Advertisers and marketers use motivational research for the purpose of accessing attitudes of consumers towards services and products by systematically analysing the motives behind the decisions made by the consumers. It seeks to comprehend the soft-unspoken beliefs and motives felt and observed by consumers thus facilitating finding prospects in relation to a product or a brand category.

It is a form of qualitative research which is conducted in a one-on-one interview setting, through diary reports, photo ethnography to find out the underlying motives and behaviours and also through depth interviews. This form of non directive qualitative research concentrates on listening to customers while they talk and discuss the minimal number of specific open ended questions.

For the purpose of eliciting answers and stimulating respondents thought process projective techniques are used. Here the respondents are exposed to aural and visual stimulus in their environment and then allowed to describe their wants, dreams, aspirations, preferences, perceptions, choices, likings, disliking etc. the stimulus helps in informing how the various different needs could be met.

Once a book is worth a close look, it should not be read mechanically just to mine it for data to record.  It is not clerical work to take notes. When the notes are taken thoughtfully on a source not just the ideas and words is that the reader engages into but also its consequences, implications, shortcomings and also the new possibilities. The source should be engaged in a way as if the writer was sitting with us, eager for a conversation. The most fulfilling and promising sources should be read twice for an advanced project for generous understanding of them. If the reader disagrees soon, the text could be exaggerated or misunderstood.

The text should be then reread critically and slowly as if a friend is being questioned amiably, imagining his/her answers and then questioning them. If the reader disagrees, the source should not be out rightly rejected rather it should be read in a way that would encourage one’s own original thought process. Until and unless some ideas of one’s own are not deliberated upon, the sources cannot be fully engaged.

The reader should read sources creatively and actively like an engaged partner rather than reading them passively as a consumer. Even if the reader agrees with the sources, he/she must go beyond one’s sources to have richness in work which would also enhance the quality of writing. It becomes a satisfying moment when the source confirms with the views of the reader. But if the researcher passively agrees he would not be able to develop his own ideas. Therefore, the reader should extend his/her source claims like what can be the new sources that could be covered.

The knowledge of different types of variable and also the way they can be measured plays a significant role in research. Variables become important in resulting into specificity and clarity to the conceptualisation of a research problem, leading to establishing hypotheses, leading to construction of research instrument. Variables affect the way data could be analysed, statistical tools that could be applied to the data, interpretations that could be made, the way data could be presented and finally what conclusions could be drawn. The way a variable could be measured at the data collection stage determines to a larger extent whether a study would be majorly ‘qualitative’ or ‘quantitative’ in nature.

For a beginner it becomes important to understand the various ways by which a variable could be measured and implications arising from it for the study. There are three perspectives that mutually not exclusive through which a variable could be classified:

• Causal relationship
  
• Design of the study
  
• Unit of measurement
  

Any concept that could be measured on scales like nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio is called a variable. Measurement scales leads to subjective responses, and also responses that could be measured with great precision for purposes of categorisation. The choice that a researcher could have on measuring a variable on a scale used for measurement depends upon the objective of the study and also the way the researchers want to convey their findings to the readers.