aesthetic interest in language is an essential for any qualitative practitioner, or any who see virtue and value in deepening their analysis. (It may be why the English graduate often gets it faster than the marketing graduate…) If you doubt the importance of language – of words – just lets ‘look’ at some for a moment. Each of these is something to do with (hopeless) love….and probably familiar: ‘…Let us go, through half deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells…’ T.S.Eliot “My heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk…’ John Keats ‘T’was in another lifetime, one of toil and blood When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud I came in from the wilderness, a creature without form “Come in” she said, “I’ll give you Shelter from the storm”…’ Bob Dylan ‘And when there’s nothing left to buy It’s only love that gets you high’ Seal How extraordinary that in four so different expressions such a wealth of meaning and emotion can be conjured by the sheer crafting of language! You may not hear – or read – anything so elegiac in a focus group, (then again, you might) but in many ways our approach to analysing, getting inside and making sense of the personal dramas of our respondents’ lives, and the stories they tell, should be every bit as open to the intuitive and the forensic as the ways in which we might approach these lines of poetry. (In fact the practice of analysing and critiquing poetry would be a helpful grounding for starting out in the qualitative world) Where Words Meet Psychology What people say and what is created in conversation (or written discourse) creates realities. Wittgenstein, oft-quoted in the context of language, said that ‘language is fateful’. What he meant was that we ‘create’ our account and at the same time ‘create’ our reality through the words (and expressions) we use. Language is not ‘transparent’, a mere vehicle for specific, finite or literal data delivery; it is often slippery and complex, and always contextual. 2 And it is my sense that in some quarters of the qual world we have become rather impoverished in our relationship with words, in favour of an increasingly frantic search for ‘data’ ( – and we often treat the two as if they were one and the same). We ignore the specificity of words and too often fail to deepen, get ‘inside’ language, in favour of a kind of anxious ‘cutting to the chase’. We behave as if, questioned heavily enough, a consumer, (a respondent) will finally relent and disgorge the ‘truth’, the ‘insight’, the answer. I will talk a little about why – to my mind – these are emerging concerns, in a moment…. First, it repays the effort to glance at what the academic, (particularly academic psychology) canon has to say about words, language and communication Psychological frames which shed light on language are various – but crudely, in the last half century, there has been increasing emphasis on ideas which stress the ‘social construction’ of language (and indeed, much human psychology). How we use words contains the code for our beliefs and motivations – but, as the old adage goes, the map is not always the territory… Steven Pinker, who has been rather newsworthy in the last year (with a new and qual-friendly book ‘The Stuff of Thought’) has spent a good part of his academic career exploring human language, and among other things, concludes that language is an ‘instinct’ and that it inherently develops richness associated with the social and cultural context into which it both ‘speaks’ and is ‘spoken’. We, and the words we use and choose, are influenced by our context, just as we in turn help shape the social fabric through what we say. ‘…our words connect to our thoughts, our communities, our emotions, our relationships, and to reality itself. It isn’t surprising that language supplies so many of the hot potatoes of our public and private life. We are verbivores, a species that lives on words, and the meaning and use of language are bound to be among the major things we ponder, share, dispute..’ (Steven Pinker, 2007) 3 Language is a natural, abiding fascination at the root of powerful and useful qualitative analysis, and qualitative researchers are likely to have a love of language because they are – or should be – dealing in the business of analysis. And by analysis, I don’t mean ‘findings’…..or even ‘data’ One Simple Example of Language Analysis As part of a piece of research for my MSc a few years ago, I explored the world of ‘Youth Research’, because it had become so fashionable, (and, indeed, because, at the time I specialised in child and youth markets). I chose to look particularly at the language and discourse surrounding the world of youth research. And the fact that language is socially constructed was brought home particularly vividly by conversations about, and around, what constituted (- and how you ‘get’ -) insight. In fact another Wittgensteinian sound bite serves well here; ‘meaning as use’. For a contingent of the qualitative practitioner community there was a distinct take on the world of ‘youth’ whereby there was an inherent belief that insight was ‘manufactured’ by the skilled application of the specialist, as expert – preferably someone who had (academic) knowledge of developmental theory, experience of working with children and teenagers etc. For these people perhaps one might say the ‘old school’ - their clients appreciated the researcher’s psychological understanding of youngsters and wanted ‘insight’ to be in the form of a digested or ‘translated’ account of youngsters’ attitudes and beliefs - the ‘black box’ model where analysis was more about Piaget than the marketing context. But, (almost) antithetically - and often in the newer, ‘hotter’ qual shops - there was a different take on the notion of insight; it was described (in the ‘meaning-as-use’ sense) as something inherent in the ‘experience’ of young people’s worlds, the qual researcher acting more as a conduit than an ‘expert’. For these consultants, insight was often a reel of film, a vox pop or an ethnographic diary tract from which a client might experience an ‘ah-ha’ moment or two…In a sense behaviour itself became insight. Discovering these different ‘meanings-as-use’ of the word and idea of insight illustrates how we all express our worlds ‘contextually’ – 4 and, indeed, started me thinking about how qualitative practice appeared to be developing more generally…. Linguistic Armageddon Our qualitative world, in my observation and opinion, is polarising towards, on the one hand, the ‘conduit’ model of practice where, notionally, the ‘found materials’ - because they are seen as exciting and funky (videos, filmed diaries, blogs, texts etc) - are sometimes, dangerously, assumed to be the work (the data, the findings……the ‘insight’). This is, perhaps, the ultimate egalitarianism; the psychological as collaborative and self-evident. And never a written report or document in sight….. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s just that it isn’t everything. In a recent ‘International Journal of Market Research’ focusing on ethnography, it was striking how, across eight accounts of ethnographic approaches and projects, there was one blindingly consistent conclusion. Though often very enriching and, indeed, facilitating, ‘ethnographic’ data were, always, in the final analysis ‘reported’ via recourse to (often quite sophisticated) verbal discussion as a way of explaining, building, contextualising data such as film, photos, diary material, ‘naturalistic’ taped conversations etc. In other words, what the – good – researcher has to do is analysis which involves an exploration of language, whatever materials are in the mid-stage melting pot. On the other hand is the ‘instant communication’ model, where simple time pressures and a ‘live-in-the-moment’ culture inclines the belief that what you see and hear is all you get. ‘Analysis’ is left out because, for example “we all saw the groups so we know what to do”…You know how these projects go – we have 2 hours to over-stimulate eight respondents with sixteen concepts and ten different ‘advertising ideas’ and absolutely no time to listen, never mind interrogate consumers’ own worlds…. We, as qualitative practitioners, have ourselves to blame for some of this. We have, historically, ‘languaged’ our work as if the ‘black box’ were, indeed, a mysterious, outside and objective presence able to create instant analysis. Consider the kinds of phrases we routinely use: ‘on balance the brand can be seen to…’, ‘it was 5 found’, ‘a pattern emerges’, ‘what can be taken out from…’ etc, etc. Even, when forced to ‘people’ our account we often allow respondents to take the glory… ‘what respondents noticed ..’, ‘as one respondent remarked…’ (yes, who hasn’t done this – given their best line to a chap from Crewe.!.) We fail to ‘own’ or even admit to the notion that it is our experienced, psychologically-tuned brain that has reached conclusions, out of a kind of squeamishness, or, perhaps because we mistakenly think it goes against the tide of so-called ‘co-creation’ and transparency. No wonder clients often expect to ‘see’ the answer instantly when they view or listen to a focus group…. And at the heart of both these - I would suggest, maladjusted, or at least impoverished - qualitative models, is a disregard for words and language. In a sense both are mutated versions of the ‘only data-gathering’ virus which the qualitative industry was sharp and smart enough to transcend through intellectual rigour, maturity and, arguably, some harsh lessons from the types of consultant who snapped at our feet, in the late eighties (management consultants, chiefly, but also the armies of futurologists, think tankers, brand consultants and so on…) And, of course, because the era of the brand, in all its vanity, had begun… So, enough of a rant about the malaise; if this is a plea for a considered, partial - return to the old school craft skills of language analysis, I need to make a practical case for the advantages of such rigour – for all concerned parties… Words, Words, Words I have explored a wide range of approaches to analysis of text, words and language – and I recognise that ‘words’ are not the whole content of qualitative enquiry, nor, indeed are they ‘merely what they represent’. Our work into and under the skin of words and language must take account of the emotional load, the context as well as mechanical issues relating to utterance. On balance, as a practical approach to analysis, I favour a kind of home-made bricollage which nods respect to many, even all the theoretical frames outlined below. 6 These are the frames you may encounter in the academic canon, and/or which I have found useful – and which I have personally plundered, (here reductively defined, I admit): Grounded Theory – which broadly speaking suggests you should ‘follow your ears’ where consumer language is concerned until you start to ‘hear patterns’ (but that might take a wee while longer than the average qual project) Narrative Analysis – which is all about the (cultural) meanings, order of divulging, and narrative style of people’s ‘story-telling’. In some quarters the chosen stories are considered highly important; others consider ‘lack of theory’ the narrative enquirer’s purest starting point… ‘rather than from a template…(for us) narrative enquirers tend to begin with experience as expressed in lived and told stories’ (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000) Textual Analysis – not just appropriate for actual text, this focuses on the ‘politics’ of accounts, noting, for example, implied subject positions, phraseology etc Naum Chomsky on 9/11, for example, has written about the ‘assumed power position’ expressed by America, often through the ‘mouthpiece’ of the New York Times… ‘If an enemy can be accused of violating International law, it’s a huge outrage. But when the United States does something, it’s as if it didn’t happen….. in the seventy editorials on Iraq…..the words UN Charter and international law never appeared. That’s typical of a paper that believes the United States should be an outlaw state’ (Naum Chomsky, 2007) Speech Act Theory – which is about how utterances within conversation ‘work’ (and how much and how accurately we guess about a fellow speaker). In practice this way of thinking explores ‘what is being made’ in discourse. For example, in a married couple’s exchange of a few sentences, even perfunctory ‘analysis’ reveals something beyond the words themselves….! 7 A ‘ Is there any more butter in the fridge…? B ‘I didn’t get home till seven…!’ A ‘I am not accusing you of anything…!!!!’ Systemic Therapeutic thinking – well, you are less likely to encounter this social constructionist branch of psychological thinking in relation to language, but it does contain one great, liberating language-searching motto for the qual analyst; ‘stay curious’ (Gianfranco Cecchin) How Might Any of this Help? So, getting highly practical about the issue of language, and to illustrate how valuable I believe a more informed, experienced, curious and – how rare these days – slower, more reflective exploration of language can be, I propose a case example, where my ‘bricollage of language analysis’ can be highlighted. I do not suggest that this is the only way to ‘analyse’ qualitative material, nor that every project of qualitative enquiry requires the same measure of attention to language – it so depends on what the question is, what work has gone before, what purpose the project serves (highly ‘investigative’, intended as a creative spark, essentially an ‘evaluation’ and so on….). So, let me show some examples of ‘language listening’ in two markets – financial services (saving and insurance products) and laundry products and at each of the 3 levels…(and encountered in recent work) Firstly, at the ‘Cultural Discourse’ Level…. Looking for the cultural mores and influencing beliefs in particular groups, at particular points in time. At this level descriptions tend to be ‘big picture’ societal comments, often sounding like ‘truisms’ or phrases from the media… ….for example, in recent financial service work… (Applauding entrepreneurial activity) “…a true self-made man” 8 “…we live in a society where we believe in taking risks...” “…I think we’ve always respected people who have a vision and take risks” “…If it’s something you believe in…” In these discourse illustrations, note words like ‘belief’, ‘respect’, ‘vision’ ‘true’ as elevating descriptors. And.. (Property Fetishism) “…the security of bricks and mortar” “…you can’t go wrong with property” “…I felt I could relax a bit…sleep more easy…when I’d got my first buy-to-let” ‘Sleep…easy’, ‘can’t go wrong’ and ‘security’ are significant descriptors. tending to connect property-ownership with maturity and seriousness. And in laundry… (Escalating Expectations/Standards) “…you can’t feel good if you’re not on top of the washing…” “…there’s an expectation that you can have clean things every day..” “…our standards are getting higher – I expect to have things washed every day” “It's like dirt is something we’ve evolved beyond – something we’ve conquered” Here, note the equation of contemporaneity and ‘mastery’ of washing; ideas which equate personal well-being with cleanliness, and the use of terms such as ‘standards’, ‘expectations’, ‘higher’, ‘evolved’ is telling. Secondly - the ‘Story Told’ Level of language listening is where we ‘hear’ individuals’ and groups of individuals’ more personal, and local, beliefs – and sometimes the constraining or 9 habituated patterns of self-description which limit change… At this level ‘I’ and ‘we’ are likely to be heard So looking at examples in these two markets again: (Finance) “ In my family debt was always frowned upon” “I’m a spender at heart…my wife’s the one who keeps it in check..” Personal stories are frequently languaged in ways which highlight underlying belief systems – and begin to suggest how you might talk, through marketing and advertising… People often have very well-developed self-rationalisations which involve using well-worn words and phrases to tell their stories… (Laundry) “I’m afraid I’m the one who has the obsessively tidy house; I plump my cushions at night, I have to put clean clothes away...” “I wash stuff because I’m too lazy to sort it out – I’m very busy and probably a bit extravagant...” These last two – self-descriptions – contain justifications as well as explanations for behaviour, and are likely to be well-worn ‘stories told’ about each individual. (‘Obsessively tidy’ and ‘too lazy’ are, undoubtedly, personal ‘themes’ for these women which, when expressed, are used to ‘excuse’ and contextualise much else) Lastly, at the ‘Words Used’ Level, it can be a good idea to look for specific words that are often repeated. For example (in financial markets) ‘comfortable’, ‘confident’, ‘secure’ might be important – and it’s often a good idea to enquire into an individual’s use of a ‘favourite’ word; it may have a very specific slant (for example ‘bonny’ as a description of well-being was, in fact a condemnatory word for one individual I interviewed – connected with her mother and meaning ‘fat’ and ‘childish’..!) … 10 Transcripts can often throw out frequently-used words which you may not have noticed in the midst of an interview or group and allow you to notice ‘agency’ through how descriptions are put together… “Money just slipped through my fingers…” “I worry about letting my husband see what I’ve bought…he’s better off not knowing till afterwards…” Here words indicate very different senses of own role; in the first case the ‘slipped through’ and ‘my fingers’ are very close up, ‘worried’ descriptions in which the teller feels things ‘happen to’ him. In the second, arguably the respondent feels in much greater control, (maybe too much control!?) and the telling word ‘letting’ indicates a parental role. And in washing products.. “I’ve got so many sheets to wash, I don’t think people always realise. My washing seems to go on and on….” “The washing gets done by mid morning and it should all be away that day” Again there are ‘tell tale’ words as well as relational information here. In the first example ‘people’ suggests anxiety about how others see the respondent – and who are these shadowy folk who – possibly – disrespect, ignore, bully her?. (This would be a great point to press her on…) And clearly she feels overburdened, if not overwhelmed. By contrast the second quote doesn’t even employ a transitive verb – and there is no first person. Her washing is distant, sorted; maybe her relationship to it is also more calm, impersonal, unemotional? Weight Watchers So, to Weight Watchers. We are fortunate to have worked with the brand through the process which led up to the development of recent UK TV, press and radio advertising…(with a couple of agency switches along the way!) At the heart of the process, 11 there was, firstly, a preparedness to step back and take a fresh look at women and weight loss. Weight – this has, unsurprisingly, enormous cultural baggage, and is, for women wanting to lose it, highly emotive as a ‘market area’. So, around two years ago we conducted a lot of qual research – various methodologies, various types of conversation, various and many different categories of people – of all sizes. Initially there was a clear intention to (re) visit the ‘Cultural Discourse’ of the weight loss area… Some of what emerged through ‘listening’ for the grand themes, the phrases and descriptions which indicated the parameters of the culture, were bizarrely contradictory…until we began to see that paradox was, itself, a characteristic of this particular ‘cultural soup’… Slim and beautiful Overweight is is the answer __________________ increasingly normal Highly visible celeb _____________ But in Sainsbury’s there’s culture adulates slimness SOOO much tempting food Fatness causes ___________________ Feminism teaches us low self-esteem to feel good about our bodies LOSE IT …………………………… KEEP IT DIET ………………………….. EAT TECHNOLOGY ………………….. NATURE So, let’s listen to some of the kinds of comments which highlight the paradoxical ‘Cultural Discourse’ that surrounds this area….. “Women feel better about themselves – more confident when they lose weight” 12 “…and there’s no better feeling. It’s mainly a confidence boost” And now, consider the ‘polar’ – or paradoxical – constructs… “I don’t see why we should conform to some magazine’s idea of slimness” “Being thin won’t make you feel better, won’t make you happy” And what about at the level of ‘Stories Told’. Well, mining these turned out to be highly significant as far as basing ideas in the ‘right language’… Going back to ‘listening to language’ demonstrated that stories were especially important and significant as ideas, as self-description, and – literally – as the stuff of women’s own languaging Interestingly, the totemic ‘before and after’ construct which is magnetically luring for many women in the weight loss arena, is, essentially a ‘happy ending’ story. And, just listening to women, it became apparent that their weight was – often – an issue that had become ‘stylised’ through story-telling - especially for those who felt that weight had been a concern for many, many years, in some cases since childhood. Look at this verbatim: “When I had a thin summer in my mid twenties I wasn’t actually all that happy…I felt like I was waiting all the time, feeling anxious that the weight would come back….and of course, it did…Sometimes I wonder why I’m obsessed by losing weight…..” This ‘story’ has considerable richness. In terms of content it highlights a personal experience of the – common – dichotomy about own weight; slimness is a perennial goal, yet achieving it might not make you happier…so promising ‘slimness’ is never a satisfactory ‘end benefit’ (and, moreover, it’s highly generic) 13 It also contains a key weight construct, one frequently encountered, and which is helpful to explore in terms of developing advertising – and that is the extent to which weight becomes a ‘third party’, something ‘beyond the control’ of an individual. (‘the weight’) When you run weight loss groups you hear a lot about abstract, almost disembodied, weight…. “It was the car that put the weight on me…” “I only have to look at a cake for the weight to pile on” “I look and think what are these rolls, why have they decided to settle on me?” You will have heard – and possibly recognise - many of these! Along with another – rhetorical and much-noted, ‘told story’ about fighting and battles… “I’ve basically battled with my weight all my life” “It’s a constant struggle for me” “War on chocolate! – no, the enemy is wine for me, and then I watch it all go and I give up the fight in the Indian on a Friday” So, ‘Stories Told’ about weight exist in something of a complex and paradox-laden ‘Cultural Discourse’ and, at the Stories Told level, include a variety of self-decriptions, many of which ascribe agency ‘out there’ as far as weight – gain or loss – is concerned. (Listen to this description about Weight Watchers Online offering as far as agency is concerned…”How will they make sure I don’t cheat on the weighing, then…?) As we explored concepts, and in time began to research the seeds of executional ideas, we found that employing ‘own constructs’ about weight as a third party, or, indeed the ‘battleground’ might be in the right language zone but both were essentially focussed on the near distance rather than a more ‘ultimate’ end benefit…. something beyond the weight loss ‘journey’ issues… 14 We kept returning to the idea of ‘women’s stories’ – as a construct which offered an immediate, logical and recognisable, way in for the audience. In particular, there was a powerful and positive experience and description around the ‘new start’, the fresh page, a chance anew – the early stage of weight losing often being described as a kind of “high”, a “roll’, being “in the zone”. Careful language listening was giving us the clues again… “I’m actually looking forward to it…to getting started, I love it when I get going…” The issue then became how to tell a happy ending story to which women could relate and which would avoid cliché, be credible and have brand logic. After all, there are a lot of things Weight Watchers cannot promise….. In terms of the ‘motivating hit’ where weight loss was concerned, one articulation proved especially powerful – if, potentially, slightly risky. This was the drawing board idea of ‘Start Your Story’ as evolved by Euro and in which the ‘happy ending’ was revealed, not in the conventional ‘before and after’ way, but had a twist. The ‘story’ was told by family and friends with affection and humour – the ‘success’ was witnessed rather than shown. Now, the approbation of others is a complex issue as far as women and weight is concerned as you may know, or can guess…. However, if you ‘listen’ carefully to the stories told by women seeking weight loss and you dig beyond some of the rhetoric about ‘doing it for me’ there is a key under-layer of longing and which is about feeling good, (rather than – merely – slimmer) within a wider context of life experience (rather than – merely – my body and what I eat, today) This is the social benefit milieu…. “I know when I get down a bit, I know when I’ve lost just that bit that makes a difference because I feel more popular….I’m the one staying on at parties…” 15 “The confidence thing is absolutely it…I would like to bump into an ex and have him look full of regret!” “Your family notice, but mainly it’s better for them because I’m a nicer person..!” So, an invisible protagonist might allow a viewer/listener to ‘insert’ themselves, while the affirmative and ‘pleased’ comments of loved ones was likely to prove to be ‘secure motivation’…… And lastly – and by no means least – was the issue of brand… how to create advertising which spoke absolutely clearly about Weight Watchers as opposed to any other diet system or brand. Some of the thinking here needs to be kept under wraps, not least because re-exploration of brand is also underway at the moment…but there are some key aspects which relate to listening carefully to language, that provided significant steers… Listen to these comments about Weight Watchers “I’m a real Weight Watchers girl…” “Because I know it works for me I come home to Weight Watchers” “…when I start to see it working….I love feeling I’m a Weight Watcher..” “…It’s like the mother, isn’t it…” “…basically no bullshit or deceit or gimmicks…. It’s totally straight down the line…” These kinds of descriptions signal potential for the brand because they speak of feelings and relationships not with weight but with Weight Watchers particularly 16 Concluding… So, you may say, well, all quallies worth their salt do ‘analysis’ and have a look at language, and, in fact you’d probably be right…but maybe too, it behoves us to be cautious in our runaway love affair with both speed and the technological and access possibilities of the internet and ‘stealthy’ recording – if we use either in a way that obviates quality thinking…. And, of course, I reiterate, playing with the language and words intelligently - ideally in the experienced, savvy, educated qualitative mind - is what we always have and hopefully always will have to do, no matter what our material looks like Bibliography and References Burr, V (1995) An Introduction to Social Constructionism (Routledge) 17 Bloomer, A, Trott, K, Wray, A (1998) Projects in Linguistics (Arnold for Hodder Headline) Campbell, R (2003) How Does Insight Emerge Through the Process of Conducting Qualitative Research Amongst Teenagers (MSc dissertation) Cecchin, G, Lane, G and Ray, W (1992) Irreverence (Karnac Books) Chomsky, N (2007) What We Say Goes: Interviews with David Barsamian (Hamish Hamilton) Clandinin, D.J and Connelly, F.M (2000) Narrative Inquiry (Jossey-Bass) Feldwick, P (2007) Notes on Poetry and Planning (talk at M &C Saatchi) Goulding, C (2002) Grounded Theory (Sage) Heaton, J.M (2000) Wittgenstein and Psychoanalysis (Icon Books) Holloway, W and Jefferson,T (2000) Doing Qualitative Research Differently (Sage) Lidstone, R (2005) The Need for Brand Humility (MRS Conference) Mouncey,P (editor, 2007) International Journal of Market Research,volume 49, Issue 6 (WARC) Pinker, S (1994) The Language Instinct (Penguin Books) Pinker, S (2007) The Stuff of Thought (Allen Lane for Penguin) Strathern, P (1996) Wittgenstein in 90 Minutes (Constable, London) 18