Focus Groups

Focus groups are a part of qualitative market research. There are dedicated focus group research companies but most of the market research companies of repute like FG Connect provide focus group research as a part of a larger package. Focus groups are used in educational research, market research, as well as social and cultural research.

In a focus group, 6-10 people sit together and share their feedback, opinions and experience about a technology, a product, a service, a retail store, or even a social or political trend. There is a long precedence of using focus groups in qualitative research.

A focus group can either be conducted with the help of a moderator or the participants can be left alone with a video camera. An observer can quietly sit and make notes of the ongoing interactions. The job of the moderator is to keep the group members steered towards the main objective of the focus group. The moderator is generally experienced in group dynamics and social interactions. A session may last for 90-120 minutes.

Topics and questions are predetermined. Supposing you want to introduce a new detergent, the moderator may ask the following questions:

• How often do you wash your clothes?
• Do you mostly have warm clothes or summer clothes?
• Do you have any detergent-related allergies?
• Do you like your detergent grainy or fine powdered?
• Do you have small children and pets?
• … and such.

Benefits of using focus groups in qualitative market research

Focus group discussions are one of the most popular methods of market research. A small, focused group of carefully selected participants takes part in an interaction around a product or service. The nature of the selection of people is such that the conclusions derived from this focus group discussion can be applied to the entire population represented by the target group.

The feedback in a focus group is like a free-flowing stream. The participants can influence each other. Since they are talking to each other (although, quite often moderated by an expert), they can freely convince each other and even change each other’s opinions and perceptions. In that sense, focus groups are flexible by design. This gives the researchers an idea of how a topic could shape up in environments that are not controlled.

Using focus groups in qualitative research shows that you have confidence in your idea and you’re fine with the participants expressing in front of each other to the extent of influencing each other.

Some benefits of using a focus group for market research are

• Immediate actionable insights: You get actionable insights into consumer knowledge and perception of your brand, product or service. These insights and ideas are immediate in nature. The information that you obtain can be used on the very same day.
• Save time: Another advantage of using focus groups for market research is that they save you time. All the participants are present at a centralised location and their feedback can be obtained almost at the same time.
• Get quality data: Since the discussion in a focus group is moderated by an expert, you get quality data. The insights are not diluted by other environmental factors because most of the focus group discussions are held in controlled environments.
• You watch consumers in action: Suppose you ask your consumers to use a product and give feedback on the spot. You will be able to observe their behaviour there and then and how they interact with your product or service.

Leverage the power of focus groups with our market research services

As one of the leading market research companies in the UK, we can help you use focus groups to study perceptions, feelings, thoughts and other qualitative data attributes among your target consumers.

We offer complete focus groups-based market research services including

• Determining the objective of the focus group market research: What insights you want to obtain and how you are going to implement those insights into developing/upgrading your product or service?
• Determining topics and questions: We can help you prepare a complete profile of topics and questions, known as a “discussion guide”, that can be introduced among the focus group participants to decide the direction of the sessions.
• Providing trained moderators: We understand that every market research project is unique and hence, although we have trained moderators, every moderator will be briefed and apprised of the goals and objectives of your market research project.
• Arranging location: We can arrange the most appropriate location according to the demography you want to target and the convenience of the participants.
• Shortlisting and recruiting participants: Our extensive experience and our database allow us to reach the right target participation in minimum time.
• Conducting sessions: Our moderators can easily conduct focus group discussion sessions of varying time periods. An ideal session lasts for about 90-120 minutes.
• Analysing data: Our expert market researchers can help you analyze data and draw intelligence out of it using software tools as well as their own knowledge and experience.