Research and Statistics

            I have an interview tomorrow at Corona Research.  I am excited about the opportunity to work for a company who conducts qualitative, quantitative, and strategic marketing.  The internship will last 6 weeks, and I will work 25-30 hours per week.  My ideal assignment would be to create a marketing proposal for a company who wants to target more of the Hispanic market.  I will start by determining the demographics of the consumers and their market share.  Next I will examine what strategies their competitors are using to attract customers using product, price, and promotion.  I will identify if the product fills a niche in the market, and if this market is being tapped through advertising.  For qualitative research, I will use surveys and focus groups to learn what consumers think about the product.  Questions will include demographic information, and several open ended questions.  The responses will be coded, and I will look for common themes.  Quantitative analysis will also be used.  I will use ANOVA’s to determine if there are significant differences between preferences of products based on gender, age, and acculturation.  After the data are analyzed, I will have a clear picture of the consumers and what they think about the product.  This information will be used to create an advertising campaign.  The product may be advertised in English, Spanish, or both languages through a combination of radio, TV (Univision), and in store promotions.  I am excited to have the opportunity to apply the skills from my master’s program to solve real world problems.

Social Class vs. Race

            In Unequal Childhoods, Lareau raises the issue of how social class and race interact.  I haven’t given this much thought before reading the book.  I found it interesting how children of different races have more in common than children of the same race who are from different social classes.  I thought that race would be a factor that would have more similarities.  The schools I have worked at are primarily Hispanic, and working-class.  The Anglo students are the minorities, and tend to blend in with the Hispanic students.  The differences in cultural factors I noticed were between Hispanic students who had recently arrived to the U.S. and second generation Hispanics.  The recent arrivals were still attached to the Mexican culture, and had a strong work ethic.  For instance, I taught a 5^th grade class in Spanish, and when we had a party it resembled a Mexican party where everyone made a special homemade dish like tamales, beans, rice, flan.  These students were very respectful, wanted to celebrate Mexican culture, and really wanted to learn English.  The next year, I taught a 4^th grade mainstream English class, and their idea of a party was to bring in Hot Cheetos and Doritos.  This class was, not very motivated, partially familiar with Mexican cultures, and partially proficient in English.  The students in these two classes lived in the same neighborhood, but had different social values due to their parents’ level of acculturation.  The recent arrivals seemed to believe in the American Dream, and the parents pushed their kids to learn English so they could have more opportunities.  The other group had been in the U.S. for several generations, and seemed to be stuck.  They spoke English, but didn’t have the skills to graduate from high school or college.  When I think about the low Hispanic graduation rate, I see how natural growth is not serving the Hispanic population.  Some sort of institutional change must take place in the school system or the cycle of poverty will continue.  I am disappointed that the ‘shop classes’ have been removed from the schools, when these classes could provide skills for Hispanics to learn a trade.  While it sound good to tell people that if they work hard and get good grades they can go to college, this is a middle class value that the low and middle-class don’t identify with.

               She gave me crabs!  I feel crabby.  King crab, blue crab, hermit crab, and crab cakes.  Old Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and Baltimore.  The word crab congers up many different images and has different meanings depending on persons’ experiences and context.  I grew up in a land-locked state, and the only time I saw a crab was at the beach in Mexico when I dug under the sand when the waves were going out.  They were tiny crabs, no bigger than a dime, but they were fun to catch nonetheless.  In high school my friend Greg and I cooked a delicacy of crab legs and steak for our prom night dates.  This was the first time I had crabs, I mean the first time I ate crabs.  They were mild, and tasted like butter, and it was a lot of work to get the meat out of the shell.  Listening to hardcore rap lyrics by the Two Live Crew taught me a new meaning for the word crabs, “She has more crabs than a seafood platter!”  I never forgot the line describing and warning about STD’s.  Through the years I have gone to Joe’s Crab Shack and tried their deliciously seasoned crabs.  This week I gave my daughter a crab, not the typical pet of a puppy or kitten, but a hermit crab which she named Smiley because her shell has a smile painted on it.  Most of the time the crab is tolerant of people, but she still pinches when she feels threatened.  Tonight I returned from a crab eating party at a friend’s house where we steamed 50 pounds of blue crabs.  By now I’m feeling kind of crabby because you are what you eat.  I can’t complain, at least I don’t have the crabs!

          Wii, in Japanese means everyone, and is a product I would like to investigate for Hispanic marketing. The products price is $250 for a basic set with a console, two controllers, and five sports games.   Kids and families are the primary market for this game system.  Currently, there TV  ads for Wii products and the company spent $200 million in advertising in 2006, but much of the publicity is by word of mouth.  The Wii fit ads try to attract kids and women to encourage balance and exercise using videos of people of all ages using the slogan, “How will it move you?”   An article on Hispanic Youth Culture 2007 found the Wii is not as popular for Hispanic males 15-24 compared with other demographics.  The study found a higher percentage of teenage girls preferred playing video games like the Wii than teenage boys.  Females in this category prefer games like Tony Hawk skateboarding and Dance Dance Revolution.  This indicates a potential new market of video game platforms and games for the future. 

               As head of the Hispanic marketing department for Nintendo, I have developed a strategy for targeting this market.  The approach will focus on females, ages 15-24, emphasize group fun and fitness, and use ads in Spanish and English.  The ads for Wii Fit can show more Hispanics and famous Hispanics using the product, along with catchy Latin music.  The slogan can be “Muevate conmigo” or move it with me.  The idea is that taking time to exercise is important for your health, and can make you more beautiful and sexy.  For other software, I recommend developing a Latin hits for Guitar Hero.  The songs would range from traditional mariachi music, salsa, and cumbias from Latinas home countries and could feature a trumpet, maracas, or even pan pipes.  The format would be similar for Dance Dance Revolution.  Surveys could help determine females’ preferences for songs and the new product can be called “Baila conmigo” or dance with me.  These culturally sensitive product adaptations would give Hispanics products they would enjoy more than products that are currently available.  Sales would increase, and the Wii could attract the interest of an important segment of the Hispanic population.

http://www.labelnetworks.com/technology/hispanic_videogaming_07.html

Week 5 entry 3 June 20, 2009

Consumer culture and expenditures is the topic of my research paper.  I found an interesting ethnography article titled Chicano Lite (Campbell, Journal of Consumer Culture 2005).  The study is based on consumer behavior of Mexican-Americans living along the US-Mexico border.  There are two anthropological approaches of consumption.  The first focuses on issues of identity, meaning and style (207).  The other approach focuses on issues of inequality, class, and status.  I agree with the author’s perspective in that combining both approaches is most insightful.  The paper will focus on style and meaning, as well as power and inequality.  The author concludes that the US consumer culture is both a source of self-fulfillment and a means toward becoming further intertwined in a system of unequal political and economic power.  Previous studies show the impact of the US consumer economy on ethnic minorities, and how the Hispanic marketing industry constructs Hispanic culture (Davila, 2001).  The studies show the consumer economy “contributes to class stratification, ethnic segmentation, and status inequalities but, at the same time, individuals and groups of consumers, even at the lower levels of buying power, seek to minimize the stigma of their lesser social and class status through the creation of meaning through diverse styles of consumption (Campbell, 208).”  Even the poor and ethnic minorities buy brand name clothing, and other status symbols to show others that they aren’t poor.  People of all classes live beyond their means, but poor people spend a larger portion of their income trying to fit in.  In addition, trying to fit in the US mainstream culture, many people abandon their cultural values.

Week 5 entry 1

Wow!  I was setting up my Linked-In account and read an article about Non-Verbal Latino Communication & Social Networking by Ricardo Lopez and it caught my attention.  I learned through firsthand experience in my travels through Mexico and South America that Latinos communicate using their emotions and spirit, and use non-verbal communication to express themselves.  Lopez states, “…I am a market researcher, and we are in the business of generalization.”  This view differs from the goal of ethnography of understanding the culture as a whole, and not making generalizations.  Lopez believes Hispanics in the U.S. use non-verbal communication and gut feelings in nearly all personal events.  Latinos rely on non-verbal communication cues including facial expressions, physical touch, voice pitch, and physical and emotional appearance to express emotion.  Smell also plays a role in communication.  Many Hispanics use perfume to represent their personality.  Other fragrances communicate something about themselves, like how much they care about their family.  I could relate to the example of using Fabuloso as a cleaning product.  Most Latinos admit Fabuloso is not a good cleaner, but the main purpose of the product is the smell which shows how a woman takes care of her house and family.

Latinos have been able to participate in the non-verbal online social networks like Mi Gente, Facebook and MySpace.  These online networks allow users to reveal personal expression through non-text mediums of video, chat, music, personal status updates, and photos, and are successful because they enable the user to show their more personal and emotional sides.  Communication over the internet has not taken advantage of these new methods of communicating, which fit with Latino consumer preferences.   Current research with questionnaires is boring and unappealing to Latinos.   One suggestion is to administer surveys through a webcam to see physical gestures and non-verbal communication.  Technology needs to allow Latinos to complete online surveys in more comfortable manner.  Online marketing seems like an area to explore to attract future consumers.

Stranger than marriage or marrying a stranger?

When I was young, wild, and free from responsibilities I went to Mexico for a summer.  The idea was to stay in Cuernavaca for a month to learn Spanish and about the culture and people in a safe environment.  Everything went as planned for the first two weeks.  I went to classes, learned about culture from my host family, and even made friends with the locals.  But this environment was not for me.  I had itchy feet and needed to strike out on my own and see sights and sounds that only the locals new about.  For the next two weeks I traveled by bus across Mexico, through Belize and Guatemala, and back to Cuernavaca.  I rode on buses without bathroom for an 18 hour trip.  I took joy in watching people transport produce, chickens, and even had a goat ride on the top of my bus! 

One hot summer day I was riding the bus and talking with a woman from San Salvador.  Maria was an educated professional who had her own business and family in Seattle.  She returned ‘home’ to take care of her personal affairs after her mom died.  She did not plan on returning. I was amazed at her bravery, to be a woman traveling alone is very dangerous, but she told me she had no choice.  I felt like I had known her for a long time.  Everything was fine until we arrived at the border crossing between Guatemala and Mexico.  When she handed the customs guard her papers, he said they were fake and made her step out of line.  I was shocked and devastated.  Why can’t she cross the border I asked?  I then told the guard that we were going to get married, but he said she would still have to wait for an official passport.  Time froze for me.  I could feel her dreams of a better life being taken away by a stranger.  We waited at the local bar and were approached by a suspicious character.  He told us that he had connections to get a realistic passport, and the best time to cross was first thing in the morning.

That distant summer in Mexico I did learn to speak Spanish.  I did learn about culture, and what the locals do.  I do not know what happened to Maria.  I was on a tight schedule to return to Cuernavaca on time.  I see and remember her whenever I see a foreigner, and try to help them on their journey.  I believe Maria found a way to cross the borders and resume her life with her family in the U.S.  I yearn for the excitement and discoveries waiting in distant lands, and will always remember Maria, my first bride to be.

In chapter 4 of Wolcott I was struck by a quote discussing the process for writing research.  Clifford Geertz states, “The backward order of things- first you write and then you figure out what you are writing about- may seem odd, or even perverse, but it is, I think, at least most of the time, standard procedure in cultural anthropology.”  This approach seems like taking a blind leap of faith with regard to writing.  I see how starting with a blank slate can allow me to see what I hoped to find before reading established theories, and may provide a new and honest prospective.  Establishing my own theory can help me to focus on the question I am investigating.  I also like the quote about research being a social act with multiple purposes, and it is the researchers’ job to link research, ourselves, and others.  I am still getting used to the qualitative notion of discussing the researcher’s feelings and views.  The graphic organizer with the tree helps me understand different strategies for conducting qualitative research, and how they are related (84).

Rancho Liborio

Si es de alla, lo tenemos aqui.  If it’s from there we have it here.

This supermarket embraces friendly Hispanic marketing.  From a catchy song with Spanish lyrics, to the bright colored houses and clothes common in the Hispanic world, this website appeals to all Hispanics.  Imagine finding the special ingredient from your home country, and being able to share it at dinner time with family and friends.  The owner understands what consumers want, and provides a valuable service to them.  Salud!

http://www.liborio.com/html/html/home_eng.html

I was surprised while reading about case studies.  Creswell states that the researcher may examine 4-5 cases, but the idea of generalizability is not of interest to the researcher (p.76).  I am used to thinking how studying a group or sample of people can help to understand the population as a whole, so generalizations are useful.  Perhaps the difference lies in understanding how people are different rather than trying to group people all together.  Wolcott has similiar views and explains that the challenge of qualitative research is to treat fellow humans as people rather than objects of study, and for researchers to regard ourselves as humans who conduct research among others rather than on them (p.17). 

Wolcott has some important advice that I take to heart.  I think of myself more as a writer than a reader.  Writing takes me lots of time as I search for more information to include or cite in my reports, and are never quite ready to start writing.  I like writing, but consider myself a bleeder and agree with Red Smith, “There’s nothing to writing,  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein” (Wolcott, 23)That’s why I’m trying to write a draft of my thoughts instead of searching and searching for the exact quote.  I see the advantage of writing a draft to keep myself organized, then test my ideas in the field.  I can still play with words and style, but need to be disciplined with the structure of my writing.