Stories Beyond Statistics: Qualitative Methods for Global Marketing Research

In a world awash with quantitative data, ironically, qualitative methods are needed more than ever. These methods, including ethnography, netnography, videography, and collaborative research, can retrieve the meanings and motivations beyond the numbers and clicks. They help us understand how consumers use products, what they say about them, and how they become entwined with their lives. In this paper, we make a case for using qualitative research methods to investigate global marketing phenomena and understand the cultural meanings behind consumer behavior. Using prior research, we demonstrate the significance of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) methodologies that prioritize participants’ voices, reveal cultural nuances, and offer deeper insights into increasingly diverse and evolving global markets.