Consumer research in PROSA

There are two different research traditions and areas for practical application in consumer research: marketing-oriented consumer research and consumer-oriented consumer research. The underlying methods are the same, but the questions and analytical perspective are different.

Marketing-oriented consumer research is carried out predominantly on behalf of companies; its primary objective is to ensure that products sell successfully (“sales research“), although of course potential problems in the post-sale phase are also taken into account (dissonance reduction management and customer satisfaction research). By contrast consumer-oriented consumer research (“consumption research“) analyses from the point of view of consumers and society and also undertakes in-depth analysis of the post-sale phase – in particular the use phase, use patterns and possibilities for an environmentally sound, cost-saving and socially sustainable use of products. Both points of view should be given attention in a sustainability-oriented study.

The familiar quantitative and qualitative consumer research tools can be used for the benefit analysis in PROSA (questionnaires, interviews, empirical content analysis, observations, experiments and test situations); qualitative social research methods, such as group research, are generally given greater emphasis, however. Focus groups are especially well suited for this because complex aspects of sustainability and difficult social-psychological issues can be analysed here with limited effort. Being together in a group has the advantage that the generation of processes of opinion formation can be speeded up in the group, observed and analysed later according to specific target groups. In addition to the traditional questions (practical utility, symbolic utility, target groups) patterns of use, habits of use and aspects of sustainability are also subjected to particular study.

In focus groups with PROSA an expert is included in each group in order to answer tricky questions in an ad hoc manner in the overlapping areas of technology, ecology and use (cf. Grießhammer et al. 2004, p. 37ff). In addition to the focus groups it can also be useful to consult stakeholders and experts in mini-groups.

The results of consumer research or benefit analysis are closely coordinated with those from the Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), the Social LCA and the Life-Cycle Costing.

The aim of the benefit analysis is not to produce an absolute assessment of products but rather to ascertain opportunities and products suited for the future and to derive potential ways of optimizing products so that they become more sustainable. For example, car sharing can be made more attractive when the symbolic utility aspects of individual cars are made clearer and this symbolic utility can be satisfied by car sharing as well.