Collecting Hidden Consumer Data Online: Research on Homosexuals
FELICITAS MORHART
Collecting highly private data from consumers with nonapparent or even hidden
University of St. Galien,
characteristics, such as homosexuals, is difficult for two reasons: First, the resulting
Switzerland felicitas.morhart® unisg.ch SVEN HENKEL University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
data sets are rather small and nonrepresentative due to reachability and nonresponse problems. Second, data quality is often unsatisfying, for example, due to social desirability problems. To handle these problems, we recommend an online research strategy. We make our case by reporting on a Germany-wide online study on homosexuals where we applied a three-step procedure for recruiting participants.
[email protected]
We were successful in generating a sample of considerable size (n = 6,274) and WALTER HERZOG
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
heterogeneity, and in obtaining high-quality responses. Implications for marketing researchers and advertising professionals are provided.
[email protected] INTRODUCTION
In their quest for untapped market potential, companies are aiming to unearth consumers' more hidden characteristics, interests, and needs that can subsequently be targeted by tailor-made new products. Consider, for example, the growing market of services for people with eating disorders, financial problems, or difficulties in socializing— just to mention some of them. Without question, out of these new "not-so-obvious" segments, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community has gained extraordinary interest among marketers and advertisers. However, in all these cases, there is a big obstacle to building solid marketing and communication plans: The market-defining characteristics are most often nonapparent from the perspective of the marketing or advertising researcher or even proactively hidden by the consumer. Two challenges result for marketing and advertising research: First, it seems almost impossible to obtain a large and representative sample from consumers with the marketdefining, but hidden characteristic. Second, due to the very intimate character of such research attempts, it is very likely that consumers either do not respond at all or that their responses are DOI:
10.2501/S0021849908080288
biased and not reliable. In this article, we will elaborate on these challenges in detail and propose an online research strategy that mitigates these problems. More specifically, we will present our research on the GLBT community with the purpose of providing readers a useful procedure to consider when conducting research on this specific market segment. From a more general perspective, this approach might also be of interest for marketing and advertising researchers who seek to survey consumers with other nonapparent or even hidden characteristics (such as people with eating disorders, financial problems, difficulties in socializing, etc.). Recent studies in the United States gauge the GLBT community at 6.8 percent of the adult U.S. population—roughly 15 million individuals— with an estimated buying power of $690 billion in 2007 (Witeck Combs Communications/Harris Interactive, 2008). Indeed, the latest Gay Press Report found that more than 183 Fortune 500 brands are active in the gay market, and that total advertising spending in the gay and lesbian press has reached a record sum of $223.3 million in 2006 (Prime Access/Rivendell Media Company Inc., 2007). Estimates about the "pink" share of the June 2 0 0 8 JOUROHL OF ODOEOTISIOO OEOERRCH 2 4 7
COLLECTING HIDDEN CONSUMER DATA ONLINE
Recent studies in the United States gauge tiie GLBT community at 6.8 percent of tiie aduit U.S. popuiation— rougiiiy 15 miiiion individuáis—witii an estimated buying power of $690 biiiion in 2007.
population and its spending power in European countries sing from the same hymn sheet (Stuber and Iltgen, 2002). In response to these facts, the gay business is about to grow up to "virtually a full service market that includes media, merchandise catalogs, vacation companies, and legal, medical, financial, and communication services" (Burnett, 2000, p. 75). Probably the most straightforward venture lately has been MTV's launch of LOGO, a basic cable channel aimed at gay, lesbian, and transgender viewers. However, despite marketers' and advertisers' increased interest in this niche market, they still lack knowledge about how to approach it in a sensitive and well-informed way (Witeck and Combs, 2006). This may in part be due to the difficulties the gay segment poses to market researchers using traditional ("offline") approaches. PROBLEMS OF RESEARCHING THE GLBT COMMUNITY WITH TRADITIONAL METHODS
Over the past years, gays and lesbians have proven to be elusive to traditional market research, particularly for two reasons: First, one cannot define the "true" population, as neither official statistics nor general mailing lists of homosexuals are available for any country or business segment. Thus, generating a sample that would be representative for the homosexual community turns out to be impossible from the first (Schneider, Rosenkranz, and
Limmer, 1998). As a consequence, past research has met a lot of methodological criticism because of biased sourcing (Burnett, 2000). Second, DeLozier and Rodrique (1996) found members of the gay community to be highly skeptical toward homosexualrelated research. From our own experiences we know that gathering data from gays and lesbians is a delicate challenge. Members of the GLBT community tend to be very self-protecting regarding their homosexual identities for fear of anyone's attempt to capitalize on their inclination. Further, many of them feel ashamed of their homosexuality and fall victim to social desirability concerns when answering questions or do not participate at all. This inevitably leads to decreases in sample size and data quality, and problems with representativeness even aggravate. Doing research with homosexuals calls for an approach that speaks sensitively to respondents' needs, concerns, and preferences, and respects their privacy by allowing for responses in a safe and confidential setting. Researchers using "traditional" methods of data collection such as face-to-face interviews and paper-pencil questionnaires have a hard time overcoming these difficulties. With a target group being small and at the same time geographically farflung, costs in terms of money and time can explode very fast, if one wants to collect offline data nationwide. Therefore, many researchers resort to a more re-
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gional and targeted approach by recruiting participants from organizations, venues, and events where members of the target group reveal their hidden characteristic or are at least overly represented. In the case of past gay research, popular addressees have been members of local gay and lesbian organizations, visitors of gay clubs and cafés, members of AIDS support groups, or participants at Christopher Street Days or Gay Olympics in big cities. However, this kind of stereotyped "ad hoc" sourcing suffers from its limited potential to cover those individuals who have not yet come out of the closet, and thus most probably leads to highly distorted results. In addition, due to their off-line modus, both interviews and paper-pencil questionnaires require participants to step out of privacy at least to a certain degree—be it by opening up oneself to an interviewer, by accepting one's appearance on a mailing or telephone list, or by showing up at a place where questionnaires are deposited for pickup. All these off-line modi of data collection demand from potential respondents "real life" commitments that reduce their feelings of anonymity and safety while participating. Thus, as discussed before, data quality will not be satisfying and certain cynical or ashamed members of the GLBT community will be underrepresented. It seems that by means of traditional, real-life data collection methods, one cannot tackle the difficulties inherent to researching the GLBT community in a satisfying way. Such procedures lead to small data sets that overly represent the more extroverted individuals of the target community, who are willing to broach the issue of their hidden characteristic. In contrast, with the emergence of the internet and virtual reality, promising avenues open up to the minds of the more introverted individuals.
COLLECTING HIDDEN CONSUMER DATA ONLINE
THE BENEFITS OF VIRTUAL REALITY
To fully understand the benefits that the internet: bears for researching consumers with nonapparent or hidden characteristics, and in particular homosexuals, one must understand its properties and peculiarities from a social psychological perspective. A recent joint study by the ACNielsen Center for Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Gallup Organization indicated fundamental differences in the ways people express themselves in online and offline settings (Miller, 2001). When using keystrokes and mouse clicks in place of spoken word and pencil notes, people tend to employ a higher proportion of strong words (both positive and negative) and to be more honest about themselves. The authors explain these response-to-media differences by people's feelings of less susceptibility to social pressure (or social grace) and greater anonymity when working online. It is exactly these two features of virtual reality that members of the GLBT community may particularly benefit from. Due to the lack of physical cues and haptic impressions, the internet provides a secure setting that is less subject to social norms and controls. In fact, it offers an atmosphere of openness that facilitates the conscious activation and affirmation of marginalized identities (Döring, 1999). According to McKenna and Bargh (1998), "the emergence of the internet has enabled the exploration of aspects of one's identity that formerly had to remain hidden because of societal disapproval. In virtual groups, where people can be anonymous and do not deal in face-to-face interactions, individuals can admit to having marginalized, or nonmainstream, proclivities that they hide from the rest of the world. For the first time, they can reap the benefits of joining a group of similar others: feeling less isolated and different.
Due to the lack of physical cues and haptic impressions, the internet provides a secure setting that is less subject to social norms and controls. In fact, it offers an atmosphere of openness that facilitates the conscious activation and affirmation of marginalized identities.
disclosing a long secret part of oneself, sharing one's own experiences and learning from those of others, and gaining emotional and motivational support" (pp. 681-682). Accordingly, in its identity-creating and -affirming function, the internet also benefits homosexual web users—specifically those who have not "come out" yet (Shaw, 1997). In their study of 172 homosexual men, Dittmann, Limberg, Siegle, and Wütherich (1998) could verify the great importance of the internet as a medium to help homosexuals find their identity and establish contacts to like-minded individuals. Moreover, they found homosexual internet users to hold a strong collective identity. Members of those marginalized web communities often ascribe high personal value to their virtual groups, resulting in active participation and high engagement. McKenna and Bargh (1998) argue that through this active participation in an internet group that shares their marginalized identity aspect, people begin to consider just that aspect of themselves as more socially acceptable. This reduces the inner conflict between the marginalized self-aspect and cultural standards and allows the individual to be more open about that aspect toward others. This speaks in favor of the assumption that gay men and women are aboveaverage active in the internet. Indeed, a
study by BBDO Consulting (2001) found the portion of web users among homosexuals to be higher by more than 20 percent than among the total population at the beginning of this decade. In their virtual reality, members of the GLBT community can live up to their true selves and experience the strong support of other members. In line with Deci and Ryan (1985), we argue that the support of autonomy (being allowed to live one's true self) and relatedness (experiencing the support of the community) should also increase the consumers' internal motivation to respond to online surveys concerning their hidden inclinations. This, in turn, should lead to voluntary "extra-role behaviors" of participants such as thinking longer about response alternatives and providing extensive qualitative data (e.g., in response to open questions). After all, the benefits of virtual reality can be summarized into two main aspects that make it a far more effective source for collecting data from the GLBT community than any of the offline approaches (apart from the general benefits of online research like reduced costs, speed, etc.): Large sample size and heterogeneity. Via
the internet, the researcher has access to a quantity of subjects that traditional sources like public venues, events, and organizations cannot provide. The internet—in its anonymity and openness—attracts
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In their virtual reality, members of the GLBT community can live up to their true selves and experience the strong support of other members.
individuals from across the whole demographic and psychographic spectrum. Thus, the chance to cover the full range of characters of thé target group, for example the more isolated who keep their marginalized identities secret in real life, is higher in an online setting than in a (stereotyped) offline setting. Indeed, research by Witeck Combs Communications/ Harris Interactive (2008) has shown that a considerably higher proportion of individuals classifies itself as members of the GLBT community when using an online survey than when using an in-person survey with blind envelope or a telephone survey. Data quality. In its identity-forming and -confirming function, the internet encourages individuals with marginalized identities to be more open and honest about themselves and experience the support of their community. As a consequence, the risk of obtaining biased responses is probably smaller than in real-Hfe settings, where social controls may pressure individuals to hide their true identities. Furthermore, voluntary extra-role behaviors of respondents (such as increased response rates to open questions) can be expected. In summary, a carefully designed online research approach can (1) ameliorate problems related to representativeness by opening the door to a large and more heterogeneous sample, and (2) improve data quality by surveying respondents in an atmosphere that facilitates more open and honest communication. Of course, we recognize that online research—^just like any data collection
method—has its weaknesses. Issues of concern are primarily self-selection bias, the lack of control over who is responding and how many times, and, again, lack of representativeness (e.g., due to still limited internet access in many countries or among certain demographic groups). However, we argue that for the issue under study here, the advantages of online research over traditional methods outweigh its shortcomings. Particularly the latter aspect (lack of representativeness) becomes less pressing in our case, as the internet tends to be quite mainstreamed among homosexuals (and most probably also among other groups with hidden characteristics). In addition, the lack of representativeness is no specific shortcoming of online research in our case. As has been mentioned before, it is impossible to generate a representative sample of homosexuals as their "true" population is not known. When research in a specific area— such as gay research—is still in its infancy, then the researcher's mission should be exploring rather than confirming. Thus, as a first step, one needs to detect the full range of identities that make up the homosexual population, which can provide the base for stratified sampling procedures in future research. With this goal in mind, online research might be a reasonable alternative to traditional methods in this case. THE STUDY
In the following sections, we will describe how a researcher can increase (1) sample heterogeneity and sample size, as well as
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(2) data quality when doing research related to highly personal and sensitive aspects of consumers' identities. Therefore, we report on our data collection procedure in the course of a Germany-wide online study on gays and lesbians as an example for customers whose hidden characteristics are of interest for marketing and advertising research.
Background of the study
Although the great potential of the GLBT market has been recognized, only few empirical data can be found that help researchers and managers to better understand special needs, habits, and interests of this target group. Our study aimed to provide advertising professionals with more information about gay-specific television advertising preferences. However, for the purposes of the present investigation, we will focus solely on the issue of data collection to make a case on how to obtain data from the GLBT community.
Preparation
As we have emphasized in earlier parts of this article, the lesbian and gay community seems very sensitive toward and maybe even reactant against every kind of market research activity. To meet this challenge, we discussed our questionnaire in depth with the director of Mi.st Consulting, a Cologne-based company that specializes in marketing to gay and lesbian consumers in order to avoid incorrect and compromising wording. In addition, we tested our instrument with seven male and one female homosexual (three social workers of a therapeutic group for AIDS patients, two students, one marketing assistant, one moderator of a gay TV broadcast, and one teacher) for comprehensibility and "community-like" authentic expressions.
COLLECTING HIDDEN CONSUMER DATA ONLINE
Data collection: The three-step
The internet—in its anonymity and openness—attracts
procedure
Preceding the actual data collection, we conducted intense desk research to identify possible contact persons in the German homosexual media business who could serve as "door openers" to the target group. The result was a list of the editors in charge of 23 gay-specific print magazines (>10,000 copies), 8 gay TV providers, 37 gay radio providers, and 31 gay content online providers. All media were nonpornographic, of course. In addition, we searched German online gay chatrooms for entries in user galleries in order to create a mailing list of approximately 400 individuals. Finally, we screened our personal network for homosexual friends and acquaintances resulting in a list of 63 individuals. Based on these lists, we approached our sample by a "three-step procedure." The three steps can be ordered along a continuum of increasing intimacy in communication with step 1 involving the least intimate form of communication (anonymous/impersonal) and step 3 involving the most intimate form of communication (nonanonymous/ personal) (see Figure 1). In the first step, we used conventional channels of mass media communication
Scope
/Mass Media: Reaching those who think/ of being homosexual
/Chat! Reaching those who talk about being homosexual ^ 'Individual:
Reaching those who / Intimacy live up to homosexuality /of Access
Figure 1 Three-Step Procedure for Collecting Data from the GLBT Community
individuáis from across the whoie demographic and psychographic spectrum. Thus, the chance to cover the fuii range of characters of the target group, for exampie the more isoiated who iceep their marginaiized identities secret in reai iife, is higher in an oniine setting than in a (stereotyped) offiine setting.
to promote our study. In particular, we asked the providers of gay-specific internet content to place a link to our questionnaire on their websites. In most instances, the hyperlink was accompanied by an article about our survey and its purposes, as well as the main researcher's email address. Moreover, we had a banner advertisement created that was published on the website of a nationwide gay community platform comprising more than 50 regional gay-specific subgroups. Furthermore, out of the 23 gay print magazines contacted, two of them agreed to publish an article about our study together with a call for participation via their websites. Additionally, one gay radio station broadcasted an interview with the first author, again referring the audience to their website for participation. Unfortunately, we were not able to win over people from TV stations to free airtime for us. The main challenge in dealing with the editors was to convince them of the seriousness and usefulness of this research project. However, by proving our identities as academics, referring to our university as the patron of this study, and assuring them that our results would be provided to them for their own interest, we gained the needed support from mass media providers.
In a second step, after intense discussion, we decided to resort to a more intimate communication channel, that is, gay online chatrooms. Of course we knew that we were infringing the "netiquette" by entering strictly limited community platforms for research purposes and by directly contacting individuals by their email addresses obtained from the user galleries. Nonetheless, with the potential for harm in mind when conducting research in chatrooms (Hudson and Bruckman, 2004), we found a way to obtain considerable acceptance by the subjects: By unmasking our identities and providing our complete contact data in a short letter of motivation emphasizing the academic purpose of the study, offering the provision of study results, and assuring individuals that it would be a nonrecurring appeal for participation, we were able to avoid consequences like getting kicked out of the chatroom, flames, or even letter bombs. Indeed, we were able to win over some community members, as one participant's comment illustrates: "P.S.: Great survey, thanks. But where did you get my email address from?" In the final step, we made use of the most intimate form of communication—that is, personal, nonanonymous communication.
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Therefore, we asked homosexual friends and acquaintances for their support by promoting our study in their personal networks. In this way, we aimed to capitalize on the great importance homosexuals ascribe to personal sources of information, that is, word-of-mouth (Burnett, 2000). Preferably, we approached individuals who were engaged in a professional, political, or artistic gay association and whom we knew were in an opinion leader position within their networks. In some cases, we were even introduced to their associations' group meetings to present our study goals and directly ask members for their participation. The formula of success of this threestep procedure was winning over plenty of powerful multipliers (powerful in terms of reach and credibility of the source) to initiate a self-energizing recruiting process ("snowball effect"). In doing so, we came up to a sample of considerable size, heterogeneity, and quality, as will be detailed in the following section.
the end of the questionnaire. Some statements even comprised more than 400 words, which is an indicator of the respondents' internal motivation for participating in our study. In addition, lots of comments like "I haven't come out yet, I am afraid of that" and "an interesting questionnaire, for which I spent a lot of time" reflect participants' personal commitment and honesty while answering our questions. Moreover, 78 percent of the participants entered a valid email address in order to receive the results of the study. This behavior is another proof of the highquality assumption (Döring, 1999). Finally, we think that a response rate of 73 percent also indicates the amovmt and quality of motivation with which respondents participated in this survey— particularly if one considers the length of the questionnaire (approximately 10 pages in letter format requiring 25-30 minutes to fill out).
Sample size and heterogeneity
Surveying homosexuals is a promising, but at the same time difficult task for marketing and advertising research. We have argued that traditional methods of data collection most often lead to small, nonrepresentative samples. Some consumers feel ashamed because of their hidden characteristic. Others assume that market researchers capitalize on it. This leads to decreased data quality and to even smaller and less representative samples.
CONCLUSiONS AND liVIPLiCATIONS
Out of 8,693 homosexuals who started to fill out the online form, we received usable answers from 6,274 participants representing a response rate of 73 percent. Our sample includes input by participants covering a wide spectrum of ages (from an 11-year-old pupil to a 79-yearold retiree), education levels (from participants with no high-school graduation to university professors), habitations (from villages with less than 500 inhabitants to cities with more than 1 million inhabitants), incomes, and psychographic profiles. Data quaiity
The seriousness of responses and the extent of statements given in the survey are indicators for the high quality of the data set. More than 20 percent of the participants took the option to express their individual impressions and thoughts at
To meet the concerns of this community, we propose using online data collection methods. In general, the internet plays an important role for consumers with hidden characteristics because they are most often connected to their community through specific internet forums, platforms, or chatrooms. Moreover, the anonymity of the internet allows members of such groups to live up to their marginalized identities without being confronted
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with social pressures. Accordingly, the internet encourages community members to respond honestly in surveys that pick out their hidden selves as a central theme. To benefit from those opportunities inherent to the internet, we applied a threestep strategy to recruit survey participants for a Germany-wide online study on television advertising preferences of homosexuals. In a first step, we used anonymous mass media communication to promote our study. In particular, we placed links, banners, and editorial pieces about our study on gay-specific internet sites, in print magazines, and on radio shows. In this context, it was of particular importance to carefully check the seriousness of media partners through detailed a priori desk research. Moreover, it was helpful to personally contact media providers to persuade them of the relevance of the study. Afterward, in a second step, we called attention to our study by creating contacts in gay-specific chatrooms; that is, we chose a two-sided, but still media-based form of communication. Because we were aware of infringing the "netiquette" by entering such "private areas," we had to operate very carefully within this phase. However, by communicating in a very sensitive and empathetic way, we could generate a great deal of acceptance. Thereby, we particularly benefited from highlighting the scientific and nonrecurring character of our study. Moreover, we published the aims of our study together with our complete contact data in order to underline the seriousness of our research. In a third step, we asked homosexual friends and acquaintances to support our research by promoting our study in their personal networks. In this step, we communicated personally without any media support. After explaining the aims and relevance of our work, we could win over those group members as multipliers who were highly motivated to
COLLEOTING HIDDEN CONSUMER DATA ONLINE
help us with our study. In this phase it was also helpful to join homosexual group meetings in order to increase the number of personal contacts. This procedure was very successful: First, we collected data from 6,274 homosexuals with a broad range of characteristics, which is one of the largest samples on homosexual-specific marketing issues. Second, the data collected are of high quality with 20 percent of all participants having entered long personal comments even though the questionnaire had been quite lengthy. Moreover, a response rate of 73 percent and the fact that 78 percent of all participants had entered their personal contact addresses in order to get informed about the results are indicators of high participant involvement and data quality. Both academics and practitioners who are interested in doing market research on homosexuals may take the insights of this study as a helpful guideline for designing their own data collection procedure. Moreover, we believe that many of the strategies used to reach the GLBT community for research are also applicable to other market segments that share the tricky feature of being defined by hidden characteristics of the target individuals (e.g., socially isolated, debtors, people with mental problems, etc.). As such, our suggested approach should help researchers to sensitively uncover aspects of individuals that may open up a whole new area of unattended consumer needs.
piace in Germany and the United States. Her work on
N, MIGUEL, AXEL LIMBERG, DOROTHEA
TV strategies for the homosexuai audience has been
SIEGLE, and PETER WÜTHERICH. "Schöne rosa
published as a book and was awarded the KPiVIG
Welt? Eine Studie über Schwule im Internet
iVledia Prize for innovative work in media research.
[Wonderful Pink World. A Study about Homosexuals in the Internet]." In Das Netzmedium:
SVEN HENKEL is a research assistant and doctoral
Kommunikationswissenschaftliche Aspekte eines
candidate at the Institute of Marketing and Retailing
Mediums in Entwicklung, Irene Nevería, ed.
at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Since
Opladen/Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag,
October 2007 he is the project leader of consumer
1998.
and brand research at the same institute. Mr. Henkei's current research interests are corporate brand
DÖRING, NICOLA. Sozialpsychologie des Internet.
management, behavioral branding, and advertising
Die Bedeutung des Internet für Kommunikation-
effectiveness.
sprozesse, Identitäten, soziale Beziehungen und Cruppen [The Social Psychology of tlie Internet.
WALTER HERZOG, Dr. oec, is a postdoctoral researcher
The Impact of the Internet on Communication Pro-
at the Institute of Marketing and Retailing at the Uni-
cesses, Identities, Social Relations, and Croups].
versity of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He is currently a
Göttingen/Bern/Toronto/Seattle: Hogrefe,
visiting scholar at the University of iVlichigan, Ann
1999.
Arbor, and his research is sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation. His substantive reHUDSON, JAMES M., and AMY BRUCKMAN. "'GO
search focuses on the concept of autonomy in con-
Away': Participant Objections to Being Studied
sumer behavior and organizational psychology. He
and the Ethics of Chatroom Research." The
also conducts methodological research on the robust
Information Society 20, 2 (2004): 127-39.
estimation and evaluation of covariance structure models.
MCKENNA, KATELYN, and JOHN BARGH. "Com-
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