How to Set Up Health Care Focus Groups
Focus groups can be an excellent way of garnering basic qualitative feedback on health-care issues. These structured discussion groups are initiated by the marketing departments of companies that provide health care. If they provide care for consumers, they likely target people of different age groups for the focus group. It is also valuable for the company to get feedback from physicians and hospital administrators. Here are tips for setting up a health care focus group.
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Things You'll Need
- Moderator
- Consumer and medical participants
- Monetary incentive
- Focus group guide
- Concept board or handouts
Instructions
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Setting Up Your Focus Group
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Decide on a target city or cities, and guidelines for selecting your first group of eight or 10 consumers from various age and income levels. Select an equal number of doctors or hospital administrators from area hospitals. Decide on a monetary incentive for the participants or let the moderator recommend the amount. Hold a meeting with key functional areas in the company, including product managers, finance and advertising. Invite the moderator to attend. Ask everyone to provide guidance on the best questions to ask.
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Work with the moderator in developing a list of questions or focus group guide. The experts at managementhelp.org recommend finalizing your guide with five or six significant questions. Distribute copies to key personnel in the company.
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Develop any concept boards or handouts that summarize new products the company wants to test. Keep the company name anonymous.
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Allow the moderator to select the facility. Set a deadline for the moderator to select participants. Set up a date and time for the focus group and inform all members of the management team of the schedule. Instruct the moderator to remind participants about the focus group three days ahead of time. Purchase airline tickets if the group is out of town.
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Have the moderator coordinate refreshments with the focus group facility. Instruct the moderator to tape each session for future viewing.
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Tips & Warnings
It is important to ask the right questions in a focus group. The moderator may have experience with health care-related questions, but do not just rely on him or her. Consider holding separate groups at different times for lower-income consumers who may feel intimidated and withhold information in a higher-income group.
Never try to conduct a focus group on your own without a trained moderator. Moderators help to eliminate potential bias.
