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A focus group is a gathering (in person or virtually) of participants in a target market. The group will be asked a variety of questions that will allow the researchers to gather representative information from the target population.
What it is: A focus group is a small but diverse gathering (in person or virtually) of participants in a target population. The group provides reactions to guided and open-ended questions as to create and clarify information concerning trends, preferences, decision processes, factors considered in purchasing, etc. The output of the meeting is qualitative in nature but will ideally indicate the preferences of the larger target population.
What it does: Professor Glenn Blank of Lehigh University said, "Organizations generally use focus groups in planning, marketing, or evaluation, either to improve some specific product or service or, more globally, during the development of strategic plans or mission statements." Wikipedia states the following: "It is a form of qualitative research consisting of interviews in which a group of people is asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members. During this process, the researcher either takes notes or records the vital points from the group. Researchers should select members of the focus group carefully for effective and authoritative responses."
How it is used: Focus groups gather original information about how a group of representative individuals will respond to an idea, a product, a proposed program, etc. or to obtain comments on information from secondary research or expert interviews. This can help you understand the research and narrow options for a quantitative survey.
Where: There are many options for where to hold a focus group. See some examples below:
A service organization like a human resources group, financial analysis group, library sciences group, recreational department, etc. could use a focus group to get detailed feedback on their current and proposed programs. They can understand how and why people use (or don’t use) the services today and how to be more effective.
New product proposal: Many companies will present their new products to a representative panel of people in their target market segment. They can examine the interest and energy around a new product concept. They can test the usability or preferences for color, flavor, consistency, and other characteristics of the proposed product. In addition, the focus group can cover information about the ability or desire to purchase, potential pricing, frequency of use, willingness to refer others to the product, etc.
Political issues and candidates: Political parties, lobbyists, communities, elected officials, special interest groups, etc. want to know the views of a representative sample of voters, influencers, or other key stakeholders.
Social scientists: Many social scientists use focus groups to identify areas to research, get feedback on research findings, and reduce the cost of research. Focus groups are less expensive than surveys and more cost-effective than one-on-one interviews. They also allow researchers to see how participants interact with the topic and build upon each other's thoughts more naturally than in surveys or interviews.
Usability or user interface feedback: By bringing together a group of users (or potential users) the researcher can get feedback on how the target population responds to the current interface or usability. They can also propose and test new interfaces and get feedback on the proposed changes. They can even have prototypes of several options and find the preferences of the group.
Why: Focus groups are less expensive than surveys and more cost- and resource-effective than one-on-one interviews, and they allow for natural interactions that more closely mirror how people form, share, and evolve their opinions. Focus also provides a great mechanism to more closely identify the factors and ranges that should be included in a quantitative survey when the researcher wants to be able to project the findings of their research on the larger target population with confidence.
Where it shouldn't be used: If you are trying to project how the larger target market will respond, you need statistically accurate survey data to predict outcomes with any degree of confidence. Focus groups are qualitative research and can not be used to predict the opinions of anyone except the people who participated in the focus group.
Any restrictions: Just because no one in the group disagreed with something does not mean everyone agreed. If you do not ask each person's feelings, there may be some in the group who may choose not to disagree and avoid conflict. Don't assume consensus unless each person in the group enthusiastically states they are in agreement.
Warnings: Focus groups can foster groupthink, where one or more people or ideas can take over and dominate the focus group. A strongly charismatic group member (or one who dominates) can push the group to a destination without the group recognizing they were persuaded to feel that way.
Most focus groups will capture the information through video and audio recordings. Transcripts from the audio will be prepared and the video will allow clients who were unable to attend the groups to observe the group dynamics.
Present the recommendations based on the findings of the focus group.
Present the overall findings, conclusions, and ways to reach desired outcomes (decisions to be made or actions to be taken).
Present representative charts, graphs and individual anecdotes from the reports of the focus group session(s).
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Access it online or download it at https://ensign.edtechbooks.org/projectbased_internships/focus_group.
