Judy Ryerson, the head of the windmill power section of the U.S. Department of Energy, was considering what types of qualitative marketing research would be useful to address a host of research questions.

The U.S. Department of Energy was formed to deal with the national energy problem. One of its goals was to encourage the development of a variety of energy sources, including the use of windmill power. One difficulty was that almost nothing was known about the current use of windmill power and the public reaction to it as a power source. Before developing windmill power programs, it seemed prudent to address several research questions to obtain background information and to formulate testable hypotheses.

Current Use of Windmills in the United States

How many power-generating windmills are there? Who owns them? What power-generating performance is being achieved? What designs are being used? What applications are involved?

Public Reaction

What are the public attitudes to various power sources? How much premium would the public be willing to pay for windmill power sources, both in terms of money and in terms of “visual pollution?” What is the relative acceptance of six different windmill designs ranging from the “old Dutch windmill” design to an egg-beater design?

ASSIGNMENT
Design one or more qualitative research designs to address the search questions and to develop hypotheses for future testing. If focus-group interviews are considered, provide a set of questions to guide the moderator.