Introspection in Consumer Research: Implementation and Implications

TLDR

Recent consumer‑behavior studies that rely heavily on researchers’ personal experiences raise methodological concerns that the authors examine. The authors identify six methodological issues for introspection in consumer research and propose guided introspection and reflexivity as ways to advance theory. The authors review introspective methods and classify them into five categories—researcher, guided, interactive, syncretic, and reflexivity—drawing on other social sciences. The study finds that researcher introspection suffers from data, role, and scope problems, limiting its usefulness, and emphasizes the need to balance openness and rigor in consumer research.

Abstract

On the basis of a review of introspective methods in other social science disciplines, we identify five categories of introspection: (1) researcher introspection, (2) guided introspection, (3) interactive introspection, (4) syncretic combinations, and (5) reflexivity within research. We draw from this literature a set of six methodological issues relevant to the conduct of introspection in consumer research. Because of the recent publication of consumer behavior papers that rely extensively or even exclusively on the researchers' life experiences as data, we consider these methodological issues in detail regarding the conduct of researcher introspection. On the basis of substantive and methodological developments in other categories of introspection, researcher introspection is critiqued in terms of data collection and recording issues, its lack of separation of the roles of the researcher and introspector, and its exclusive focus on one individual. Because of the difficulties of overcoming critical methodological limitations inherent in this research approach, we conclude that researcher introspection has severely limited potential to contribute to future research in consumer behavior. In contrast, we suggest that appropriate use of guided introspection and reflexivity within research can be used to advance theory in consumer behavior. We conclude by discussing the balance between openness and rigor necessitated by the pluralistic composition of the field of consumer research.