How to Start a Focus Group
Organizations use focus groups to help them prepare, promote or assess a particular product or service by seeking opinions from users or customers. They also employ focus groups internally to create working plans or mission statements. A focus group session aims to get participants' views about the product or service in question.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Papers Pens Participants Tape recorder or video camera Venue for focus group meeting
Instructions
-
-
1
Determine the main purpose of the session. Come up with five or six questions you want to ask focus group members in the 90-minute session. Since focus groups are basically multiple interviews, several of the procedures for holding focus groups are like performing interviews.
-
2
Plan the session. Since the meeting will be 60 to 90 minutes long, having it during lunch might be most convenient for members. Sessions should be held in a conference room or somewhere with good lighting and ventilation. Arrange to log the meeting with an audio or video recorder. If this isn't practical, get someone to take notes.
-
-
3
Phone prospective members to invite them to the meeting. Follow up with a written invitation that includes an outline of the topic, the meeting time and place and questions to be discussed. Call each member once again about three days before the session.
-
4
Begin the session. Introduce yourself and any other assistants and describe how you will record the meeting. Phrase each question carefully and let the members have enough time to record their answers. Begin the discussion of the answers separately, and after the answer, think about what you heard. Make sure everyone has a chance to participate. When ending, let members know they will get a copy of the report produced from the responses, thank them for attending and close the session.
-
5
Before leaving, make sure the tape recorder, if used, ran the whole time. Make any remarks on the notes you took; you might need to clarify something or write down observations.
-
1
Resources
- Photo Credit www.behaviorresearch.net
