Social marketing and MARTIN: tools for organizing, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative data

The purpose of this article is to discuss how the computer software program MARTIN and social marketing concepts (understanding the consumer perspective, exchange, marketing mix, and segmentation) were used as organizational, analytical, and interpretive tools for qualitative data. The qualitative data are from a case study on citizen participation in a health reform policy in British Columbia. The concept of broad-based public participation is a fundamental element of health promotion and citizenship. There is a gap, however, between the promise and reality of citizen participation in health promotion. Emerging from the analysis was an understanding of the societal circumstances that inhibited or fostered participation. This article describes how the code-based, theory-building attributes of the MARTIN software facilitated a new conceptualization of participatory citizenship and generated new insights into understanding why some people participate and others do not.