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Primary Market Research

Focus Groups

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Overview• Introduction

– Purpose, composition, applications, …

• Basics– Strengths/weaknesses, moderator’s role,

logistics, …

• Focus group questions– Kano, taxonomies, generic questions, …

• Analysis of focus group outcomes– Interpretation, categorization, …

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Purpose

• Focus groups are tools used to obtain information from (generally small) groups of people sampled from a target population for the purpose of answering questions.

• In the context of product planning, focus groups are used to identify product characteristics (features, functions, performance, etc) desired by customers.

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Target Population

• Persons able to provide the needed information

• Independent variables: knowledge, experience, education, income, disability, etc

• Homogeneous: independent variables are uniformly distributed throughout the target population…

• Heterogeneous: independent variables are non-uniformly distributed throughout the target population…

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Sample

• Same distribution of independent variables in sample and target population (generalization)

• Heterogeneous target population large sample size

• Homogeneous target population small sample size

• Sampling method: random, purposive, intensive, … mixed

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Group Composition• # Of participants per group

• Number of topics to discuss…

• Everyone can contribute…

• Time to explore and elaborate…

• Maximum length of about three hours…

• Typically maximum of 15 – 20…

• Factors reducing group size or length…

• Total # of participants• Rule-of-thumb?

• Determined by sampling

• # Of groups (total participants/participants per group)

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Applications

• Product refinement• New product concepts• New technology applications• Product evaluation• Improved service delivery

• Very flexible tool - many other applications

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Strengths• Synergism

– One person completes another person’s thought

• Snowballing – One person’s thought stimulates a new idea in another person

• Security – Participants “feel safe,” encouraged to express their thoughts

• Empowerment– Participants encouraged to talk about needs and frustrations

• Spontaneity – All ideas receive immediate feedback and comment

• Speed– Lots of information can be obtained in a short period of time

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Weaknesses• “High” cost

– Participants, transportation, food, staff, equipment and facility rental, …

• “Complex” facilities– Sound system, sound proof room with one way glass, audio and

video recording equipment, …

• “Heavy” staffing– Research/design team, audio-visual, analysis, recruitment,

transportation, …

• Difficult data analysis– “Thousands” of statements, statement fragments, interpretation,

clustering, …– Requires thorough understanding of topic and issues

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Moderator’s Role:Pre-focus Group

• Thorough knowledge of topic area and issues– Research, interviews …– Team approach …– Experience is no substitute for knowledge!! …

• Assist preparation of focus group questions– Anticipate discussion issues … [complete discussion below]– Structure discussion …

• Prepare script– Rules, breaks, payment, transportation, food, etc

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Moderator’s Rolein Focus Group

• Don’t alienate participants– The moderator must remain impartial and respectful toward all

participants …

• Empathy and patience– Every participant is part of the group because they have relevant

information. The moderator must draw out this information …

• Don’t lead or bias the discussion– If research and sampling have been properly conducted,

participants will spontaneously cover many of the relevant issues. Prepared questions should introduce issues that have not been adequately covered …

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Moderator’s Rolein Focus Group

• Don’t distract participants– Jokes and “stories about the kids” are generally inappropriate. Participants

should understand that the group is “business”

• Don’t focus in on one (or a few) individual(s) / don’t lose control of the group– Participants can dominate the discussion or seize control of the group

because they are attractive, have a forceful or aggressive personality, great depth of knowledge, etc. Moderator must be both experienced and knowledgeable

• Flexibility– Prepared questions will never cover all the relevant issues.

The moderator must be prepared and comfortable going“off script” …

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Focus Group Questions• Focus groups are a tool to obtain information to

answer questions!

• Focus group questions– Ensure that each topic of interest is introduced for discussion– Ensure that each topic is thoroughly discussed …– Provides pace and structure to discussion …– Probes for information rather than leads …

• Theory– Dr. Noritake Kano …– Certain issues are unlikely to be discussed by participants

without probing questions!

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Information From “Interviews” (Kano)

• Exciting information• Generally not raised by “interviewee” • Lack knowledge, “unrealistic” concepts• Product/service refinement

• Revealed information • Is raised by “interviewee”• Reasonable, well understood • Product/service innovation [new product/service concept]

• Expected information • Generally not raised by “interviewee” • Too basic or obvious• Product/service acceptance

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Product Planning• Focus groups are used to find product characteristics

(features, functions, performance) required by the product customer (people who use, prescribe, purchase, service, maintain a product)

• Product planning tools such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) are driven by customer requirements

• Important to discover “all” of the (expected, exciting, revealed) requirements

• Focus group questions are prepared that try to anticipate likely requirements

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Generic Question Sets

• Laborious process to generate a thorough set of focus group questions

• For closely related problems there will be considerable overlap between their question sets

• Generic questions sets can be developed to improve thoroughness and effectiveness …

• Generic question sets can be built around conceptual taxonomies …

• Generic questions are modified and added too for specific applications …

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Question Taxonomy

• Acceptance• Assembly • Durability• Effectiveness• Environmental factors• Learning

• Maintenance• Market factors• Operation • Physical safety • Portability• Securement

Batavia & Hammer 1989, Lane 1998

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Question Construction

1. What is the purpose of the focus groups?

2. Conduct background research …

3. What are the specific problems to resolve?

4. Which generic questions are relevant?

5. Transform generic questions into problem specific questions …

6. Add “missing” problem specific questions …

7. [Update generic question set]

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Focus Group Data

• Thousands of statements …

• Statements often reinforce each other …

• Statements may also contradict each other …

• Statements are “sentence fragments” …

• Statement meaning depends upon context within discussion …

• Missing or unknown information …

• Non-verbal communication …

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Analysis1. Raw statement transcripts …2. Statement completion …3. Addition of explanatory notes …4. Identify problem specific categories …5. Tag statements by problem specific category …6. Cluster statements by problem specific category

…7. Interpretation …8. Verification

• Re-examine audio-video-text transcripts

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Conclusion• Focus Groups:

– Participant Perspective

– Idea Generating – Divergent– Open Ended

• Analysis:– Task Perspective – Question Answering – Convergent– Focused

• Physical examination and organization• Qualitative data analysis software (e.g.

Nudist)

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Related Issues

Questions, Comments, Suggestions