What is a Focus Group Research? ✽

What is a focus group?

A focus group is a small group of selected people based on certain criteria to participate in discussions for market research. These criteria include demographics, age, interests, jobs, income, ethnicity, and other factors. 

Those focus groups are run by a moderator or a facilitator to ensure the discussions are interactive for participants and useful for researchers to collect data. 

Focus groups belong to qualitative research that studies human attitudes and feelings.

How does a focus group work?

Before starting a focus group, researchers determine a goal such as getting product reviews or impressions for a marketing campaign. Then they decide what will be discussed in this focus group such as how the group feels about a new product? Or what was their feedback after using it? 

Then a friendly environment is chosen to ensure discussions are run smoothly and to stimulate engagement. Then a moderator runs the discussion by asking questions and follow-up questions and allowing individuals to share opinions and interact together. Also, the moderator should allow for opposed opinions to be shared positively with no threats. 

Focus groups benefits 

They are easy to conduct and generate results quickly 

They’re based on true feelings and beliefs 

When they interact they influence and get influenced which provides solid insights into consumer behavior and knowledge of the brand 

Research is supported by body language and facial expressions  

Questions can be adapted to the discussion 

Cons of focus groups 

Members can be influenced by other members’ opinions 

They’re a small representation or generalization of the whole target market 

Results can be biased since some participants will be dominant and others won’t participate as much 

Soe members can steer the conversation toward irrelevant topics 

Should you run focus group research? 

Focus groups are so beneficial to understanding the target audience’s deep feelings and true opinions about products or services. That’s why it’s worth it to run focus groups for businesses to get insights from real people about what they offer. 

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