Department of Marketing, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053
(408) 554-6960 phone, 554-5056 fax, emcquarrie@mailer.scu.edu
On this page I briefly describe each of my current research areas, pointing you to other pages that contain more information. In some cases a paper may be downloaded in its entirety (current work only); in others, only the citation, abstract and heading structure is given.
The three areas in which I am currently active are:
Advertising rhetoric | Customer visits & Market research | Philosophy of science-experimental methodology
For a complete list of publications, see my vita.
Rhetoric means that you have deliberately crafted your communication so as to achieve a specified impact upon some audience. In a contemporary context, rhetoric further suggests a focus on the style or form of a communication-how something is said, more than what is said. With respect to advertising, this means that you select and arrange words and pictures so as to evoke particular reactions. My particular interest is rhetorical structure--the distinctive form that writing takes when rhetorical intent is the dominant motive. A good example of rhetorical structure is the "figure of speech"-examples would include metaphor, pun, rhyme, and hyperbole. My research examines the nature and function of such rhetorical figures in advertising.
Most recent papers:
"Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language"
"On Resonance: A Critical Pluralistic Inquiry into Advertising Rhetoric"
(for additional articles on this topic, see vita)
The customer visit is a market research tool pioneered by technology and business-to-business firms. It fulfills many of the same purposes as the focus group does for packaged goods firms: getting close to customers, gaining an in-depth understanding of the customer perspective, and discovering new ideas. In the typical customer visit a product manager (a marketing job function) and a project manager (an R&D or engineering function) will personally visit a customer(s) at the customer's place of business. A one or two hour exploratory interview will be conducted, often accompanied by a tour so that the visitors can see their product in use. A program of visits then consists of one to three dozen such encounters. My particular interest has been exploring the potential of customer visits as an alternative to more traditional research techniques, and identifying best practices.
Most recent paper:
"Taking a Road Trip: Customer Visits Help Companies
Recharge Relationships and Pass Competitors"
Also of interest:
Customer Visits: Building a Better Market Focus
(1993 Book, available from Sage: (805) 499-9774)
The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide for Beginners
(February 1996 book from Sage)
(For additional articles on this topic, see vita;
see also the Description of services I offer as a consultant)
In the present context this might be translated to "the examination of fundamental assumptions underlying attempts to create scientific knowledge in the area of marketing." Is marketing a science? Is it the same kind or level of science as physics and biology? My particular interest is the contribution of laboratory experiments. How artificial can these experiments be? What considerations of construct validity arise when we examine the contribution of individual experiments to marketing knowledge?
Most recent paper:
"On the Neglect of Verisimilitude and Critical Multiplism
In Laboratory Experiments on Advertising: A Scientific
Realist Critique"
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