ABSTRACT
Cultural influences are often unnoticed by consumers, so creative approaches to research are needed to gain an understanding for marketing decisions. Researchers use observation and differing levels of participant involvement to better understand the consumption patterns and choices of customers. The search for knowledge about marketing and consumption practices can come from a variety of perspectives. The researchers tried something new—sometimes something a little different, at other times a totally radical approach. The researcher can also easily gauge both the average relative influence and extent of role specialization for each decision, as well as the similarity or dissimilarity among decisions with respect to marital roles. Experimental research settings are often contrived, whereas ethnographic settings are existentially “real.” A multiple perspective approach to research is inherent in many culturally-based research methods. Ethnographic-based researchers typically combine observation, discussion, and interaction in their study of human behavior.
