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CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY
2.1 Method
2.1 As the main aim of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how the target audience perceived and engaged with the Doppelganger advert, both in its own right and in the wider context of the Foolsspeed campaign strategy, qualitative methods were felt to be more appropriate than quantitative. Focus groups proved an effective method for exploring and understanding drivers' reactions to concepts for the first three Foolsspeed ads (Eadie & Stead, 1998; Stead & Eadie, 2000; Stead & Eadie, 2001).
2.2 The focus group technique is eminently suitable for exploring attitudes and perceptions of particular social phenomena such as audience engagement with advertising messages, whilst the group dynamic provides the spontaneity and serendipity necessary to generating creative insights. The technique involves bringing together a homogeneous group of people to discuss issues freely and openly under the direction of a group moderator. The moderator ensures that the aims of the research are covered without constraining the discussion, allowing respondents to express their views and address issues that are salient to themselves in their own terms, thereby reducing the risk of emphasising the views and language of the researcher. This non-directive approach ensures that the respondents' views are clearly expressed and provides a mechanism for opening up original lines of enquiry.
2.3 The groups were moderated by members of the research team, all of whom have many years' experience of conducting focus group research and two of whom were responsible for conducting the creative development research for the original Foolsspeed campaign. Each group lasted approximately 90 minutes, was held in an informal venue such as a community centre, local hotel or recruiters' home, and with the respondents' consent was recorded on voice-tape.
2.2 Sample and Recruitment
Sample
2.4 It is usually desirable for focus groups to be as homogeneous as possible in socio-demographic and/or other characteristics, in order to produce a relaxed atmosphere conducive to open and honest discussion. It is also important to quota-sample sub-groups so that any differences between these sub-groups can be identified.
2.5 In line with these principles and to enable direct comparisons to be drawn with the data sets generated by the original developmental research, a quota sample of respondents aged 17-54 was drawn up. This was designed to address three basic demographic characteristics: gender, age, and social class, and to represent drivers living in urban and semi-rural locations. As with the developmental research the sample was skewed to over-represent the campaign's core target group: men from socio-economic groups ABC1, aged 25-44, living in urban areas.
2.6 In addition, particular care was given to select drivers according to different categories of speeding behaviour. A key finding of the 4-year Foolsspeed evaluation was that drivers who were classified as 'frequent speeders' often engaged with the advertising differently from drivers who were classified as 'moderate' or 'infrequent' speeders (Stead et al, 2002; Stead et al, 2005). It was particularly notable that, rather than dismissing the ads, these frequent speeders - the groups the campaign most wanted to reach - were often more likely to identify with the ads and to feel that the ads made them critically appraise their own driving behaviour. We therefore felt that it would be valuable to explore in depth how this particular sub-group of the driving population engaged with the final phase of Foolsspeed.
2.7 The focus groups were therefore stratified in terms of five key variables: gender, age, social class, location and speeding behaviour.
- Gender: 6 male groups and 4 female groups.
- Age: 6 groups representing the campaign's core target age range (25-44), and 4 groups representing secondary target age groups (17-24 and 45-54).
- Social class: 6 groups representing higher socio-economic groups (ABC1) and 4 representing lower socio-economic groups (C2DE).
- Location: 6 groups of respondents living in urban areas and 4 living in semi-rural areas.
- Speeding behaviour: 6 frequent speeders, 2 moderate speeders and 2 infrequent speeders. Speeding behaviour was categorised using a modified version of the question used in the original Foolsspeed evaluation (see Stead et al 2002).
2.8 To ensure a broad geographical spread, respondents were recruited from three separate sample points in central Scotland (west urban, east urban, and central semi-rural). This ensured a reasonable cross-section of the Scottish population and of drivers with experience of different road types. The area used in the earlier studies, Renfrew, was avoided, to remove the risk of recruiting respondents who had previously participated in the research.
2.9 Table 2.1 below provides a summary of the focus group sample.
Table 2.1 Focus group sample
Group No | Gender | Age | Socio-economic Group | Location | Speeder Type* |
|---|
1 | Male | 17-24 | ABC1 | Urban | Frequent Speeders |
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2 | Female | 17-24 | C2DE | Semi-rural | Moderate Speeders |
|---|
3 | Male | 25-34 | ABC1 | Urban | Moderate Speeders |
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4 | Male | 25-34 | C2DE | Urban | Frequent Speeders |
|---|
5 | Female | 25-34 | ABC1 | Semi-rural | Frequent Speeders |
|---|
6 | Male | 35-44 | ABC1 | Urban | Frequent Speeders |
|---|
7 | Female | 35-44 | C2DE | Urban | Frequent Speeders |
|---|
8 | Male | 35-44 | ABC1 | Semi-rural | Infrequent speeders |
|---|
9 | Male | 45-54 | C2DE | Semi-rural | Frequent speeders |
|---|
10 | Female | 45-54 | ABC1 | Urban | Infrequent speeders |
|---|
* All respondents drove a car and/or small van at least once per week and held a full driving licence.
Recruitment
2.10 The sample was recruited door-to-door by experienced professional market research recruiters using a short recruitment questionnaire to ensure that respondents met the socio-demographic and behavioural selection (ie. speeding status) criteria. Recruiters followed standard Market Research Society recruitment guidelines. They were instructed not to recruit respondents who knew each other and who had recent experience of participating in a focus group. Respondents were ensured confidentiality and offered a small financial incentive to cover any costs incurred in taking part in the research. To avoid priming participants about the campaign, all potential respondents were informed that the discussion would focus on recent road safety advertising. To ensure the recruitment questionnaire did not sensitise respondents to the theme of speeding, questions on other road use behaviour (eg. illegal parking) were also included. Respondents had the opportunity to opt out of the research at any point.
2.3 Discussion guide and questioning techniques
2.11 Each discussion group largely followed the same topic guide based on the six discussion themes summarised below in Table 2.2.
Table 2.2 Discussion Themes
Theme 1 - Road Safety |
The initial warm up session involved an open-ended discussion of road safety issues to identify the range of themes salient to the target group. No mention of speeding was made at this stage. |
Theme 2 - Unprompted awareness of road safety advertising |
Respondents were then invited to discuss any road safety advertising they had seen on television. This was used to identify the styles of advertising most prominent in people's minds and to assess spontaneous awareness of Foolsspeed advertising |
Theme 3 - Prompted awareness of Foolsspeed campaign |
Next respondents were shown a copy of the Foolsspeed logo on prompt board to assess logo and name recognition and to examine recall and spontaneous response to the campaign: what they could recall seeing, what it was saying, who produced it etc. |
Theme 4 - Prompted awareness of Doppelganger ads |
Respondents were then shown a copy of the Doppelganger still followed by the full 30 second ad, probing each in turn for awareness, message, target group, relevance, credibility, identification, characterisation, likes/dislikes, perceived effectiveness, ability to challenge intended attitudes / behaviour, etc. In two of the ten focus groups, Doppelganger was shown later in the group, after one or two of the three original TPB ads. |
Theme 5 - Prompted awareness of original TPB ads |
Following this, respondents were shown the three original Theory of Planned Behaviour ads, probing the same features and employing the same questioning techniques as at Theme 4: awareness, message, target group, relevance, credibility, identification, characterisation, likes/dislikes, perceived effectiveness, ability to challenge intended attitudes / behaviour, etc. The order in which the ads were shown were rotated between groups to minimise order effects. |
Theme 6 - Review of campaign and future directions |
Finally, having viewed all the Foolsspeed TV ads, respondents were invited to re-examine their perceptions of the campaign, this time probing for: campaign aims; contribution made by each ad; linking themes; differences / commonalities in terms of message, style, tone of voice etc; preferences - eg. which ad did they like best and why? This element of the discussion was also used to explore ways in which the campaign could be developed. |
2.4 Analysis
2.12 The voice recordings for all ten focus groups were transcribed in full for thematic analysis. Transcripts were organised using a thematic framework based on topics specified in the discussion brief and emerging themes identified through a process of familiarisation with the transcript text. This method of organising the data gave us the ability to interrogate data in a way that added richness and depth to analysis and interpretation, and allowed us to compare, for example, the views of drivers who demonstrated different speeding behaviours.
2.13 In addition, the findings from this analysis were also compared against findings to emerge from both the formative and outcome evaluation for the first four years of the Foolsspeed campaign. As noted previously, this comprised two types of data: qualitative data from the creative developmental research conducted to guide the creative strategy for the Mirror, Friends and Family and Simon Says adverts, and quantitative data from the longitudinal evaluation of the campaign as a whole.
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