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Focus Groups
 Focus groups are one of the most popular forms of research in use in the software industry today. Most publishers find them most useful at the start or concept stage of the product development cycle and during prototyping. At the concept stage you have the opportunity to hear your customers (or other participants) describe and discuss your products and answer questions. At this point, the groups often spawn additional questions or ideas. The information you obtain also provides context for your development teams. At the prototype stage you will get reactions to specific models, executions, interfaces, etc.
The benefits of focus groups include:
- Focus groups are fairly easy to create and results can be quickly reported on.
- Focus groups are inherently flexible. An existing agenda can be modified easily during the project when group feedback leads to new questions.
- A relatively large number of topics can be researched during the study.
- Group interactions and good moderation can usually offer in-depth insights and context.
- Segments of the market that may be hard to reach through other methods can be reached via focus groups.
- Confidentiality can be protected because focus groups are often conducted in facilities where all aspects of the experience are controlled.
- Upper management can observe the sessions via live attendance or live broadcast. Sessions can also be videotaped and shared with all interested parties in the organization.
- The research is confidential if the focus group is carried out by a third party-participants who do not know who is doing the research or why. This is especially important for new product development. To insure absolute confidentiality we recommend not dealing with a research facility directly, but rather letting your moderator(s) handle all the direct interaction with the facilities and participant recruiters.
Focus group limitations include:
- Focus groups are seductive. People tend to assign greater importance to results than are warranted. (Observing live participants often makes a much greater impression than reading a quantitative summary.)
- Companies often ascribe quantitative analysis to the results, i.e., counting the number of first-place votes, etc., despite the very small sample size.
- People often "hear what they want to hear" (a problem with all qualitative research).
Due to the subjective nature of the process, it can be hard to analyze and interpret focus group results.
- Focus groups succeed based upon personal interactions. Unless a session is conducted by a skilled moderator, there are numerous problems that can arise, e.g., inappropriate participants, members who dominate the group, leading questions, and other biases that can lead to improperly interpreting results.
- When preparing for focus group research, you should set the stage by doing the following:
- Determine the purpose and objectives for the research.
- Build a profile of ideal participants. This is the most important aspect of the process. Recruiting the right" participants who will express themselves is essential in obtaining useful information. There may be several segments of your customer base you want to interview. Constantly review your assumptions about your profile as the focus group process continues.
- Hire a moderator. This should be done early in the planning stage. Most experienced moderators fill their calendars quickly, so it's a good idea to get on their schedule as soon as possible. As a rule of thumb, be prepared to work with the moderator two to three months before the beginning of your focus groups. Initially, you may want the moderator to participate in planning meetings so that he/she can help clarify the purpose of the research and develop a clear idea of what you want to achieve. As you become more comfortable with the process, you may find this isn't necessary (and lower expenses).
- To save money, you can use an internal moderator. Most experts recommend external moderators because they remove an claim bias issues and people are often more willing to listen to constructive criticism from an outsider. On the other hand, politics or issues of product knowledge may require you use internal personnel. If issues of product knowledge are pushing you to use an internal moderator, we strongly recommend using two moderators, one external and an in-house representative. Use the external person to run the session and your in-house representative to help with product capability questions and issues. Never have the product manager who owns the product participate as a moderator as they will have to struggle with an overwhelming urge to defend their product instead of ask questions. This will help ensure an unbiased discussion.
- Create a screener. Most focus group recruiting is done either by facilities where the groups will be held or by your moderator. In either case, the recruiters will have a very limited knowledge of you, your product, and your customers so you will need to create a screening document that helps them develop a useful participant profile. This is called a screener and is simply a list of questions the recruiters asks candidates so they can focus in on the people you want. Questions can include age, income, profession, familiarity with the product, etc. Screeners are easy to create but will often need to be tweaked once they're in use as additional insights into your product and customers emerge.
- Create the discussion guide. The guide is the "script" the moderator will follow as he/she conducts the groups. The moderator typically creates the guide, complete with time estimates, and sends it to your company for review. A product manager will often spend time providing input for the guide. Information the moderator will need to create the guide will include a statement of the purpose and objectives of the research, information on market share, key competitors, product history (if germane), and a list of materials that will be used in the groups.
- Decide how many sessions you want to hold. Most companies hold at least three before attempting to compile the collective feedback gathered into significant conclusions. For a smaller company, this can represent a significant expense.
- Develop questions and lists of assumptions. Key participants in sales and marketing should prepare lists of questions they would like asked and lists of assumptions they have. These lists will help you frame the research and focus it very tightly. At the same time, develop a schedule for the development of any materials you will need for the groups. In some case you may need to send materials to participants before the groups meet so be sure to schedule in time to do so.
- Decide how large your groups will be. In most cases eight to 10 participants is optimum.
- Decide how long your sessions will last. Depending on your research objectives, one to two hours is best. You generate diminishing returns (people become tired and stop thinking) if a session goes longer than two hours. Groups that run much past 9:30 PM also generate diminishing returns, especially if participants have worked that day.
- Monitor the recruiting process either directly or via your moderator. Invariably there will be problems recruiting participants. You may find you need to change your participant profile, change locations, dates, times, etc. Remember that most recruiters won't start their recruiting efforts until about two weeks before the dates of the groups.
- Identify sites/target markets. Depending on your goals and objectives, you may want to select different cities, regions, countries, etc. in which to conduct the focus groups. For the general population, it doesn't make much difference where you go. Most midsize to large cities have facilities for groups. (Of course, larger cities have more and better facilities.) The more specific the recruiting requirements, the more important to go to target areas where those characteristics can be found or to the largest cities where population segments are the most numerous. Your sales staff and the moderator can help identify the best sites if needed.
- Book the facility. The best facilities can be booked up two to three months in advance. If the location of the facility is important to you—near the airport, in the neighborhood you want to research, large enough for your group, recommended by the moderator, etc., you should have the moderator book it as soon as possible. In most large cities there will be several suitable facilities, but in smaller venues there might be only one or two. In those cases it's important to get the room booked and be flexible about your research schedule (or find a different but similar site).
- Decide what type of facility you need. For discussion groups, you'll want a standard facility that offers two-way mirrors, videotaping capabilities, etc. Most US cities offer these facilities. For special requirements such as running computer software, you will often have to rent specialized facilities or set up your own.
- Make video tapes for review as needed. If possible, have an associate you've briefed schedule a daily showing so that he/she can answer questions and remind people involved in the project that the study isn't finished until all the sessions have been conducted.
- Strongly urge the product manager(s) to attend all sessions. Discourage from people viewing one group and making decisions based on that limited feedback.
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