Focus Groups & Survey's

A focus group is a means to elicit ideas and attitudes about a specific product, service or opportunity in an interactive group environment. The participants share their impressions, preferences and needs, guided by a moderator.

 

Focus groups provide an opportunity for individuals to share their own perspectives and discuss them in a group setting. This could lead participants to re-evaluate their own perspectives in light of others’ experiences.

A focus group typically consists of 6-12 attendees , and the topic of the focus group will influence who should be recruited to the meeting.  A trained moderator is required to manage the administrative pre-work, facilitate the session and produce a report on the findings of the focus group session.

 

These can be utilized during any life-cycle state: exploratory, under development, ready to launch, or in production. If the group’s topic is a product under development, the group’s ideas are analyzed in relationship to the stated requirements. This may result in updating existing requirements or uncovering new requirements. If the topic is a completed product that is ready to be launched, the group’s report could influence how to position the product in the market. If the topic is a product in production, the group’s report may provide direction on the revisions to the next release of requirements.

 

Advantages of focus groups:

• Ability to elicit data from a group of people in a single session saves time and cost as compared to conducting individual interviews with the same number of people
• Effective for learning people’s attitudes, experiences and desires
• Active discussion creates an environment where participants can consider their personal view in relation to other perspectives

Disadvantages of focus groups:

• In the group setting, participants may be concerned about issues of trust, or may be unwilling to discuss sensitive or personal topics
• Data collected (what people say) may not be consistent with how people actually behave
• It may be difficult to schedule the group for the same date and time
• If the goal of the focus group is to elicit ideas on a new or changing product, a focus group is not an effective way to evaluate usability