Editor's note: Sandra Wong, Ph.D., is research director at Asian Marketing Communication Research, Belmont, Calif.

What does "context" have to do with Asian marketing research? Context in many Asian cultures can affect the way you conduct marketing research for that population/community. Specifically, this article will look at how context affects:

  • selection of appropriate research sample/respondents;
  • framing of questions to effectively gather meaningful information; and
  • establishing a productive researcher/respondent relationship.

The goal of marketing and customer satisfaction research is to provide your clients with insightful analysis so they can make effective business decisions. We all know careful planning is essential to maximize the benefits of research, but in our fast-paced business world, it's common for both client and researcher to rush from one project to another. Yet how many times have we said to ourselves, "We wouldn't have to do this 'rework' if we just took a little time to plan. Next time, we will take the time and do it right!"

Such common sense is even more important when conducting Asian marketing research. The researcher often needs to consider additional nuances or complexities not always apparent in general market research. Involving a culturally sensitive researcher early in the research planning stages can help avoid mistakes that people unfamiliar with Asian cultures commonly make.

Context and respondent selection

How do context and Asian family relationships add complexity to the selection process? Suppose a researcher wants to talk to "heads of household" about making financial decisions. The researcher randomly selects the Chinese residents of a particular three-unit Bay Area house. There are three names posted on the mail slots: Rose Lee is listed as occupant in the top unit; Ben Chan in the second; and the Fongs in the third. A researcher unfamiliar with Chinese family structure might conclude there are three separate, distinct families from which to gather data. This appearance is quite misleading, however. On closer examination it turns out the residents of the three units are all related to each other in some way.

Rose Lee, a retired widow, lives in the top unit. Lee is Rose's maiden name, and she married into the Chan family. She and her husband were the original owners of this house. The Chans (that is, Rose and her late husband) have two sons and a daughter, all of whom still live in this house. Although the title of the house was transferred to both of the sons after their father's death, they still regard their mother, Rose, as the official head of the household.

Rose currently lives with four other people in her household unit: her unmarried college-age daughter Amy, her youngest son John, his wife Linda, and their baby son. Linda is responsible for the household's grocery shopping and cooking. Linda organizes the menus and manages the task of running a home. Rose's college-age daughter Amy helps with the cooking as needed.

Rose delegates the tasks of buying presents and clothing to Amy. Because of her artistic flair and "good taste," Amy is usually consulted by all the women in this house when it comes to fashion - for women, men or children.

Top unit: Rose Chan (Lee), youngest son John, daughter Amy, daughter-in-law Linda, baby boy

Second unit: Ben Chan, Ben's wife, two school-age children

Third unit: Mr. and Mrs. Fong

The second unit is occupied by Ben Chan (the oldest son), his wife and their two school-age children. Ben has managed the family business since his father's death. Ben is in charge of all the family's business and financial decisions, including repair and upkeep of the house. If his younger brother John (who lives in the top unit) has any intention of making financial investments or big-ticket purchases (e.g., an automobile), Ben must approve these plans. However, the younger brother John and his wife Linda are responsible for their own personal checking and savings accounts.

The third unit is occupied by Mr. Fong and his wife. Mrs. Fong is Rose's sister. The Fongs recently emigrated from Hong Kong. They attend English classes and are working part-time as a waiter and a cashier, respectively, nearby.

They keep what little money they save at home, not in a bank. The Fongs dine with Rose and her household every night. Currently they are dependent on Rose's financial help until they become self- sufficient.

This case illustrates an intricate web of Chinese familial ties which challenges a researcher to use care when selecting respondents. Whether researchers treat the occupants of the three units as one extended family or four separate families depends on the research they wish to explore.

It is obvious from this particular family structure that "head of household" does not necessarily equal "decision maker." It all depends on what decisions need to be made, because the person who makes the decisions changes from one context to the next. For example, if a financial institution wants to learn more about consumers' opinions on savings account and credit card service, Ben Chan or his younger brother John are both good candidates. However, if the financial institution is interested in learning about business loan decisions, Ben is the better candidate. But if researchers insists on speaking only with the nominal head of household, they may end up with Rose, who is not the real decision maker in this instance. Similarly, if a packaged-food company is interested in food- purchasing behavior, then Rose's youngest daughter-in-law would be a very knowledgeable candidate. On the other hand, if a retailer is interested in clothes-shopping behavior, then Rose's college-age daughter Amy would be the most appropriate respondent.

Therefore, in determining the "right" respondents for a particular research project, be aware of the various roles, responsibilities and authority levels in an Asian family. With an understanding of and sensitivity to the world as the Chinese live it, a knowledgeable researcher can design the proper framework to screen for appropriate respondents. When this doesn't happen, researchers risk gathering information from the "wrong" respondents and generating conclusions based on invalid data.

Framing questions in relevant contexts

Another way in which context affects Asian marketing research is how a researcher frames the questions used to gather meaningful and useful information. Asian respondents often need to understand the context of a question before they can fully respond. The respondents use context as a filter through which they structure their "reality."' If researchers don't provide a recognizable context, the respondents will either redirect the question, answer in ways that give no real information, or create a context in order to respond. The obvious danger is that researchers may get information that reflects issues other than those sought.

Short and abrupt answers in themselves do not necessarily mean respondents are unwilling to engage in discussion. The respondents may, in fact, be signaling you that they can't relate to the framework as presented. The researcher needs to be perceptive enough to realize when his or her cultural construct or template has no meaning - or a significantly different meaning - for the respondents. Furthermore, the same cultural template may have different meanings among the subsegments of the same ethnic group.

Let's say you are preparing research on behavioral patterns of parents' leisure time with children. One widespread American assumption is that people value spending time with their families on their days off from work. The interpretation of "spending time with family" means passing time with one's spouse and children. Another assumption is that "good" parents are involved in their children's extracurricular activities. A common scenario has the parents taking their kids to a Little League game, then barbecuing at home with a few friends and their children.

This American cultural construct has different degrees of relevance to various subgroups of the Asian segment. While the more acculturated Asian-American families can relate comfortably to this concept, it's quite unfamiliar to many recent Asian immigrant families. If the less acculturated Asian is your target audience, but your research design is based on the aforementioned assumptions, you would be presenting a cultural construct that's not relevant to your intended audience. "Spending time with the family" holds a very different meaning for many Chinese immigrants. They would more likely interpret this concept as getting together socially with members of their extended families (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. ) than to doing things with just their spouse and children. Moreover, the concept of "good parenting" for many Chinese parents does not include involvement in their children's sports activities. Many of them regard children's play and adult leisure as distinct activities, to be done separately or in parallel, rather than together.

A good research design allows for the emergence of different cultural constructs and meanings during the data gathering process. The skillful researcher is constantly listening for shifts in orientation, perception and meaning. When these shifts occur, researchers must give themselves the freedom to adjust the research. Sometimes this means piloting a survey instrument to check on word/concept interpretations and contextual clues before full-scale implementation. Other times it means allowing the researcher to redirect the discussion and pursue the respondent's own categories of meaning and interpretation. Researchers should always strive to make explicit the respondents' own cultural constructs, from which they make sense of the world. In this way, the client gains deeper insight about behavioral patterns and motivational qualities of the Asian consumer.

Context of the researcher-respondent relationship

How much and what kind of information is disclosed also depends on the respondent's assessment of the context of the research environment itself. This context consists of the researcher's own assumptions and meanings; the respondent's perception of the researcher's expectations; and the rapport built between the two people. While this is true with all research, it is particularly salient in Asian marketing research. If an Asian person feels the researcher really can't relate to the respondent's world view non-judgmentally, the respondent often will answer briefly, with whatever answer she or he thinks will terminate the questioning. When the respondent feels the researcher is sincerely open to learning about the complexities and nuances of his or her world, a more complete, valid and useful explanation of the situation will emerge.2

For example: During research on behavioral patterns of Chinese immigrant families, respondents were asked to name their family members. What seemed like a straightforward question turned out not to be so simple after all. As one respondent patiently explained, "It all depends. Are you asking about my spouse and children, the family I was born into, the family I grew up in, the family I married into, or the people who currently live in my household?" This respondent had five distinctly different meanings for the concept of "family."

Respondents' answers often depend on the perception of the context of the relationship between the inquirer and respondent. For example, if the respondent feels a researcher is hurrying to gather basic demographic data and appears to be impatient with the extended Asian family composition, the respondent might just briefly describe the nuclear family of spouse and children. If the respondent was approached by her father-in-law's Chinese business associate, however, she would likely mention the members of the family into which she married. If she was approached by someone from her father's village, she would probably talk about the family into which she was born.

If it's important to fully understand the various meanings of "family" among Chinese immigrants, a researcher first needs to know that "family" is an important cultural construct for this group; then the researcher must demonstrate to the respondent a genuine desire to learn about the complexities of his or her world view. Finally, the researcher needs to probe deeper into the various circumstances under which the different forms of family are discussed. Without patiently exploring the various configurations of the family structure, the researcher would erroneously conclude there is only one meaning and definition of the Chinese family. The resulting analysis and recommendations are, at best, flawed.

Summary

In summary, our job as researchers is to conduct a meaningful analysis based on a picture from the respondents that's as unbiased as possible. While we may not be able to remain totally objective, we are responsible for managing our subjectivity. Not all of the assumptions that work in the general market can be directly transferred to the Asian market. The importance of context in Asian cultures affects the implementation of Asian research in at least three ways.

First, context can introduce some complexities in the selection of the appropriate respondents for various research projects. Secondly, during the data-gathering process the researcher must frame the questions in contexts that are relevant to the respondents, in order to facilitate meaningful discussion. (The inclusion of a culturally sensitive researcher in the planning stages of Asian marketing research can help avoid many cultural mistakes.)

Finally, establishing a good rapport with the Asian respondents also is crucial to success. When the researcher demonstrates a real desire to "resonate" with the respondents' values and meanings, the respondents often will teach the researcher about important dimensions of their world. The researcher is then able to clarify the overlapping psychological, social and cultural frameworks the respondents use to relate and interpret their world. 3 The skillful researcher is able to capture the respondents' "picture of reality" and can communicate these "frames" so that others can understand their unique points of view.

Notes

1 See Hall, E.T., Beyond Culture, New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1977.

2 See Argyis, C., Intervention Theory and Method: A Behavioral Science View, Massachusetts: Addison- Wesley, 1970.

3 See Felipe and Betty Ann Korzenny, "Psycho-socio-cultural Hispanic Research," Quirk's Marketing Research Review, Vol. VI, February 1992.