Definition
Research methods can be defined as a set of tools and approaches that are used to generate or answer research questions that are linked to a social marketing project, campaign, or intervention. Social marketing is an evidence-informed and theory-driven approach to behavior and social change. Social marketing is grounded in research, and all decisions, from the ideation, design, implementation, and evaluation of a social marketing initiative, should be guided by research.
Introduction
The social marketing planning process, as represented in Nancy Lee and Philip Kotler’s classic manual “Social marketing: Change for Social Good” (Lee & Kotler, 2019), is based on research. Research is present across the 8 benchmark criteria that have been used to define social marketing practice (National Social Marketing Center (NSMC), 2016). Research is mentioned in the first criterion “Consumer orientation.” Social marketing applies research activities to learn what people want and to...
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References
Dietrich, T., Guldager, J., Lyk, P., Vallentin-Holbech, L., Rundle-Thiele, S., Majgaard, G., & Stock, C. (2021). Co-creating virtual reality interventions for alcohol prevention: Living lab versus co-design. Frontiers in Public Health.
Evans, W. D. (2016). Social marketing research for global public health: Methods and technologies. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
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Evans, W. D., & Hastings, G. (Eds.). (2008). Public health branding: Applying marketing for social change. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Kubacki, K., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (Eds.). (2017). Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights. Singapore: Springer.
Lee, N. R., & Kotler, P. (2019). Social marketing: Behavior change for social good (6th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.
National Social Marketing Center (NSMC) (2016) Social Marketing Benchmark Criteria | The NSMC. https://www.thensmc.com/resource/social-marketing-benchmark-criteria. Accessed 16 Oct 2019.
Trischler, J., Dietrich, T., & Rundle-Thiele, S. R. (2019). A co-design framework for public service design. Public Management Review, 21(11), 1595–1619. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1619810.
Willmott, T., Hurley, E. & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2022) “Designing energy solutions: A comparison of two participatory design approaches for service design and innovation.” Journal of Service Theory and Practice. Accepted 3 Feb 2022 https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-03-2021-0040.
Further Readings
Acker, F., & Saunders, S. (2017). Approaching big data: Harnessing app information in social marketing. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 33–52). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_3.
Basil, M. (2017). Survey for formative research. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 251–263). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_12.
Belk, R., & Kozinetz, R. (2017). Videography and Netnography. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 265–279). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_13.
Bogomolova, S. (2017). Mechanical observation research in social marketing and beyond. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 125–143). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_8.
Carins, J. (2017). Visual observation techniques. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 107–123). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_7.
Gordon, R., & Ciorciari, J. (2017). Social marketing research and cognitive neuroscience. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 145–163). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_9.
Johnstone, M.-L. (2017). Depth interviews and focus groups. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 67–87). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_5.
Kubacki, K., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2017). Expanding the formative research toolkit. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 1–9). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_1.
Kubacki, K., & Siemieniako, D. (2017). Projective Techniques. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 165–181). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_10.
McKay-Nesbitt, J., & Bhatnagar, N. (2017). Experimental methods. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 89–106). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_6.
Merritt, R., & Vogel, M. (2017). Case studies in formative research. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 281–290). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_14.
Siemieniako, D. (2017). The consumer diaries research method. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 53–66). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_4.
Skinner, H. (2017). Action research. In K. Kubacki & S. Rundle-Thiele (Eds.), Formative research in social marketing: Innovative methods to gain consumer insights (pp. 11–31). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1829-9_2.
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Rundle-Thiele, S., Bardus, M. (2022). Research Methods for Social Marketers. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Social Marketing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14449-4_148-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14449-4_148-1
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