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What Is a Focus Group? | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

What is a Focus Group | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Published on December 10, 2021 by Tegan George . Revised on June 22, 2023.

A focus group is a research method that brings together a small group of people to answer questions in a moderated setting. The group is chosen due to predefined demographic traits, and the questions are designed to shed light on a topic of interest.

What is a focus group, step 1: choose your topic of interest, step 2: define your research scope and hypotheses, step 3: determine your focus group questions, step 4: select a moderator or co-moderator, step 5: recruit your participants, step 6: set up your focus group, step 7: host your focus group, step 8: analyze your data and report your results, advantages and disadvantages of focus groups, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about focus groups.

Focus groups are a type of qualitative research . Observations of the group’s dynamic, their answers to focus group questions, and even their body language can guide future research on consumer decisions, products and services, or controversial topics.

Focus groups are often used in marketing, library science, social science, and user research disciplines. They can provide more nuanced and natural feedback than individual interviews and are easier to organize than experiments or large-scale surveys .

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Focus groups are primarily considered a confirmatory research technique . In other words, their discussion-heavy setting is most useful for confirming or refuting preexisting beliefs. For this reason, they are great for conducting explanatory research , where you explore why something occurs when limited information is available.

A focus group may be a good choice for you if:

You’re interested in real-time, unfiltered responses on a given topic or in the dynamics of a discussion between participants
Your questions are rooted in feelings or perceptions , and cannot easily be answered with “yes” or “no”
You’re confident that a relatively small number of responses will answer your question
You’re seeking directional information that will help you uncover new questions or future research ideas
Structured interviews : The questions are predetermined in both topic and order.
Semi-structured interviews : A few questions are predetermined, but other questions aren’t planned.
Unstructured interviews : None of the questions are predetermined.

Differences between types of interviews

Make sure to choose the type of interview that suits your research best. This table shows the most important differences between the four types.

Topics favorable to focus groups

As a rule of thumb, research topics related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus groups. If you are seeking direction, explanation, or in-depth dialogue, a focus group could be a good fit.

However, if your questions are dichotomous or if you need to reach a large audience quickly, a survey may be a better option. If your question hinges upon behavior but you are worried about influencing responses, consider an observational study .

If you want to determine whether the student body would regularly consume vegan food, a survey would be a great way to gauge student preferences.

However, food is much more than just consumption and nourishment and can have emotional, cultural, and other implications on individuals.

If you’re interested in something less concrete, such as students’ perceptions of vegan food or the interplay between their choices at the dining hall and their feelings of homesickness or loneliness, perhaps a focus group would be best.

Once you have determined that a focus group is the right choice for your topic, you can start thinking about what you expect the group discussion to yield.

Perhaps literature already exists on your subject or a sufficiently similar topic that you can use as a starting point. If the topic isn’t well studied, use your instincts to determine what you think is most worthy of study.

Setting your scope will help you formulate intriguing hypotheses , set clear questions, and recruit the right participants.

Are you interested in a particular sector of the population, such as vegans or non-vegans?
Are you interested in including vegetarians in your analysis?
Perhaps not all students eat at the dining hall. Will your study exclude those who don’t?
Are you only interested in students who have strong opinions on the subject?

A benefit of focus groups is that your hypotheses can be open-ended. You can be open to a wide variety of opinions, which can lead to unexpected conclusions.

The questions that you ask your focus group are crucially important to your analysis. Take your time formulating them, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid leading questions , which can affect your responses.

Overall, your focus group questions should be:

Open-ended and flexible
Impossible to answer with “yes” or “no” (questions that start with “why” or “how” are often best)
Unambiguous, getting straight to the point while still stimulating discussion
Unbiased and neutral

If you are discussing a controversial topic, be careful that your questions do not cause social desirability bias . Here, your respondents may lie about their true beliefs to mask any socially unacceptable or unpopular opinions. This and other demand characteristics can hurt your analysis and lead to several types of reseach bias in your results, particularly if your participants react in a different way once knowing they’re being observed. These include self-selection bias , the Hawthorne effect , the Pygmalion effect , and recall bias .

Engagement questions make your participants feel comfortable and at ease: “What is your favorite food at the dining hall?”
Exploration questions drill down to the focus of your analysis: “What pros and cons of offering vegan options do you see?”
Exit questions pick up on anything you may have previously missed in your discussion: “Is there anything you’d like to mention about vegan options in the dining hall that we haven’t discussed?”

It is important to have more than one moderator in the room. If you would like to take the lead asking questions, select a co-moderator who can coordinate the technology, take notes, and observe the behavior of the participants.

If your hypotheses have behavioral aspects, consider asking someone else to be lead moderator so that you are free to take a more observational role.

Depending on your topic, there are a few types of moderator roles that you can choose from.

The most common is the dual-moderator , introduced above.
Another common option is the dueling-moderator style . Here, you and your co-moderator take opposing sides on an issue to allow participants to see different perspectives and respond accordingly.

Depending on your research topic, there are a few sampling methods you can choose from to help you recruit and select participants.

Voluntary response sampling , such as posting a flyer on campus and finding participants based on responses
Convenience sampling of those who are most readily accessible to you, such as fellow students at your university
Stratified sampling of a particular age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, or other characteristic of interest to you
Judgment sampling of a specific set of participants that you already know you want to include

Beware of sampling bias and selection bias , which can occur when some members of the population are more likely to be included than others.

Number of participants

In most cases, one focus group will not be sufficient to answer your research question. It is likely that you will need to schedule three to four groups. A good rule of thumb is to stop when you’ve reached a saturation point (i.e., when you aren’t receiving new responses to your questions).

Most focus groups have 6–10 participants. It’s a good idea to over-recruit just in case someone doesn’t show up. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t have fewer than 6 or more than 12 participants, in order to get the most reliable results.

Lastly, it’s preferable for your participants not to know you or each other, as this can bias your results.

A focus group is not just a group of people coming together to discuss their opinions. While well-run focus groups have an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere, they are backed up by rigorous methods to provide robust observations.

Confirm a time and date

Be sure to confirm a time and date with your participants well in advance. Focus groups usually meet for 45–90 minutes, but some can last longer. However, beware of the possibility of wandering attention spans. If you really think your session needs to last longer than 90 minutes, schedule a few breaks.

Confirm whether it will take place in person or online

You will also need to decide whether the group will meet in person or online. If you are hosting it in person, be sure to pick an appropriate location.

An uncomfortable or awkward location may affect the mood or level of participation of your group members.
Online sessions are convenient, as participants can join from home, but they can also lessen the connection between participants.

As a general rule, make sure you are in a noise-free environment that minimizes distractions and interruptions to your participants.

Consent and ethical considerations

It’s important to take into account ethical considerations and informed consent when conducting your research. Informed consent means that participants possess all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate in the research before it starts. This includes information about benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval.

Participants should also sign a release form that states that they are comfortable with being audio- or video-recorded. While verbal consent may be sufficient, it is best to ask participants to sign a form.

A disadvantage of focus groups is that they are too small to provide true anonymity to participants. Make sure that your participants know this prior to participating.

There are a few things you can do to commit to keeping information private. You can secure confidentiality by removing all identifying information from your report or offer to pseudonymize the data later. Data pseudonymization entails replacing any identifying information about participants with pseudonymous or false identifiers.

Preparation prior to participation

If there is something you would like participants to read, study, or prepare beforehand, be sure to let them know well in advance. It’s also a good idea to call them the day before to ensure they will still be participating.

Consider conducting a tech check prior to the arrival of your participants, and note any environmental or external factors that could affect the mood of the group that day. Be sure that you are organized and ready, as a stressful atmosphere can be distracting and counterproductive.

Starting the focus group

Welcome individuals to the focus group by introducing the topic, yourself, and your co-moderator, and go over any ground rules or suggestions for a successful discussion. It’s important to make your participants feel at ease and forthcoming with their responses.

Consider starting out with an icebreaker, which will allow participants to relax and settle into the space a bit. Your icebreaker can be related to your study topic or not; it’s just an exercise to get participants talking.

Leading the discussion

Once you start asking your questions, try to keep response times equal between participants. Take note of the most and least talkative members of the group, as well as any participants with particularly strong or dominant personalities.

You can ask less talkative members questions directly to encourage them to participate or ask participants questions by name to even the playing field. Feel free to ask participants to elaborate on their answers or to give an example.

As a moderator, strive to remain neutral . Refrain from reacting to responses, and be aware of your body language (e.g., nodding, raising eyebrows) and the possibility for observer bias . Active listening skills, such as parroting back answers or asking for clarification, are good methods to encourage participation and signal that you’re listening.

Many focus groups offer a monetary incentive for participants. Depending on your research budget, this is a nice way to show appreciation for their time and commitment. To keep everyone feeling fresh, consider offering snacks or drinks as well.

After concluding your focus group, you and your co-moderator should debrief, recording initial impressions of the discussion as well as any highlights, issues, or immediate conclusions you’ve drawn.

The next step is to transcribe and clean your data . Assign each participant a number or pseudonym for organizational purposes. Transcribe the recordings and conduct content analysis to look for themes or categories of responses. The categories you choose can then form the basis for reporting your results.

Just like other research methods, focus groups come with advantages and disadvantages.

They are fairly straightforward to organize and results have strong face validity .
They are usually inexpensive, even if you compensate participant.
A focus group is much less time-consuming than a survey or experiment , and you get immediate results.
Focus group results are often more comprehensible and intuitive than raw data.

Disadvantages

It can be difficult to assemble a truly representative sample. Focus groups are generally not considered externally valid due to their small sample sizes.
Due to the small sample size, you cannot ensure the anonymity of respondents, which may influence their desire to speak freely.
Depth of analysis can be a concern, as it can be challenging to get honest opinions on controversial topics.
There is a lot of room for error in the data analysis and high potential for observer dependency in drawing conclusions. You have to be careful not to cherry-pick responses to fit a prior conclusion.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Student’s t -distribution
Normal distribution
Null and Alternative Hypotheses
Chi square tests
Confidence interval
Quartiles & Quantiles
Cluster sampling
Stratified sampling
Data cleansing
Reproducibility vs Replicability
Peer review
Prospective cohort study

Research bias

Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Placebo effect
Hawthorne effect
Hindsight bias
Affect heuristic
Social desirability bias

As a rule of thumb, questions related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus groups. Take your time formulating strong questions, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid leading questions , which can bias your responses.

There are various approaches to qualitative data analysis , but they all share five steps in common:

Prepare and organize your data.
Review and explore your data.
Develop a data coding system.
Assign codes to the data.
Identify recurring themes.

The specifics of each step depend on the focus of the analysis. Some common approaches include textual analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

Every dataset requires different techniques to clean dirty data , but you need to address these issues in a systematic way. You focus on finding and resolving data points that don’t agree or fit with the rest of your dataset.

These data might be missing values, outliers, duplicate values, incorrectly formatted, or irrelevant. You’ll start with screening and diagnosing your data. Then, you’ll often standardize and accept or remove data to make your dataset consistent and valid.

The four most common types of interviews are:

Structured interviews : The questions are predetermined in both topic and order.
Focus group interviews : The questions are presented to a group instead of one individual.

It’s impossible to completely avoid observer bias in studies where data collection is done or recorded manually, but you can take steps to reduce this type of bias in your research .

Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process , prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.

Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation . A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative , qualitative , and mixed methods .

To define your scope of research, consider the following:

Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
Your proposed timeline and duration
Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size , and the research methodology you’ll pursue
Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
Any anticipated control , extraneous , or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.

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Home » Focus Groups – Steps, Examples and Guide

Focus Groups – Steps, Examples and Guide

Table of Contents

Focus Group

Definition:

A focus group is a qualitative research method used to gather in-depth insights and opinions from a group of individuals about a particular product, service, concept, or idea.

The focus group typically consists of 6-10 participants who are selected based on shared characteristics such as demographics, interests, or experiences. The discussion is moderated by a trained facilitator who asks open-ended questions to encourage participants to share their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes towards the topic.

Focus groups are an effective way to gather detailed information about consumer behavior, attitudes, and perceptions, and can provide valuable insights to inform decision-making in a range of fields including marketing, product development, and public policy.

Types of Focus Group

The following are some types or methods of Focus Groups:

Traditional Focus Group

This is the most common type of focus group, where a small group of people is brought together to discuss a particular topic. The discussion is typically led by a skilled facilitator who asks open-ended questions to encourage participants to share their thoughts and opinions.

Mini Focus Group

A mini-focus group involves a smaller group of participants, typically 3 to 5 people. This type of focus group is useful when the topic being discussed is particularly sensitive or when the participants are difficult to recruit.

Dual Moderator Focus Group

In a dual-moderator focus group, two facilitators are used to manage the discussion. This can help to ensure that the discussion stays on track and that all participants have an opportunity to share their opinions.

Teleconference or Online Focus Group

Teleconferences or online focus groups are conducted using video conferencing technology or online discussion forums. This allows participants to join the discussion from anywhere in the world, making it easier to recruit participants and reducing the cost of conducting the focus group.

Client-led Focus Group

In a client-led focus group, the client who is commissioning the research takes an active role in the discussion. This type of focus group is useful when the client has specific questions they want to ask or when they want to gain a deeper understanding of their customers.

The following Table can explain Focus Group types more clearly

How To Conduct a Focus Group

To conduct a focus group, follow these general steps:

Define the Research Question

Identify the key research question or objective that you want to explore through the focus group. Develop a discussion guide that outlines the topics and questions you want to cover during the session.

Recruit Participants

Identify the target audience for the focus group and recruit participants who meet the eligibility criteria. You can use various recruitment methods such as social media, online panels, or referrals from existing customers.

Select a Venue

Choose a location that is convenient for the participants and has the necessary facilities such as audio-visual equipment, seating, and refreshments.

Conduct the Session

During the focus group session, introduce the topic, and review the objectives of the research. Encourage participants to share their thoughts and opinions by asking open-ended questions and probing deeper into their responses. Ensure that the discussion remains on topic and that all participants have an opportunity to contribute.

Record the Session

Use audio or video recording equipment to capture the discussion. Note-taking is also essential to ensure that you capture all key points and insights.

Analyze the data

Once the focus group is complete, transcribe and analyze the data. Look for common themes, patterns, and insights that emerge from the discussion. Use this information to generate insights and recommendations that can be applied to the research question.

When to use Focus Group Method

The focus group method is typically used in the following situations:

Exploratory Research

When a researcher wants to explore a new or complex topic in-depth, focus groups can be used to generate ideas, opinions, and insights.

Product Development

Focus groups are often used to gather feedback from consumers about new products or product features to help identify potential areas for improvement.

Marketing Research

Focus groups can be used to test marketing concepts, messaging, or advertising campaigns to determine their effectiveness and appeal to different target audiences.

Customer Feedback

Focus groups can be used to gather feedback from customers about their experiences with a particular product or service, helping companies improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Public Policy Research

Focus groups can be used to gather public opinions and attitudes on social or political issues, helping policymakers make more informed decisions.

Examples of Focus Group

Here are some real-time examples of focus groups:

A tech company wants to improve the user experience of their mobile app. They conduct a focus group with a diverse group of users to gather feedback on the app’s design, functionality, and features. The focus group consists of 8 participants who are selected based on their age, gender, ethnicity, and level of experience with the app. During the session, a trained facilitator asks open-ended questions to encourage participants to share their thoughts and opinions on the app. The facilitator also observes the participants’ behavior and reactions to the app’s features. After the focus group, the data is analyzed to identify common themes and issues raised by the participants. The insights gathered from the focus group are used to inform improvements to the app’s design and functionality, with the goal of creating a more user-friendly and engaging experience for all users.
A car manufacturer wants to develop a new electric vehicle that appeals to a younger demographic. They conduct a focus group with millennials to gather their opinions on the design, features, and pricing of the vehicle.
A political campaign team wants to develop effective messaging for their candidate’s campaign. They conduct a focus group with voters to gather their opinions on key issues and identify the most persuasive arguments and messages.
A restaurant chain wants to develop a new menu that appeals to health-conscious customers. They conduct a focus group with fitness enthusiasts to gather their opinions on the types of food and drinks that they would like to see on the menu.
A healthcare organization wants to develop a new wellness program for their employees. They conduct a focus group with employees to gather their opinions on the types of programs, incentives, and support that would be most effective in promoting healthy behaviors.
A clothing retailer wants to develop a new line of sustainable and eco-friendly clothing. They conduct a focus group with environmentally conscious consumers to gather their opinions on the design, materials, and pricing of the clothing.

Purpose of Focus Group

The key objectives of a focus group include:

Generating New Ideas and insights

Focus groups are used to explore new or complex topics in-depth, generating new ideas and insights that may not have been previously considered.

Understanding Consumer Behavior

Focus groups can be used to gather information on consumer behavior, attitudes, and perceptions to inform marketing and product development strategies.

Testing Concepts and Ideas

Focus groups can be used to test marketing concepts, messaging, or product prototypes to determine their effectiveness and appeal to different target audiences.

Gathering Customer Feedback

Informing decision-making.

Focus groups can provide valuable insights to inform decision-making in a range of fields including marketing, product development, and public policy.

Advantages of Focus Group

The advantages of using focus groups are:

In-depth insights: Focus groups provide in-depth insights into the attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of a target audience on a specific topic, allowing researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the issues being explored.
Group dynamics: The group dynamics of focus groups can provide additional insights, as participants may build on each other’s ideas, share experiences, and debate different perspectives.
Efficient data collection: Focus groups are an efficient way to collect data from multiple individuals at the same time, making them a cost-effective method of research.
Flexibility : Focus groups can be adapted to suit a range of research objectives, from exploratory research to concept testing and customer feedback.
Real-time feedback: Focus groups provide real-time feedback on new products or concepts, allowing researchers to make immediate adjustments and improvements based on participant feedback.
Participant engagement: Focus groups can be a more engaging and interactive research method than surveys or other quantitative methods, as participants have the opportunity to express their opinions and interact with other participants.

Limitations of Focus Groups

While focus groups can provide valuable insights, there are also some limitations to using them.

Small sample size: Focus groups typically involve a small number of participants, which may not be representative of the broader population being studied.
Group dynamics : While group dynamics can be an advantage of focus groups, they can also be a limitation, as dominant personalities may sway the discussion or participants may not feel comfortable expressing their true opinions.
Limited generalizability : Because focus groups involve a small sample size, the results may not be generalizable to the broader population.
Limited depth of responses: Because focus groups are time-limited, participants may not have the opportunity to fully explore or elaborate on their opinions or experiences.
Potential for bias: The facilitator of a focus group may inadvertently influence the discussion or the selection of participants may not be representative, leading to potential bias in the results.
Difficulty in analysis : The qualitative data collected in focus groups can be difficult to analyze, as it is often subjective and requires a skilled researcher to interpret and identify themes.

Characteristics of Focus Group

Small group size: Focus groups typically involve a small number of participants, ranging from 6 to 12 people. This allows for a more in-depth and focused discussion.
Targeted participants: Participants in focus groups are selected based on specific criteria, such as age, gender, or experience with a particular product or service.
Facilitated discussion: A skilled facilitator leads the discussion, asking open-ended questions and encouraging participants to share their thoughts and experiences.
I nteractive and conversational: Focus groups are interactive and conversational, with participants building on each other’s ideas and responding to one another’s opinions.
Qualitative data: The data collected in focus groups is qualitative, providing detailed insights into participants’ attitudes, opinions, and behaviors.
Non-threatening environment: Participants are encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences in a non-threatening and supportive environment.
Limited time frame: Focus groups are typically time-limited, lasting between 1 and 2 hours, to ensure that the discussion stays focused and productive.

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Chapter 12. Focus Groups

Introduction.

Focus groups are a particular and special form of interviewing in which the interview asks focused questions of a group of persons, optimally between five and eight. This group can be close friends, family members, or complete strangers. They can have a lot in common or nothing in common. Unlike one-on-one interviews, which can probe deeply, focus group questions are narrowly tailored (“focused”) to a particular topic and issue and, with notable exceptions, operate at the shallow end of inquiry. For example, market researchers use focus groups to find out why groups of people choose one brand of product over another. Because focus groups are often used for commercial purposes, they sometimes have a bit of a stigma among researchers. This is unfortunate, as the focus group is a helpful addition to the qualitative researcher’s toolkit. Focus groups explicitly use group interaction to assist in the data collection. They are particularly useful as supplements to one-on-one interviews or in data triangulation. They are sometimes used to initiate areas of inquiry for later data collection methods. This chapter describes the main forms of focus groups, lays out some key differences among those forms, and provides guidance on how to manage focus group interviews.

Focus Groups: What Are They and When to Use Them

As interviews, focus groups can be helpfully distinguished from one-on-one interviews. The purpose of conducting a focus group is not to expand the number of people one interviews: the focus group is a different entity entirely. The focus is on the group and its interactions and evaluations rather than on the individuals in that group. If you want to know how individuals understand their lives and their individual experiences, it is best to ask them individually. If you want to find out how a group forms a collective opinion about something (whether a product or an event or an experience), then conducting a focus group is preferable. The power of focus groups resides in their being both focused and oriented to the group . They are best used when you are interested in the shared meanings of a group or how people discuss a topic publicly or when you want to observe the social formation of evaluations. The interaction of the group members is an asset in this method of data collection. If your questions would not benefit from group interaction, this is a good indicator that you should probably use individual interviews (chapter 11). Avoid using focus groups when you are interested in personal information or strive to uncover deeply buried beliefs or personal narratives. In general, you want to avoid using focus groups when the subject matter is polarizing, as people are less likely to be honest in a group setting. There are a few exceptions, such as when you are conducting focus groups with people who are not strangers and/or you are attempting to probe deeply into group beliefs and evaluations. But caution is warranted in these cases. [1]

As with interviewing in general, there are many forms of focus groups. Focus groups are widely used by nonresearchers, so it is important to distinguish these uses from the research focus group. Businesses routinely employ marketing focus groups to test out products or campaigns. Jury consultants employ “mock” jury focus groups, testing out legal case strategies in advance of actual trials. Organizations of various kinds use focus group interviews for program evaluation (e.g., to gauge the effectiveness of a diversity training workshop). The research focus group has many similarities with all these uses but is specifically tailored to a research (rather than applied) interest. The line between application and research use can be blurry, however. To take the case of evaluating the effectiveness of a diversity training workshop, the same interviewer may be conducting focus group interviews both to provide specific actionable feedback for the workshop leaders (this is the application aspect) and to learn more about how people respond to diversity training (an interesting research question with theoretically generalizable results).

When forming a focus group, there are two different strategies for inclusion. Diversity focus groups include people with diverse perspectives and experiences. This helps the researcher identify commonalities across this diversity and/or note interactions across differences. What kind of diversity to capture depends on the research question, but care should be taken to ensure that those participating are not set up for attack from other participants. This is why many warn against diversity focus groups, especially around politically sensitive topics. The other strategy is to build a convergence focus group , which includes people with similar perspectives and experiences. These are particularly helpful for identifying shared patterns and group consensus. The important thing is to closely consider who will be invited to participate and what the composition of the group will be in advance. Some review of sampling techniques (see chapter 5) may be helpful here.

Moderating a focus group can be a challenge (more on this below). For this reason, confining your group to no more than eight participants is recommended. You probably want at least four persons to capture group interaction. Fewer than four participants can also make it more difficult for participants to remain (relatively) anonymous—there is less of a group in which to hide. There are exceptions to these recommendations. You might want to conduct a focus group with a naturally occurring group, as in the case of a family of three, a social club of ten, or a program of fifteen. When the persons know one another, the problems of too few for anonymity don’t apply, and although ten to fifteen can be unwieldy to manage, there are strategies to make this possible. If you really are interested in this group’s dynamic (not just a set of random strangers’ dynamic), then you will want to include all its members or as many as are willing and able to participate.

There are many benefits to conducting focus groups, the first of which is their interactivity. Participants can make comparisons, can elaborate on what has been voiced by another, and can even check one another, leading to real-time reevaluations. This last benefit is one reason they are sometimes employed specifically for consciousness raising or building group cohesion. This form of data collection has an activist application when done carefully and appropriately. It can be fun, especially for the participants. Additionally, what does not come up in a focus group, especially when expected by the researcher, can be very illuminating.

Many of these benefits do incur costs, however. The multiplicity of voices in a good focus group interview can be overwhelming both to moderate and later to transcribe. Because of the focused nature, deep probing is not possible (or desirable). You might only get superficial thinking or what people are willing to put out there publicly. If that is what you are interested in, good. If you want deeper insight, you probably will not get that here. Relatedly, extreme views are often suppressed, and marginal viewpoints are unspoken or, if spoken, derided. You will get the majority group consensus and very little of minority viewpoints. Because people will be engaged with one another, there is the possibility of cut-off sentences, making it even more likely to hear broad brush themes and not detailed specifics. There really is very little opportunity for specific follow-up questions to individuals. Reading over a transcript, you may be frustrated by avenues of inquiry that were foreclosed early.

Some people expect that conducting focus groups is an efficient form of data collection. After all, you get to hear from eight people instead of just one in the same amount of time! But this is a serious misunderstanding. What you hear in a focus group is one single group interview or discussion. It is not the same thing at all as conducting eight single one-hour interviews. Each focus group counts as “one.” Most likely, you will need to conduct several focus groups, and you can design these as comparisons to one another. For example, the American Sociological Association (ASA) Task Force on First-Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology began its study of the impact of class in sociology by conducting five separate focus groups with different groups of sociologists: graduate students, faculty (in general), community college faculty, faculty of color, and a racially diverse group of students and faculty. Even though the total number of participants was close to forty, the “number” of cases was five. It is highly recommended that when employing focus groups, you plan on composing more than one and at least three. This allows you to take note of and potentially discount findings from a group with idiosyncratic dynamics, such as where a particularly dominant personality silences all other voices. In other words, putting all your eggs into a single focus group basket is not a good idea.

How to Conduct a Focus Group Interview/Discussion

Advance preparations.

Once you have selected your focus groups and set a date and time, there are a few things you will want to plan out before meeting.

As with interviews, you begin by creating an interview (or discussion) guide. Where a good one-on-one interview guide should include ten to twelve main topics with possible prompts and follow-ups (see the example provided in chapter 11), the focus group guide should be more narrowly tailored to a single focus or topic area. For example, a focus might be “How students coped with online learning during the pandemic,” and a series of possible questions would be drafted that would help prod participants to think about and discuss this topic. These questions or discussion prompts can be creative and may include stimulus materials (watching a video or hearing a story) or posing hypotheticals. For example, Cech ( 2021 ) has a great hypothetical, asking what a fictional character should do: keep his boring job in computers or follow his passion and open a restaurant. You can ask a focus group this question and see what results—how the group comes to define a “good job,” what questions they ask about the hypothetical (How boring is his job really? Does he hate getting up in the morning, or is it more of an everyday tedium? What kind of financial support will he have if he quits? Does he even know how to run a restaurant?), and how they reach a consensus or create clear patterns of disagreement are all interesting findings that can be generated through this technique.

As with the above example (“What should Joe do?”), it is best to keep the questions you ask simple and easily understood by everyone. Thinking about the sequence of the questions/prompts is important, just as it is in conducting any interviews.

Avoid embarrassing questions. Always leave an out for the “I have a friend who X” response rather than pushing people to divulge personal information. Asking “How do you think students coped?” is better than “How did you cope?” Chances are, some participants will begin talking about themselves without you directly asking them to do so, but allowing impersonal responses here is good. The group itself will determine how deep and how personal it wants to go. This is not the time or place to push anyone out of their comfort zone!

Of course, people have different levels of comfort talking publicly about certain topics. You will have provided detailed information to your focus group participants beforehand and secured consent. But even so, the conversation may take a turn that makes someone uncomfortable. Be on the lookout for this, and remind everyone of their ability to opt out—to stay silent or to leave if necessary. Rather than call attention to anyone in this way, you also want to let everyone know they are free to walk around—to get up and get coffee (more on this below) or use the restroom or just step out of the room to take a call. Of course, you don’t really want anyone to do any of these things, and chances are everyone will stay seated during the hour, but you should leave this “out” for those who need it.

Have copies of consent forms and any supplemental questionnaire (e.g., demographic information) you are using prepared in advance. Ask a friend or colleague to assist you on the day of the focus group. They can be responsible for making sure the recording equipment is functioning and may even take some notes on body language while you are moderating the discussion. Order food (coffee or snacks) for the group. This is important! Having refreshments will be appreciated by your participants and really damps down the anxiety level. Bring name tags and pens. Find a quiet welcoming space to convene. Often this is a classroom where you move chairs into a circle, but public libraries often have meeting rooms that are ideal places for community members to meet. Be sure that the space allows for food.

Researcher Note

When I was designing my research plan for studying activist groups, I consulted one of the best qualitative researchers I knew, my late friend Raphael Ezekiel, author of The Racist Mind . He looked at my plan to hand people demographic surveys at the end of the meetings I planned to observe and said, “This methodology is missing one crucial thing.” “What?” I asked breathlessly, anticipating some technical insider tip. “Chocolate!” he answered. “They’ll be tired, ready to leave when you ask them to fill something out. Offer an incentive, and they will stick around.” It worked! As the meetings began to wind down, I would whip some bags of chocolate candies out of my bag. Everyone would stare, and I’d say they were my thank-you gift to anyone who filled out my survey. Once I learned to include some sugar-free candies for diabetics, my typical response rate was 100 percent. (And it gave me an additional class-culture data point by noticing who chose which brand; sure enough, Lindt balls went faster at majority professional-middle-class groups, and Hershey’s minibars went faster at majority working-class groups.)

—Betsy Leondar-Wright, author of Missing Class , coauthor of The Color of Wealth , associate professor of sociology at Lasell University, and coordinator of staffing at the Mission Project for Class Action

During the Focus Group

As people arrive, greet them warmly, and make sure you get a signed consent form (if not in advance). If you are using name tags, ask them to fill one out and wear it. Let them get food and find a seat and do a little chatting, as they might wish. Once seated, many focus group moderators begin with a relevant icebreaker. This could be simple introductions that have some meaning or connection to the focus. In the case of the ASA task force focus groups discussed above, we asked people to introduce themselves and where they were working/studying (“Hi, I’m Allison, and I am a professor at Oregon State University”). You will also want to introduce yourself and the study in simple terms. They’ve already read the consent form, but you would be surprised at how many people ignore the details there or don’t remember them. Briefly talking about the study and then letting people ask any follow-up questions lays a good foundation for a successful discussion, as it reminds everyone what the point of the event is.

Focus groups should convene for between forty-five and ninety minutes. Of course, you must tell the participants the time you have chosen in advance, and you must promptly end at the time allotted. Do not make anyone nervous by extending the time. Let them know at the outset that you will adhere to this timeline. This should reduce the nervous checking of phones and watches and wall clocks as the end time draws near.

Set ground rules and expectations for the group discussion. My preference is to begin with a general question and let whoever wants to answer it do so, but other moderators expect each person to answer most questions. Explain how much cross-talk you will permit (or encourage). Again, my preference is to allow the group to pick up the ball and run with it, so I will sometimes keep my head purposefully down so that they engage with one another rather than me, but I have seen other moderators take a much more engaged position. Just be clear at the outset about what your expectations are. You may or may not want to explain how the group should deal with those who would dominate the conversation. Sometimes, simply stating at the outset that all voices should be heard is enough to create a more egalitarian discourse. Other times, you will have to actively step in to manage (moderate) the exchange to allow more voices to be heard. Finally, let people know they are free to get up to get more coffee or leave the room as they need (if you are OK with this). You may ask people to refrain from using their phones during the duration of the discussion. That is up to you too.

Either before or after the introductions (your call), begin recording the discussion with their collective permission and knowledge . If you have brought a friend or colleague to assist you (as you should), have them attend to the recording. Explain the role of your colleague to the group (e.g., they will monitor the recording and will take short notes throughout to help you when you read the transcript later; they will be a silent observer).

Once the focus group gets going, it may be difficult to keep up. You will need to make a lot of quick decisions during the discussion about whether to intervene or let it go unguided. Only you really care about the research question or topic, so only you will really know when the discussion is truly off topic. However you handle this, keep your “participation” to a minimum. According to Lune and Berg ( 2018:95 ), the moderator’s voice should show up in the transcript no more than 10 percent of the time. By the way, you should also ask your research assistant to take special note of the “intensity” of the conversation, as this may be lost in a transcript. If there are people looking overly excited or tapping their feet with impatience or nodding their heads in unison, you want some record of this for future analysis.

I’m not sure why this stuck with me, but I thought it would be interesting to share. When I was reviewing my plan for conducting focus groups with one of my committee members, he suggested that I give the participants their gift cards first. The incentive for participating in the study was a gift card of their choice, and typical processes dictate that participants must complete the study in order to receive their gift card. However, my committee member (who is Native himself) suggested I give it at the beginning. As a qualitative researcher, you build trust with the people you engage with. You are asking them to share their stories with you, their intimate moments, their vulnerabilities, their time. Not to mention that Native people are familiar with being academia’s subjects of interest with little to no benefit to be returned to them. To show my appreciation, one of the things I could do was to give their gifts at the beginning, regardless of whether or not they completed participating.

—Susanna Y. Park, PhD, mixed-methods researcher in public health and author of “How Native Women Seek Support as Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: A Mixed-Methods Study”

After the Focus Group

Your “data” will be either fieldnotes taken during the focus group or, more desirably, transcripts of the recorded exchange. If you do not have permission to record the focus group discussion, make sure you take very clear notes during the exchange and then spend a few hours afterward filling them in as much as possible, creating a rich memo to yourself about what you saw and heard and experienced, including any notes about body language and interactions. Ideally, however, you will have recorded the discussion. It is still a good idea to spend some time immediately after the conclusion of the discussion to write a memo to yourself with all the things that may not make it into the written record (e.g., body language and interactions). This is also a good time to journal about or create a memo with your initial researcher reactions to what you saw, noting anything of particular interest that you want to come back to later on (e.g., “It was interesting that no one thought Joe should quit his job, but in the other focus group, half of the group did. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that all the participants were first-generation college students. I should pay attention to class background here.”).

Please thank each of your participants in a follow-up email or text. Let them know you appreciated their time and invite follow-up questions or comments.

One of the difficult things about focus group transcripts is keeping speakers distinct. Eventually, you are going to be using pseudonyms for any publication, but for now, you probably want to know who said what. You can assign speaker numbers (“Speaker 1,” “Speaker 2”) and connect those identifications with particular demographic information in a separate document. Remember to clearly separate actual identifications (as with consent forms) to prevent breaches of anonymity. If you cannot identify a speaker when transcribing, you can write, “Unidentified Speaker.” Once you have your transcript(s) and memos and fieldnotes, you can begin analyzing the data (chapters 18 and 19).

Advanced: Focus Groups on Sensitive Topics

Throughout this chapter, I have recommended against raising sensitive topics in focus group discussions. As an introvert myself, I find the idea of discussing personal topics in a group disturbing, and I tend to avoid conducting these kinds of focus groups. And yet I have actually participated in focus groups that do discuss personal information and consequently have been of great value to me as a participant (and researcher) because of this. There are even some researchers who believe this is the best use of focus groups ( de Oliveira 2011 ). For example, Jordan et al. ( 2007 ) argue that focus groups should be considered most useful for illuminating locally sanctioned ways of talking about sensitive issues. So although I do not recommend the beginning qualitative researcher dive into deep waters before they can swim, this section will provide some guidelines for conducting focus groups on sensitive topics. To my mind, these are a minimum set of guidelines to follow when dealing with sensitive topics.

First, be transparent about the place of sensitive topics in your focus group. If the whole point of your focus group is to discuss something sensitive, such as how women gain support after traumatic sexual assault events, make this abundantly clear in your consent form and recruiting materials. It is never appropriate to blindside participants with sensitive or threatening topics .

Second, create a confidentiality form (figure 12.2) for each participant to sign. These forms carry no legal weight, but they do create an expectation of confidentiality for group members.

In order to respect the privacy of all participants in [insert name of study here], all parties are asked to read and sign the statement below. If you have any reason not to sign, please discuss this with [insert your name], the researcher of this study, I, ________________________, agree to maintain the confidentiality of the information discussed by all participants and researchers during the focus group discussion.

Signature: _____________________________ Date: _____________________

Researcher’s Signature:___________________ Date:______________________

Figure 12.2 Confidentiality Agreement of Focus Group Participants

Third, provide abundant space for opting out of the discussion. Participants are, of course, always permitted to refrain from answering a question or to ask for the recording to be stopped. It is important that focus group members know they have these rights during the group discussion as well. And if you see a person who is looking uncomfortable or like they want to hide, you need to step in affirmatively and remind everyone of these rights.

Finally, if things go “off the rails,” permit yourself the ability to end the focus group. Debrief with each member as necessary.

What is a Focus Group? Definition, Questions, Examples and Best Practices

By Nick Jain

Published on: June 22, 2023

Table of Contents

What is a Focus Group?

How to conduct focus group sessions: key steps, focus group examples and questions, advantages and limitations of focus groups, top 8 best practices for conducting focus groups 2023.

A focus group, a cornerstone of qualitative research employed in market research and social sciences, gathers a select group of 6 to 10 participants. This method facilitates a guided discussion led by a skilled moderator, aiming to delve into participants’ opinions, perceptions, and attitudes regarding a specific topic.

Conducted in a comfortable and neutral environment, like a meeting room or dedicated research facility, traditional focus groups have evolved to include online sessions, particularly when participants span multiple geographical locations.

Primarily utilized in market research , focus groups serve as a dynamic tool to explore consumer preferences, test novel product ideas, evaluate advertising campaigns, assess customer satisfaction, and collect feedback on existing products or services. The insights garnered from these qualitative discussions empower businesses, organizations, and researchers to make informed decisions, refine strategies, and gain valuable perspectives from their target audience.

Let’s look into the key components that make up a focus group:

Moderator: A skilled moderator is responsible for guiding the focus group discussion. They facilitate the session, ask open-ended questions, maintain the flow of conversation, and ensure that all participants have an opportunity to express their opinions.
Participants: A small group of individuals, usually between 6 to 10, who are selected based on specific criteria relevant to the research topic. The participants should represent the target audience or the population of interest, providing diverse perspectives and experiences.
Discussion Guide: A structured plan or outline that the moderator follows during the focus group. It includes a series of questions, prompts, and topics that guide the discussion and ensure that all relevant areas are covered.
Focus Group Facility: A physical location where the focus group takes place. It may be a dedicated research facility equipped with observation rooms, one-way mirrors, audio/video recording equipment, comfortable seating, and other amenities. Alternatively, it can be conducted online using video conferencing tools.
Recording Equipment: Audio or video recording equipment is used to capture the focus group session. This allows for later analysis and ensures accurate documentation of the discussion. It is important to obtain participants’ consent for recording.
Consent and Confidentiality: Participants are informed about the purpose of the focus group, their role, and the handling of their personal information. They are typically required to sign a consent form indicating their agreement to participate. Confidentiality and anonymity should be maintained, and participants’ identities should be protected.
Stimulus Materials: Depending on the research objective, stimulus materials such as product samples, prototypes, advertisements, or visual aids may be provided to the participants. These materials can help facilitate discussion and gather more specific feedback.
Note Taker: In addition to the moderator, there is often a designated note taker who records detailed notes during the session. These notes capture key points, interesting insights, and participant responses, supplementing the audio/video recordings.
Analysis and Reporting: After the focus group session, the collected data, including recordings and notes, are transcribed and analyzed. Themes, patterns, and commonalities in the responses are identified to generate insights and actionable findings. The results are usually compiled into a comprehensive report or presentation.

By considering these key components and ensuring their proper implementation, focus groups can be conducted effectively to gather valuable qualitative research data and insights.

Learn more: What is Focus Group Research?

How to Conduct Focus Group Sessions: Key Steps

Conducting a focus group session involves several key steps to ensure a well-organized and productive discussion. Here are the key steps involved in conducting a focus group:

Step 1. Define the Research Objective

Clearly articulate the purpose of the focus group and the specific research objectives you want to achieve. Determine what insights or information you hope to gather from the participants.

Step 2. Identify the Target Audience

Determine the characteristics and demographics of the participants you want to include in the focus group. Select individuals who represent your target audience or have relevant experiences and perspectives.

Step 3. Recruit Participants

Use various methods to recruit participants, such as contacting existing customers, using online platforms, working with recruitment agencies, or reaching out to specific communities. Screen potential participants based on predetermined criteria to ensure they fit the desired profile.

Step 4. Develop a Discussion Guide

Create a structured discussion guide that outlines the topics, questions, and prompts you want to cover during the focus group. The guide should flow logically and encourage open-ended responses to facilitate rich discussions.

Step 5. Select a Suitable Venue

Determine the location for the focus group session. It can be a dedicated research facility, a meeting room, or an online platform for virtual focus groups. Ensure the venue provides a comfortable and conducive environment for participants to freely express their opinions.

Step 6. Prepare Stimulus Materials (if applicable)

If you plan to provide stimulus materials, such as product samples, prototypes, or visual aids, gather and prepare them in advance. Ensure they are relevant to the research objectives and will stimulate discussion.

Step 7. Conduct the Focus Group Session

On the scheduled day, welcome participants, explain the purpose of the focus group, and establish rapport with them. Introduce the moderator and any other team members present. Remind participants of confidentiality and obtain their consent for recording (if applicable). Follow the discussion guide, encourage participation, and manage the flow of conversation.

Step 8. Record the Session

Use audio or video recording equipment to capture the focus group session. This allows for accurate documentation and later analysis. Ensure participants are comfortable with the recording and their privacy is protected.

Step 9. Take Detailed Notes

Assign a note-taker to capture important points, participant responses, and notable insights during the session. These notes will complement the recordings and assist in the analysis phase.

Step 10. Data Analysis and Reporting

Transcribe the recorded session and review the notes. Analyze the data to identify common themes, patterns, and insights emerging from the discussions. Use qualitative research and analysis techniques to interpret the data and extract meaningful findings. Next, s ummarize the key findings, insights, and recommendations in a final report. Ensure to clearly communicate the outcomes of the focus group, including participants’ perspectives, opinions, and suggestions.

Learn more: What is Qualitative Market Research?

Here are a few example scenarios and corresponding questions that could be used in a focus group:

Scenario 1: Testing a New Product Concept Objective: Gather customer feedback on a new product concept and understand consumer preferences.

Focus Group Questions:

What are your initial impressions of the product concept?
How does this product concept compare to similar products already on the market?
What specific features or benefits of the product concept appeal to you?
Are there any concerns or drawbacks you see with the product concept?
How likely are you to purchase and use this product concept? What factors influence your decision?
Can you suggest any improvements or modifications to make the product concept more appealing?

Scenario 2: Evaluating an Advertising Campaign Objective: Assess the effectiveness of an advertising campaign and understand consumer perceptions.

Have you seen or heard the advertising campaign we are discussing? What are your thoughts on it?
Did the advertising campaign effectively communicate the product or brand message? Why or why not?
How does the advertising campaign make you feel? Does it resonate with you emotionally?
Are there any specific elements of the advertising campaign that stood out to you? Why?
Did the advertising campaign motivate you to take any action or change your perception of the product or brand?
Is there anything you would suggest changing or improving about the advertising campaign?

Scenario 3: Exploring Customer Satisfaction Objective: Understand customer satisfaction levels, identify areas of improvement, and gather suggestions for enhancement.

How satisfied are you with the product/service we provide? What factors contribute to your satisfaction or dissatisfaction?
Are there any specific aspects of our product/service that stand out to you as exceptional? Why?
Can you share any instances where you felt our product/service fell short of your expectations? What could have been done differently?
Are there any additional features or services you would like to see us offer?
How does our product/service compare to competitors in the market?
What steps can we take to improve customer satisfaction and enhance the overall experience?

These example scenarios and questions provide a starting point for conducting focus groups in various contexts. Remember to tailor the questions to your specific research objectives and the target audience, ensuring they elicit open-ended responses and promote meaningful discussions.

Advantages and Limitations of Focus Groups

Advantages of Focus Groups:

Rich Qualitative Data: Focus groups generate in-depth data through qualitative research by allowing participants to express their opinions, attitudes, and experiences in their own words. This provides rich insights that may not be captured through quantitative research methods alone.
Group Dynamics and Interaction: Focus groups facilitate interaction among participants, allowing for the exploration of differing perspectives, group dynamics, and social influences. The discussion can stimulate new ideas, uncover shared experiences, and generate deeper insights through the exchange of thoughts and opinions.
Real-time Feedback: The interactive nature of focus groups enables immediate feedback. Participants can react to stimuli, concepts, or ideas at the moment, providing valuable real-time insights that can shape decision-making processes.
Nonverbal Cues: In addition to verbal responses, focus groups allow for the observation of nonverbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, and gestures. These nonverbal cues can convey additional information and enrich the understanding of participants’ attitudes and emotions.
Flexibility and Adaptability: Focus groups offer flexibility in terms of question sequencing and the ability to probe deeper into responses. Moderators can adapt the discussion based on participants’ reactions and delve into specific areas of interest, allowing for a more comprehensive exploration of the research topic.

Limitations of Focus Groups:

Small Sample Size: Focus groups typically involve a small number of participants, usually between 6 to 10 individuals. This limited sample size may not represent the entire population accurately and can lead to potential biases or generalization challenges.
Limited Generalizability: Due to the small sample size and potential selection bias, the findings of a focus group may not be generalized to a larger population. They provide insights into the perspectives of the specific participants involved but may not reflect broader trends or opinions.
Influence of Group Dynamics: Group dynamics within a focus group can impact participants’ responses. Dominant individuals may overshadow quieter participants, and social pressures or conformity may influence the expressed opinions. Some participants may hesitate to express dissenting views, leading to a potential bias in the results.

Learn more: What is Customer Experience (CX) Research?

While the fundamentals of conducting focus groups remain relatively consistent, there are some best practices to consider for conducting focus groups in 2023. Here are the key best practices:

1. Define Clear Research Objectives: Clearly articulate your research objectives and the specific information you aim to gather from the focus group. This will help guide the discussion and ensure the session stays focused.

2. Diverse Participant Recruitment: Strive for diversity when recruiting participants. Aim to include individuals who represent various demographics, backgrounds, and perspectives relevant to your research objectives. This diversity can enrich the discussions and provide a broader range of insights.

3. Consider Online Focus Groups: In light of technological innovation and the COVID-19 pandemic, consider conducting focus groups online using video conferencing tools. Online focus groups offer convenience, accessibility, and the ability to reach participants from different locations. Ensure participants have the necessary technology and a stable internet connection for a smooth session.

4. Use Visual and Digital Stimuli: Incorporate visual and digital stimuli to enhance participant engagement. This can include sharing product images, videos, or interactive digital prototypes during the session. Visual aids can help participants better understand concepts and provide more informed feedback.

5. Create a Comfortable Environment: Whether conducting in-person or online focus groups, create a comfortable and inclusive environment for participants. Establish a respectful atmosphere where participants feel at ease expressing their thoughts and opinions. Encourage active listening, and ensure participants have equal opportunities to contribute.

6. Employ Skilled Moderators: Moderators play a crucial role in facilitating focus group discussions. Ensure moderators have strong facilitation skills, are neutral and unbiased, and can manage group dynamics effectively. Skilled moderators can encourage participation, ask probing questions, and keep the discussion on track.

7. Use Hybrid Approaches: Consider combining focus groups with other research methods to gain a more comprehensive understanding. For example, you could use surveys or interviews alongside focus groups to gather data through quantitative research and validate qualitative findings.

8. Ethical Considerations: Ensure ethical practices by obtaining informed consent from participants, maintaining confidentiality, and protecting participants’ privacy. Adhere to data protection regulations and provide participants with the necessary information about the purpose and handling of their data.

Learn more: What is Qualitative Observation?

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Focus group: What It Is & How to Conduct It + Examples

In 1991, marketing and psychological expert Ernest Dichter coined the name “Focus Group.” The term described meetings held with a limited group of participants with the objective of discussion.

The group’s purpose is not to arrive at a consensus or agreement on the topic. Instead, it seeks to identify and understand customer perceptions of a brand, product, or service.

We’ll cover what a focus group is, how to conduct one, and example questions and best practices below.

Content Index

What is a focus group?

Main pillars of a focus group, types of focus groups, how to conduct a focus group, focus group examples, best practices for focus group research, focus group advantages and disadvantages, focus group question examples, focus group questions to recruit participants, best online focus group software: questionpro communities.

A focus group is best defined as a small group of carefully selected participants who contribute to open discussions for research. The hosting organization carefully selects participants for the study to represent the larger population they’re attempting to target.

The group might look at new products, feature updates, or other topics of interest to generalize the entire population’s reaction. This research includes a moderator. Their job is to ensure legitimate results and reduce bias in the discussions.

You use a focus group in qualitative research . A group of 6-10 people, usually 8, meet to explore and discuss a topic, such as a new product. The group shares their feedback, opinions, knowledge, and insights about the topic at hand.
Participants openly share opinions and are free to convince other participants of their ideas.
The mediator takes notes on the discussion and opinions of group members.
The right group members affect the results of your research, so it’s vital to be picky when selecting members.

These groups possess a distinct advantage over other market research and market research methods. They capitalize on the moderator’s communication with participants and the flexibility to move the discussion. It allows you to extract meaningful insights and opinions.

Explore our latest article delving into real-world examples of qualitative data in education . Why not take a look and gather more insights from the valuable information we’ve shared?

LEARN ABOUT: Steps in Qualitative Research

participant

The role of a moderator.

Your choice of focus group depends on the needs of your action research . Types include:

Dual moderator: There are two moderators for this event. One ensures smooth execution, and the other guarantees the discussion of each question.
Two-way: A two-way group involves two separate groups having discussions on the topic at different times. As one group conducts its study, the other group observes the discussion. In the end, the group that observed the first session performed their conversation. The second group can use insights gained from watching the first discussion to dive deeper into the topic and offer more perspective.
Mini: This type of small group restricts participants to 4-5 members instead of the usual 6-10.
Client-involvement: Use this group when clients ask you to conduct a focus group and invite those who ask.
Participant-moderated: One or more participants provisionally take up the role of moderator.
Online: These groups employ online mediums to gather opinions and feedback. There are three categories of people in an online panel : observer, moderator, and respondent.

A focus group is a research method or technique that is used to collect opinions and ideas regarding a concept, service, or product. Follow the below steps to conduct it:

Recruit the right participants

A researcher must be careful while recruiting participants. Members need adequate knowledge of the topic so that they can add to the conversation.

Choose a moderator

Your moderator should understand the topic of discussion and possess the following qualities:

Ensures participation from all members of the group.
Regulates dominant group members so others may speak.
Motivates inattentive members through supportive words and positive body language.
Makes the executive decision to end or continue a discussion should it become too heated.

Verify your moderator doesn’t know any of the participants. Existing relationships between a member and moderator cause bias and can skew your data.

Record the meeting for future purposes

While conducting a focus group, recording the sessions or meetings is essential. A researcher can record the discussion through audio or video. You must let participants know you’re planning to record the event and get their consent.

Write clear discussion guidelines

Before the session starts, writing down clear session guidelines is crucial. Include key questions, expectations of focus group members, whether you’re recording the discussion, and methods of sharing results. Give out the instructions in advance and request participants to comply with them.

Conduct the session and generate a report

Once participants understand their role, the moderator leads the survey. You can ask members to fill out a feedback form to collect quantitative data from the event. Use your data collection and generate reports on the overall findings of your study.

Use the data to make a plan of action

Share your report with stakeholders and decision-makers in your organization. According to the focus group feedback, a good report helps you design actionable plans to improve products or services. Update the group members on the changes you make and the results of those changes.

Focus groups are common in three situations:

Initial stages of a research study
While creating a plan of action during research
After the completion of the study to establish the results

For example, a laptop company needs customer feedback about an upcoming product. Focus group provides direct information about the marketing research from actual consumers.

The company chooses eight individuals representing their target market for a constructive discussion. The moderator asks questions regarding customer preference for laptop size and features. Group members discuss why they do or do not like certain aspects of a laptop. The company uses the opinions of the participants to create a product that fits customer needs and wants

Follow these five steps to create a market research focus group:

Have a clear plan for focus group members

With a plan in place, begin writing your focus group survey questions, schedule the time, place, and duration of the discussion, you can host it in person or through an online community, create informational brochures or forum.

Focus group is a well-liked research technique due to its simple setup and the insightful data it can yield. It has advantages and disadvantages much, like other research techniques.

A great complement to other mediums like online surveys and online polls . Focus groups give you access to why a customer feels a certain way about a product, and surveys help you collect supporting feedback in large batches.
Immediate access to customer opinions, making data collection and analysis quick and convenient.
Highly flexible to adapt to the needs and opinions of the group members.
Easy to conduct regular discussions to eliminate inaccurate results due to current market outlooks.
Focus groups are perfect sources to understand the true feelings and perceptions of your selected target audience.

Disadvantages

Creating a representative sample is tough. Small-size sample makes focus groups unreliable.
Due to the limited sample size, you cannot guarantee respondent anonymity, which may affect their willingness to speak freely.
Getting honest opinions on sensitive topics can make the depth of analysis difficult.
Data analysis is vulnerable to inaccuracy and observer research bias .

When using a focus group in market research , you must ask the right questions for accurate results. Good group questions have the following characteristics:

A friendly and conversational tone
Language or phrases that resonate with focus group participants
Straightforward and accurate
Each item includes one aspect and doesn’t merge multiple topics
Clarify complex questions for more precise answers

Avoid asking questions to specific individuals to ensure the inclusion of all participants. Restrict discussion time per question to 5-20 minutes to keep the conversation efficient.

There are four categories:

1. Pr imary question: This first open-ended question initiates the entire discussion.

We are here to discuss ____. What are your thoughts about it?

2. Probe questions: These questions dig deeper into the discussion of the primary question.

For example:

What do you know about ____?
How familiar are you with this organizational program?
What do you love about our organization?

3. Questions to follow up : After establishing the overall knowledge and feelings of the group, the moderator identifies specific insights.

What do you think are the pros and cons of this product?
According to you, where can we improve to provide better customer service?
Which factors prompted you to purchase our products/services?
What is the likelihood of recommending our products to your friends and colleagues?

4. Questions for the conclusion: Review previous questions to avoid overlooking the main points. It is the time when a moderator can revisit specific topics to gather more data.

For example :

Is there anything other than the already discussed questions you would like to talk about?
Do you want to add to what is already spoken about?

Here are some questions you may ask to recruit participants:

Do you or any of your family members work in any of the following sectors?

Select your age range:

Kindly select your employment type:

Please specify your level of education:

Please state your family status:

Our focus group recruitment questionnaire template gives you a range of survey question types for maximum responses. These responses also help you make the best choice in recruiting the appropriate group members.

Online focus groups remove the need for a physical location. Like in-person groups, online groups involve 6-10 participants who share their opinions. Many researchers prefer online focus groups for convenience and cost-effectiveness.

QuestionPro Communities is an online focus group software. It’s a highly-effective market research tool that helps researchers find online focus groups for their research purposes, including market research.

QuestionPro Communities software includes:

Discussions : Organizations invite participants to a moderated online discussion forum. Participants may answer questions at any time suitable to them.

Idea Board : Idea Board allows respondents to share their ideas. Other group members can analyze, write feedback, and even vote on submissions.

Topics : Users can submit topics, cast their votes in existing posts, and leave comments or feedback instantly.

Organizations can ensure that they gather the most valuable insights from their focus groups by carefully planning, recruiting, and conducting the sessions. The examples provided highlight the versatility of focus groups, highlighting the wide range of applications for this research method.

Organizations can gain a deeper understanding of their customers and make more informed decisions that drive success by leveraging the power of focus groups.

QuestionPro Communities is the only online focus group software available on desktop and mobile. Go mobile and take Discussions, Idea Board, and Topics anywhere your respondents go.

Start conducting online focus group surveys with participants from across the globe with QuestionPro Communities today.

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What Is a Focus Group and How to Conduct It? (+ Examples)

Appinio Research · 14.09.2023 · 19min read

Have you ever wondered how businesses gain deep insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and opinions? Introducing focus groups—a powerful tool that unlocks the authentic voices of participants and reveals invaluable qualitative data. In this guide, we'll walk you through every step of the focus group process, from meticulous planning and skillful moderation to insightful analysis and actionable recommendations. Whether you're a researcher, marketer, or decision-maker, this guide equips you with the knowledge and strategies to harness the potential of focus groups and make informed, impactful decisions.

What is a Focus Group?

At its core, a focus group is a structured conversation involving a small group of individuals who share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences regarding a particular subject. The primary purpose of a focus group is to uncover nuanced insights that might not emerge through other research methods . You're essentially providing a platform for participants to express themselves freely, leading to a richer, more holistic understanding of the topic.

Why are Focus Groups Important in Market Research?

Focus groups play a pivotal role in market research . They allow you to delve into consumers' motivations, desires, and pain points, helping businesses tailor their products and services to better meet customer needs. Unlike quantitative data, focus groups provide qualitative context, shedding light on "why" people feel the way they do.

Focus groups serve as invaluable tools for gaining insights into people's opinions, attitudes, and perceptions. They bring together a diverse group of participants to engage in open discussions on a specific topic, offering qualitative data that goes beyond quantitative surveys.

Benefits of Conducting Focus Groups

Conducting focus groups offers a range of benefits that contribute to informed decision-making and improved outcomes:

Rich Insights: Focus groups elicit detailed responses, offering a deeper understanding of participants' perspectives.
Real-time Interaction: Observing participants' interactions in real-time provides valuable non-verbal cues that text-based surveys can't capture.
Group Dynamics: Group discussions can stimulate new ideas as participants bounce thoughts off each other.
Uncovering Unconscious Factors: Focus groups can reveal subconscious opinions or emotions that participants might not even be aware of.
Flexible Approach: The open-ended nature of focus groups allows for unexpected insights to emerge.

How to Set Up a Focus Group?

Before you embark on your focus group journey, thorough planning and meticulous preparation are crucial to ensuring the success of your sessions. Let's delve deeper into each step of this vital phase.

1. Identify Research Objectives

Research objectives serve as the compass guiding your focus group sessions. Clearly define what you aim to achieve through these discussions. Are you seeking insights into customer preferences, testing a new product concept, or exploring perceptions of a brand? Align your objectives with the overarching goals of your research to maintain focus and relevance.

2. Select Participant Demographics

Choosing the right participants is instrumental in obtaining diverse and representative insights. Consider the characteristics that are relevant to your research objectives. These may include:

Income level

By selecting participants who mirror your target audience, you enhance the accuracy and applicability of your findings.

3. Recruit Participants

Effective participant recruitment is crucial for the success of your focus groups. Utilize various channels such as social media, online forums, email lists, and professional networks. Craft clear and compelling recruitment messages that communicate the focus group's purpose and participation benefits. Ensure that participants are genuinely interested, reliable, and willing to engage in open discussions.

4. Create Discussion Guidelines

Discussion guidelines provide structure to your focus group sessions while allowing for spontaneous conversations. Clearly outline the scope of the discussion, the key topics you intend to cover, and any specific areas of interest. Having a flexible framework ensures that discussions remain on track while permitting organic exploration of the subject matter.

5. Choose a Skilled Moderator

The role of the moderator is pivotal in shaping the dynamics and outcomes of your focus group. Opt for a skilled moderator who possesses strong facilitation and interpersonal skills. The moderator should be capable of guiding discussions, managing group dynamics, and ensuring that all participants have an equal opportunity to contribute. A skilled moderator can navigate unexpected twists in the conversation and encourage deeper insights.

How to Design a Focus Group?

Designing your focus group sessions requires thoughtful consideration of various elements to create an environment conducive to rich discussions.

1. Determine Group Size

The size of your focus group impacts the quality of interactions and the depth of insights. Aim for a balance between having a sufficiently diverse group and maintaining a manageable discussion. Generally, a group of 6 to 10 participants is optimal, allowing for a variety of viewpoints without overwhelming the conversation.

2. Select the Location

The choice of location plays a significant role, particularly for in-person focus groups. Select a comfortable and neutral venue that minimizes distractions and fosters open dialogue. If virtual sessions are more practical, ensure that the online platform is user-friendly and accessible to all participants, regardless of their technical proficiency.

3. Set the Duration

The duration of your focus group session impacts participant engagement and the quality of insights. Sessions typically last between 1 to 2 hours, striking a balance between allowing participants to delve into the topic without exhausting their attention spans. Longer sessions may lead to participant fatigue, which can hinder the quality of responses.

4. Prepare Stimuli (if applicable)

If your research involves presenting stimuli such as visuals, prototypes, or samples, careful preparation is essential. Ensure that your material is ready and relevant to the discussion topics. Stimuli can serve as conversation starters and tangible references for participants, enriching the depth of their responses.

5. Develop Open-Ended Questions

Crafting open-ended questions is an art that drives meaningful conversations. These questions encourage participants to openly share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Avoid closed-ended or leading questions, as they limit the scope of responses. Developing thoughtful and open-ended prompts creates opportunities for participants to express themselves authentically.

As you move forward with your focus group journey, remember that every aspect of planning and designing contributes to the quality of insights you'll gain. Your meticulous preparation sets the stage for rich, valuable discussions that uncover nuances and perspectives that quantitative data alone can't provide.

How to Conduct a Focus Group?

With your meticulous planning in place, it's time to bring your focus group to life. Conducting a focus group involves skillful facilitation, attentive moderation, and the ability to navigate diverse perspectives.

Let's explore the intricacies of this process and how to ensure a successful session.

Icebreaker Activities

Begin your focus group session with engaging icebreaker activities. Icebreakers serve multiple purposes, from easing participants into the conversation to creating a comfortable atmosphere for open sharing.

Some common icebreaker activities include:

Introduction Round: Have each participant introduce themselves, sharing their name, background, and a fun fact related to the topic.
"Two Truths and a Lie": Participants share two factual statements and one false statement about themselves, prompting discussion as others guess the lie.

Establishing Group Norms

Setting clear group norms from the outset creates a respectful and productive discussion environment. Norms ensure participants feel valued, heard, and safe sharing their viewpoints.

Active Listening: Encourage attentive listening by asking participants to refrain from interrupting while others speak.
Respectful Interaction: Emphasize the importance of respectful disagreement and constructive feedback.
Confidentiality: Stress that participants should keep the discussion content confidential, fostering an environment of trust.
Equal Participation: Encourage balanced participation by ensuring everyone has a chance to share their thoughts.

Moderator's Role and Techniques

The role of the moderator is pivotal in guiding discussions while maintaining a balanced and focused conversation. A skilled moderator employs various techniques to facilitate meaningful interactions:

Active Listening: The moderator listens attentively to participants' responses, demonstrating that their opinions are valued.
Probing: The moderator asks follow-up questions to dig deeper into participants' responses and uncover underlying motivations.
Reflection: Summarizing participants' contributions shows that their thoughts are being accurately captured.
Redirecting: If discussions veer off-topic, the moderator gently guides the conversation back to the main subject.

Encouraging Balanced Participation

Balanced involvement ensures that all participants have the opportunity to contribute. Some individuals naturally dominate discussions, while others might hesitate to speak up.

Techniques to encourage balanced participation include:

Direct Questions: Address specific questions to participants who haven't spoken much, inviting their input.
Round-Robin Sharing: Go around the group, giving each participant a chance to share their thoughts on a particular topic.
Thought Pairing: Ask participants to pair up and share their perspectives with a partner before sharing with the larger group.

Probing for Deeper Insights

As discussions progress, employing probing techniques helps uncover deeper insights beneath surface-level responses. Probing involves asking follow-up questions that encourage participants to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings:

"Why" Questions: Ask participants to explain the reasoning behind their opinions. For example, "Why do you think this approach would be effective?"
"Tell Me More" Prompt: Encourage participants to elaborate by simply asking them to share more details about a specific point they made.
Hypothetical Scenarios: Present hypothetical scenarios related to the topic and ask participants how they would respond, leading to more nuanced insights.

By skillfully employing these techniques, you can create an environment where participants feel comfortable expressing their opinions and where discussions naturally flow, leading to in-depth insights that you can later analyze.

How to Collect Focus Group Data?

With your focus group sessions successfully conducted, the next phase involves extracting meaningful insights from the rich discussions. We'll look at popular data collection and analysis methods to ensure that your findings are both accurate and actionable.

Recording and Transcribing Sessions

Recording focus group sessions is essential to capture participants' responses in their own words and preserve the nuances of the conversation.

Recording: Use audio or video recording equipment to capture the entire discussion. Ensure that participants are comfortable with being recorded and understand the purpose of the recording.
Transcribing: Transcribe the recorded sessions verbatim. Transcriptions provide a textual version of the discussions, which is easier to review and analyze.

Identifying Key Themes and Patterns

As you review the transcribed discussions, focus on identifying emerging themes and patterns. Themes are recurring topics or ideas that participants discuss, while patterns involve the connections between these themes. Look for insights that align with your research objectives.

Open Coding: Start with open coding, where you assign preliminary labels to sections of the text corresponding to certain themes.
Axial Coding: Organize the open codes into broader categories or themes, establishing relationships between them.
Selective Coding: Refine the codes further, focusing on the most significant themes and their connections.

Coding and Categorizing Responses

Coding and categorization involve systematically organizing participants' responses based on identified themes and patterns. This process allows you to aggregate and compare the data, making it easier to draw conclusions.

Codebook Development: Create a codebook that outlines the themes, definitions, and examples for each code.
Applying Codes: Read through the transcribed data and apply the relevant codes to sections corresponding to each theme.
Categorization: Group similar codes together to form categories that encapsulate broader concepts.

Using Qualitative Analysis Software

Qualitative analysis software can streamline the process of coding, categorization, and data management. Platforms like Appinio offer features that enhance the efficiency and accuracy of your analysis:

Code Management: Software allows you to easily create, apply, and modify codes.
Search and Retrieval: Quickly search for specific keywords or themes within the transcribed data.
Visualization: Some tools provide visual representations of the data, making it easier to identify patterns and trends.

Extracting Actionable Insights

From the coded and categorized data, you can extract actionable insights that inform decision-making. These insights are drawn from the participants' perspectives and can lead to improvements in products, services, or strategies:

Quoting Participant Responses: Use direct quotes from participants to illustrate key points and provide authenticity to your findings.
Patterns and Trends: Identify overarching patterns and trends that provide a holistic understanding of participants' opinions.
Identify Opportunities: Look for opportunities for innovation, improvements, or addressing pain points that participants highlight.

By meticulously analyzing the transcribed data and extracting meaningful insights, you bridge the gap between raw conversation and actionable recommendations that can drive positive change.

How to Analyze Focus Group Data?

As you move into the interpretation and reporting phase of your focus group research, you'll synthesize the gathered insights into a coherent narrative. Here's how you can effectively interpret and communicate your findings to various stakeholders.

1. Summarize Findings

Summarizing the key findings of your focus group sessions provides a concise overview of the insights gathered. Focus on the most salient themes, patterns, and opinions that emerged during the discussions. This summary sets the stage for more in-depth exploration in the subsequent sections.

2. Relate Findings to Research Objectives

Connect the dots between your findings and the initial research objectives you established. Highlight how each identified theme or pattern addresses specific research goals. This linkage reinforces the relevance of your insights and underscores the value of your focus group research.

3. Provide Rich Descriptions

Enrich your report with detailed descriptions of participants' responses. These descriptions add depth and context to your findings, helping stakeholders understand the nuances of participants' opinions and perspectives. Paint a vivid picture of the discussions to ensure your audience gains a comprehensive understanding.

4. Incorporate Participant Quotes

Incorporating direct quotes from participants adds authenticity and humanizes your findings. Quotes allow stakeholders to hear participants' voices firsthand, making the insights more relatable. Select quotes that encapsulate key points, emotions, or unique perspectives shared during the focus group discussions.

5. Make Data-Driven Recommendations

Formulate actionable recommendations based on the insights extracted from your focus group data. These recommendations should be grounded in the participants' perspectives and aligned with your research objectives. Whether refining a marketing strategy, modifying a product feature, or enhancing customer service, your recommendations should be informed and practical.

How to Lead a Focus Group?

Conducting focus groups comes with its own set of challenges. By adhering to best practices, you can navigate these challenges effectively and ensure the integrity of your research.

Ensure Objectivity and Impartiality: Maintain objectivity throughout your focus group research. As the moderator, your role is facilitating discussions, not influencing outcomes. Avoid expressing personal opinions or steering the conversation in a particular direction.
Minimize Groupthink and Bias: Be vigilant about group dynamics that might lead to groupthink, where participants conform to the majority opinion. Encourage diverse viewpoints and foster an environment where participants feel comfortable expressing dissenting views.
Deal with Dominant Participants: In some focus groups, specific individuals may dominate the conversation. Gently redirect the discussion to ensure all participants have an equal contribution opportunity. Use techniques like directly addressing quieter participants for their input.
Address Sensitive Topics: When discussing sensitive topics, create a supportive and nonjudgmental environment. Approach these discussions with empathy and use considerate language. Clearly communicate that participants are free to share their thoughts without fear of judgment.
Adapt to Virtual Focus Groups: Virtual focus groups offer convenience but present unique challenges. Ensure participants are comfortable with the technology and provide clear instructions for joining the virtual session. Be prepared to troubleshoot technical issues that may arise.

Navigating these best practices and challenges ensures that your focus group research is conducted ethically, rigorously, and effectively.

Focus Group Examples

Let's explore how focus groups can be applied across various domains to extract valuable insights and drive informed decisions.

Example 1: SaaS Product Development

Imagine a SaaS company aiming to enhance its project management software. To gather insights for improvements, they conduct a focus group with current users:

Planning: The company identifies research objectives, including user experience enhancement and feature preferences.
Participants: They recruit a diverse group of existing users, ranging from freelancers to project managers.
Discussion: The focus group discusses pain points, desired features, and overall user satisfaction.
Analysis: The company analyzes transcribed discussions, identifying recurring themes like seamless collaboration and customizable dashboards.
Insights: These insights lead to data-driven decisions, resulting in feature updates like improved collaboration tools and a user-customizable interface.

Example 2: Business Strategy Alignment

A retail chain considers expanding its product offerings. To align their business strategy with customer preferences, they conduct a focus group:

Planning: The company defines research objectives to understand customer preferences and potential demand.
Participants: They select a mix of loyal and potential new customers from various demographics.
Discussion: The focus group explores participants' shopping habits, preferences, and thoughts on the proposed products.
Analysis: The company identifies patterns, discovering that participants value eco-friendly products and unique offerings.
Insights: Equipped with insights, the retail chain refines its expansion strategy to include sustainable products and innovative offerings, resonating with customer expectations.

Example 3: Academic Research

An academic researcher is exploring attitudes toward online learning. They decide to use focus groups to delve into students' perspectives:

Planning: The researcher outlines research objectives centered around understanding students' experiences with online learning.
Participants: A mix of online and in-person students with varying academic backgrounds and preferences.
Discussion: The focus group conversations revolve around challenges, advantages, and suggestions for enhancing online education.
Analysis: The researcher uncovers recurring themes, such as the importance of interactive content and effective communication.
Insights: The researcher contributes to developing more engaging online courses, prioritizing interactive elements and clear communication channels.

These examples showcase the versatility of focus groups in capturing nuanced insights across diverse domains. Whether it's shaping software features, refining business strategies, or informing academic research, focus groups provide a platform to tap into authentic participant perspectives, resulting in well-informed decisions and strategies.

Focus groups are not just discussions—they're windows into understanding, catalysts for improvement, and sources of innovation. Following the steps outlined in this guide, you've gained the tools to orchestrate meaningful conversations, extract nuanced insights, and translate those insights into actionable recommendations. Remember, each participant's voice adds a unique brushstroke to the canvas of insights, and your role as a skilled moderator brings those brushstrokes to life.

As you venture into focus groups, approach each session with curiosity and openness. Listen actively, probe gently, and navigate group dynamics with finesse. Whether you're fine-tuning a marketing campaign, shaping the next product iteration, or charting the course for your organization's future, the authentic perspectives gathered through focus groups will guide your way. Embrace the art of facilitation, savor the richness of discussion, and let the insights gained propel you toward confident decisions and successful outcomes. Your commitment to the power of dialogue ensures that participants' voices continue to shape meaningful change.

How to Conduct a Focus Group online in Minutes?

Discover the revolutionary way to conduct focus groups and gain invaluable insights in just minutes. Appinio , a dynamic real-time market research platform, empowers companies to tap into consumer perspectives swiftly and effectively.

By handling the research and technology complexities, Appinio frees you to focus on what truly matters – swift, data-driven decision-making. Uncover the excitement of seamless integration, intuitive processes, and lightning-fast answers to fuel your business success.

Why Appinio?

Transformative Speed: From questions to insights in minutes, Appinio ensures rapid access to the consumer pulse.
Seamless Integration: Integrate real-time consumer insights seamlessly into everyday decision-making.
Empower Your Choices: Embrace the power of data-driven decisions without the hassle of traditional research methods.

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The Ultimate Guide to Qualitative Research - Part 1: The Basics

Introduction and overview
What is qualitative research?
What is qualitative data?
Examples of qualitative data
Qualitative vs. quantitative research
Mixed methods
Qualitative research preparation
Theoretical perspective
Theoretical framework
Literature reviews
Research question
Conceptual framework
Conceptual vs. theoretical framework
Data collection
Qualitative research methods

What is a focus group in research?

Why are focus groups effective in research, what are some research examples of focus groups, planning and conducting focus groups, challenges and limitations of focus groups.

Observational research
Case studies
Ethnographical research
Ethical considerations

Confidentiality and privacy

Power dynamics
Reflexivity

Focus groups

Focus groups are a widely used qualitative research method in which a small group of participants engage in guided discussions on a specific topic. You might think of a focus group as a group interview because it can gather information on people's experiences, opinions, and feelings in a natural and interactive setting. However, the group dynamic of a focus group discussion can also be especially useful for observing how people construct meaning together, practice body language, and interact with each other.

In this section, we'll discuss the focus group method, compare it to interview research, and explore what researchers can do with focus group data.

Focus groups are characterized by their collaborative, interactive nature, with discussions guided by a facilitator or moderator. These qualities raise some similarities with and differences from qualities found in interview research .

What is the purpose of a focus group?

Like interviews, focus groups are often used to elicit opinions and perspectives about a topic, product, or service. Market research often employs focus group discussions to test out something new before it is introduced to the larger public. However, a focus group can also illuminate social behavior by allowing researchers to observe how people interact with each other in a way that wouldn't be possible with interviews or observations .

How many people form a focus group?

One key characteristic is the number of focus group participants involved. In this type of research, a moderator will typically work with a small group of 6 to 10 focus group members. This range is considered optimal because it is small enough to allow everyone a chance to share their thoughts and large enough to ensure a diversity of perspectives. Too few participants can limit the richness of the discussion, while too many can make the discussion difficult to manage and may prevent some participants from expressing their views.

What does a focus group do?

In general, a focus group consists of posing questions to a group of people and inviting then to discuss the question or topic. Focus group discussions are typically guided by a set of open-ended questions prepared in advance by the researcher. Ideally, focus group questions serve as prompts to stimulate discussion and to ensure that all relevant topics are covered.

The nature of these questions varies depending on the research objectives. Still, they are generally broad and non-directive, allowing participants the freedom to express their views and experiences in their own words. The role of the moderator is to use these questions to guide the discussion, to probe deeper when necessary, and to ensure that all participants have the opportunity to contribute.

The interaction among group members is the defining characteristic that sets focus groups apart from other qualitative research methods like individual interviews. They allow researchers to observe how opinions are formed and influenced within a social context. Through these interactions, researchers can gain insights into not only individual attitudes and beliefs but also the group dynamics that shape these attitudes and beliefs.

The interaction among participants can stimulate new thoughts and ideas, reveal points of agreement or disagreement, and highlight the process of consensus-building or negotiation that occurs in a group setting. The moderator plays a crucial role in facilitating these interactions, encouraging participation, managing conflicts, and maintaining a constructive and respectful discussion environment.

Focus groups are used in a variety of research settings, from market research to social science studies, due to their versatility in collecting qualitative data . They provide a rich source of information as they capture not only what people think but also how they think and why they think the way they do. Let's look at some of the potential applications of focus groups in research.

Exploratory research

Focus groups are particularly valuable in exploratory research, which is often the first step in investigating a new or complex issue. Exploratory research aims to gain a general understanding of a problem, and focus groups are well-suited for this task due to their interactive and dynamic nature. They can help researchers identify key themes, generate propositions, and develop a deeper understanding of the research context. By encouraging open-ended discussion, these group interactions can reveal a breadth of perspectives and experiences and uncover issues and insights that researchers may not have anticipated.

Idea generation

The group dynamics of focus groups can stimulate creative thinking and the generation of new ideas. This can be particularly beneficial in fields such as product development, policy making, and program design. In these settings, focus groups can help researchers or practitioners gather a range of ideas about a new product, policy, or program, which can then be further refined and evaluated.

Language and terminology

Focus groups can also provide valuable insights into the language and terms that participants use to discuss a certain topic. This is particularly important in qualitative research, where the goal is often to understand the meanings and interpretations that people attach to their experiences. The language used in focus group discussions can reveal these meanings and interpretations and help researchers develop a more nuanced understanding of the topic under study. This understanding can also be particularly useful when developing survey instruments or interpreting other qualitative data.

Assessing concepts and prototypes

Focus groups can also be used to assess concepts and prototypes. For example, in marketing research, a focus group might be used to gather feedback on a new product design or to understand how potential users interact with a prototype. In social science research, focus groups might be used to refine and verify concepts or theories that are relevant to group behavior. This kind of feedback can help researchers and practitioners hone their ideas based on the social interactions of the focus group.

Observing social interaction online

The advent of digital technologies has expanded the possibilities for observing social interaction through the use of online focus groups. Online focus groups, conducted via video conferencing platforms, chat rooms, or discussion forums, offer similar benefits to their in-person counterparts but with added flexibility. They allow participants from diverse geographical locations to engage in discussion, and they can be more convenient and less intimidating for some participants.

Moreover, online focus groups can provide a written or recorded transcript of the discussion, which can be useful for analysis. However, they also present unique challenges, such as managing group dynamics in a virtual environment and ensuring access and comfort with the necessary technology among participants.

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Many different fields use focus groups both as a means to collect honest opinions about key research topics or to observe human behavior and interaction. Let's look at some of the many fields that employ a focus group format in research.

Consumer behavior: In market research, focus groups are often used to understand consumer preferences and attitudes toward products or services. For instance, a company might use a focus group to gauge consumer reactions to a new product concept or to understand the reasons behind purchasing decisions.

Healthcare: In healthcare research, focus groups have been used to explore patients' experiences and perceptions of healthcare services or to understand the attitudes and beliefs of healthcare providers. For example, a study might conduct focus groups with patients to gain insights into the barriers and facilitators to medication adherence.

Education: In educational research, focus groups can be used to understand student experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. For instance, a university might use focus groups to explore students' perceptions of campus safety, or a school district might conduct focus group discussions with teachers to understand the challenges they face in implementing a new curriculum.

Public policy: Focus groups can provide valuable insights into the formulation and evaluation of public policies. They can be used to understand public perceptions and attitudes toward policy proposals or to gather feedback on existing policies. For example, a local government might use focus groups to explore residents' views on a proposed transportation policy.

As with interviews, conducting a focus group isn't simply a matter of having people in the same place and talking to them. Focus group research methods call for intentional planning and organization. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when thinking about focus groups.

Selecting participants

The selection of participants is a crucial step in planning a focus group. Participants should be chosen based on their relevance to the research question. They might share a common characteristic (e.g., they are users of a particular service, or they belong to a specific age group), or they may represent a diversity of perspectives on the topic under discussion.

The group should be small enough to manage (typically 6-10 participants) but large enough to ensure a variety of views. In some cases, researchers might choose to conduct multiple focus groups to compare and contrast different groups’ views.

Developing a discussion guide

A discussion guide outlines the topics to be discussed during the focus group. It typically includes a list of open-ended questions and prompts that are designed to stimulate discussion on the research topic.

The questions should be thoughtfully constructed and sequenced, starting with broader questions to warm up the group and progressively focusing on more specific areas of interest. While the discussion guide serves as a roadmap for the session, the moderator should be flexible and responsive to the flow of the discussion, probing for deeper insights and following up on interesting or unexpected comments.

Role of the moderator

The role of the moderator is central to the success of a focus group. A skilled moderator facilitates the discussion, encourages participation, manages group dynamics, and ensures that all topics in the discussion guide are covered. The moderator needs to ensure each participant gets a chance to express their views, and it is also helpful to keep participants from speaking over one another so that everyone can be heard, both during the discussion and for subsequent transcription.

The moderator needs to create an environment where participants feel comfortable sharing their views while also ensuring that the discussion remains focused and productive. This requires a balance of active listening, gentle steering, and tactful intervention when necessary.

Managing group dynamics

Managing group dynamics is a key challenge in focus groups. The interaction among participants can stimulate rich and insightful discussions, but it can also lead to issues such as dominance by a few participants, groupthink, or conflicts. As a result, the moderator plays a crucial role in managing these dynamics, encouraging quieter participants to speak, respectfully managing more dominant participants, and facilitating a constructive and respectful discussion environment.

However, the extent to which the moderator controls the discussion may depend on the research inquiry driving the focus group, particularly if the study is concerned with observing a particular behavior or group dynamic. A fruitful focus group discussion often consists of participants speaking with each other, as opposed to each participant simply answering the moderator one by one.

Focus group question examples

Designing focus group questions is an art in itself, with a focus on sparking discussion and interaction among participants. Here are some example questions that are particularly suited for focus groups:

"How do others here feel about what [participant's name] just said?" This question can encourage participants to respond to each other's views, fostering a more interactive discussion.
"Can anyone provide a different perspective on this issue?" This prompt invites diversity of opinion and encourages quieter participants to contribute.
"Why do you think people might have different opinions about this topic?" This question can stimulate discussion about the reasons behind varying perspectives.
"Can you help me understand why this is important to you?" By asking for elaboration, this question can lead to deeper, more nuanced discussions.
"Has anyone had a different experience?" This question can bring out a range of experiences and perspectives within the group.
"How do you think others outside of this group might view this issue?" This question encourages participants to consider perspectives beyond their own, fostering empathy and understanding.

By crafting questions that prompt group interaction and discussion, researchers can harness the full potential of the focus group method.

At first glance, a focus group is a great way to quickly capture the perspectives of multiple participants. That said, meeting this goal has its challenges. Let's discuss some of them briefly.

Recruitment and participation

One of the key challenges in conducting focus groups is recruiting and retaining an appropriate group of participants. Given the group-based nature of this method, a single participant dropping out can significantly impact the dynamics and the effectiveness of the session. Ensuring a diversity of views while also creating a comfortable environment for open discussion can be a delicate balance to strike. Additionally, scheduling a time that is convenient for all participants can be logistically challenging, particularly when dealing with busy or hard-to-reach populations.

Interpreting group dynamics

While the interaction in focus groups can generate rich insights, it can also complicate the interpretation of the data. The dynamics of the group discussion can influence individual responses, with dominant personalities potentially skewing the discussion or quieter participants holding back their views. It can be challenging for researchers to discern whether the views expressed represent the individual's true beliefs, the influence of the group dynamic, or a combination of both.

Depth of individual perspectives

Unlike other research methods , focus groups can provide a broad overview of group opinions and norms. However, they may not allow for the depth of understanding of individual experiences and perspectives that can be achieved through other qualitative methods, like one-on-one interviews. Time constraints and the need to ensure all participants have a chance to speak can limit the depth of exploration into individual views and experiences.

Transcription and data analysis

Other methods, such as surveys and interviews , generate data that is relatively easier to organize. Survey data is often divided into records, each representing a particular individual, while each and every interview has its own separate raw audio and corresponding transcript. A focus group has multiple participants who may contribute spontaneously to a discussion and even talk over each other. Transcribing these interactions for the purposes of coding and data analysis can be time-consuming as the researcher needs to discern between different voices and adequately represent these voices for empirical analysis.

Ethical considerations for focus groups

As with all other qualitative research methods, ethical issues such as informed consent and vulnerable populations are relevant to focus group discussions. However, there are also ethical considerations that are unique to focus groups that are worth thinking about.

Potential for unintended disclosure

In a focus group, there's a distinct possibility that participants may disclose more personal or sensitive information than they intended due to the dynamics of the group conversation. This presents an ethical challenge for researchers, as they have a responsibility to protect participants from potential harm, including emotional distress that might result from such disclosures. Researchers should be prepared to manage these situations by providing immediate support if necessary, reminding participants about the voluntary nature of their participation and their right to pass on any question, and following up with participants after the session if appropriate.

Protecting the confidentiality and privacy of participants is another key ethical consideration. In focus groups, this can be more challenging than in one-on-one interviews because there are multiple participants. Researchers should ensure that participants understand the importance of confidentiality, which includes not disclosing any information revealed during the discussion with people outside the focus group. The researcher should also take steps to protect participants' privacy in the research report, such as by using pseudonyms or other de-identifying methods. Online focus groups present additional privacy considerations, such as data security and the potential for participants to be identified through their online profiles.

Managing sensitive topics

Focus group discussions can sometimes involve sensitive topics that may cause discomfort or distress for participants. Researchers need to be prepared to manage these situations with ethical awareness and sensitivity. This includes being aware of potential triggers, providing support or referrals to support services if necessary, and ensuring that the discussion remains respectful and safe for all participants.

Respect for diversity

Given the group nature of focus groups, respect for diversity is an important ethical consideration. This includes being sensitive to and respectful of differences in culture, age, gender, socioeconomic status, and other factors among participants. Researchers should foster an inclusive and respectful discussion environment and should be mindful of potential power dynamics or biases that could influence the discussion.

Organize and analyze your data with ATLAS.ti

Intuitive and powerful tools to analyze interviews and focus groups at your fingertips, starting witha free trial.

Qualitative study design: Focus groups

Qualitative study design
Phenomenology
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Focus Groups

Focus groups bring individuals from the study population together in a specific setting in order to discuss an issue as a group. The discussion generates research data.

Focus groups typically have these features:

Four to ten participants meeting for up to two hours
A facilitator or facilitators to guide discussion using open-ended questions
An emphasis on the group talking among itself rather than to the facilitator
Discussion is recorded and then transcribed for analysis by researchers

Researchers conduct several individual focus group meetings to produce a series. The number of focus groups in the series depends on the study’s aim, methods and resources.

Focus groups use a group setting to generate data different to that obtained in a one-to-one interview. The group context may allow for better examination of beliefs, attitudes, values, perspectives, knowledge and ideas.

Focus groups can be useful in action research methodology and other study designs which seek to empower research participants. Focus groups are also useful in multimethod studies utilising different forms of data collection.

Quick way to collect data from several people
Produces data unique to group setting (e.g. teasing, arguing and non-verbal behaviour) due to the interaction between participants. This is a unique feature of focus groups.
Unlike written questionnaires, focus groups don’t rely on participant literacy to generate data
Can encourage participation from marginalised groups
Can facilitate discussion of stigmatised or counter-cultural topics due to feeling of mutual support among focus group participants
Can generate more critical comments than individual interviews. This is valuable for research aimed at improving products or services.
Can be used to validate findings from quantitative research methods by providing a deeper understanding that statistics cannot.

Limitations

Individual perspectives that dissent from the focus group’s majority may remain hidden due to overriding behavioural or cultural norms, or a desire to be seen as conforming.
Confidentiality of individual responses is compromised due to the existence of the group
Only applicable when the population of interest has shared social and cultural experience or share common areas of concern.
Group discussion does not provide enough depth for researchers to understand experiences, especially in comparison to in-depth interviews.
Data is representative of the range of views in a population, not the prevalence of such views.
The facilitator has a strong effect on the focus groups behaviour and can therefore influence the extent to which issues or views are explored.
Data analysis is usually very time consuming due to the quantity produced.

Example questions

What are the experiences, needs and wishes of mothers who received midwifery care at tertiary hospitals in Victoria, Australia?
How useful is the patient perspective for the creation of an information information booklet for patients with liver cancer?
What factors influence nursing students' development of end-of-life communication skills?

Example studies

Harrison, M., Ryan, T., Gardiner, C., & Jones, A. (2017). Psychological and emotional needs, assessment, and support post-stroke: a multi-perspective qualitative study . Top Stroke Rehabil, 24 (2), 119-125. doi: 10.1080/10749357.2016.1196908

Shilubane, H. N., Ruiter, R. A., Bos, A. E., Reddy, P. S., & van den Borne, B. (2014). High school students' knowledge and experience with a peer who committed or attempted suicide: a focus group study . BMC Public Health, 14 , 1081. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-1081

Wiles, J. L., Leibing, A., Guberman, N., Reeve, J., & Allen, R. E. (2012). The meaning of "aging in place" to older people . Gerontologist , 52(3), 357-366. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnr098

Kitzinger, J. (1995). Qualitative research: introducing focus groups . BMJ, 311 (7000), 299. doi: 10.1136/bmj.311.7000.299

Rice, P. L., & Ezzy, D. (1999). Qualitative research methods: a health focus . South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.

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Next: Observation >>
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Published: 05 October 2018

Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age

P. Gill 1 &
J. Baillie 2

British Dental Journal volume 225 , pages 668–672 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Highlights that qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry. Interviews and focus groups remain the most common qualitative methods of data collection.

Suggests the advent of digital technologies has transformed how qualitative research can now be undertaken.

Suggests interviews and focus groups can offer significant, meaningful insight into participants' experiences, beliefs and perspectives, which can help to inform developments in dental practice.

Qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry, due to its potential to provide meaningful, in-depth insights into participants' experiences, perspectives, beliefs and behaviours. These insights can subsequently help to inform developments in dental practice and further related research. The most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research are interviews and focus groups. While these are primarily conducted face-to-face, the ongoing evolution of digital technologies, such as video chat and online forums, has further transformed these methods of data collection. This paper therefore discusses interviews and focus groups in detail, outlines how they can be used in practice, how digital technologies can further inform the data collection process, and what these methods can offer dentistry.

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Interviews in the social sciences

Eleanor Knott, Aliya Hamid Rao, … Chana Teeger

Professionalism in dentistry: deconstructing common terminology

Andrew Trathen, Sasha Scambler & Jennifer E. Gallagher

A review of technical and quality assessment considerations of audio-visual and web-conferencing focus groups in qualitative health research

Hiba Bawadi, Sara Elshami, … Banan Mukhalalati

Introduction

Traditionally, research in dentistry has primarily been quantitative in nature. 1 However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in qualitative research within the profession, due to its potential to further inform developments in practice, policy, education and training. Consequently, in 2008, the British Dental Journal (BDJ) published a four paper qualitative research series, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 to help increase awareness and understanding of this particular methodological approach.

Since the papers were originally published, two scoping reviews have demonstrated the ongoing proliferation in the use of qualitative research within the field of oral healthcare. 1 , 6 To date, the original four paper series continue to be well cited and two of the main papers remain widely accessed among the BDJ readership. 2 , 3 The potential value of well-conducted qualitative research to evidence-based practice is now also widely recognised by service providers, policy makers, funding bodies and those who commission, support and use healthcare research.

Besides increasing standalone use, qualitative methods are now also routinely incorporated into larger mixed method study designs, such as clinical trials, as they can offer additional, meaningful insights into complex problems that simply could not be provided by quantitative methods alone. Qualitative methods can also be used to further facilitate in-depth understanding of important aspects of clinical trial processes, such as recruitment. For example, Ellis et al . investigated why edentulous older patients, dissatisfied with conventional dentures, decline implant treatment, despite its established efficacy, and frequently refuse to participate in related randomised clinical trials, even when financial constraints are removed. 7 Through the use of focus groups in Canada and the UK, the authors found that fears of pain and potential complications, along with perceived embarrassment, exacerbated by age, are common reasons why older patients typically refuse dental implants. 7

The last decade has also seen further developments in qualitative research, due to the ongoing evolution of digital technologies. These developments have transformed how researchers can access and share information, communicate and collaborate, recruit and engage participants, collect and analyse data and disseminate and translate research findings. 8 Where appropriate, such technologies are therefore capable of extending and enhancing how qualitative research is undertaken. 9 For example, it is now possible to collect qualitative data via instant messaging, email or online/video chat, using appropriate online platforms.

These innovative approaches to research are therefore cost-effective, convenient, reduce geographical constraints and are often useful for accessing 'hard to reach' participants (for example, those who are immobile or socially isolated). 8 , 9 However, digital technologies are still relatively new and constantly evolving and therefore present a variety of pragmatic and methodological challenges. Furthermore, given their very nature, their use in many qualitative studies and/or with certain participant groups may be inappropriate and should therefore always be carefully considered. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed explication regarding the use of digital technologies in qualitative research, insight is provided into how such technologies can be used to facilitate the data collection process in interviews and focus groups.

In light of such developments, it is perhaps therefore timely to update the main paper 3 of the original BDJ series. As with the previous publications, this paper has been purposely written in an accessible style, to enhance readability, particularly for those who are new to qualitative research. While the focus remains on the most common qualitative methods of data collection – interviews and focus groups – appropriate revisions have been made to provide a novel perspective, and should therefore be helpful to those who would like to know more about qualitative research. This paper specifically focuses on undertaking qualitative research with adult participants only.

Overview of qualitative research

Qualitative research is an approach that focuses on people and their experiences, behaviours and opinions. 10 , 11 The qualitative researcher seeks to answer questions of 'how' and 'why', providing detailed insight and understanding, 11 which quantitative methods cannot reach. 12 Within qualitative research, there are distinct methodologies influencing how the researcher approaches the research question, data collection and data analysis. 13 For example, phenomenological studies focus on the lived experience of individuals, explored through their description of the phenomenon. Ethnographic studies explore the culture of a group and typically involve the use of multiple methods to uncover the issues. 14

While methodology is the 'thinking tool', the methods are the 'doing tools'; 13 the ways in which data are collected and analysed. There are multiple qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis, participant diaries, photography and videography. Two of the most commonly used qualitative methods are interviews and focus groups, which are explored in this article. The data generated through these methods can be analysed in one of many ways, according to the methodological approach chosen. A common approach is thematic data analysis, involving the identification of themes and subthemes across the data set. Further information on approaches to qualitative data analysis has been discussed elsewhere. 1

Qualitative research is an evolving and adaptable approach, used by different disciplines for different purposes. Traditionally, qualitative data, specifically interviews, focus groups and observations, have been collected face-to-face with participants. In more recent years, digital technologies have contributed to the ongoing evolution of qualitative research. Digital technologies offer researchers different ways of recruiting participants and collecting data, and offer participants opportunities to be involved in research that is not necessarily face-to-face.

Research interviews are a fundamental qualitative research method 15 and are utilised across methodological approaches. Interviews enable the researcher to learn in depth about the perspectives, experiences, beliefs and motivations of the participant. 3 , 16 Examples include, exploring patients' perspectives of fear/anxiety triggers in dental treatment, 17 patients' experiences of oral health and diabetes, 18 and dental students' motivations for their choice of career. 19

Interviews may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured, 3 according to the purpose of the study, with less structured interviews facilitating a more in depth and flexible interviewing approach. 20 Structured interviews are similar to verbal questionnaires and are used if the researcher requires clarification on a topic; however they produce less in-depth data about a participant's experience. 3 Unstructured interviews may be used when little is known about a topic and involves the researcher asking an opening question; 3 the participant then leads the discussion. 20 Semi-structured interviews are commonly used in healthcare research, enabling the researcher to ask predetermined questions, 20 while ensuring the participant discusses issues they feel are important.

Interviews can be undertaken face-to-face or using digital methods when the researcher and participant are in different locations. Audio-recording the interview, with the consent of the participant, is essential for all interviews regardless of the medium as it enables accurate transcription; the process of turning the audio file into a word-for-word transcript. This transcript is the data, which the researcher then analyses according to the chosen approach.

Types of interview

Qualitative studies often utilise one-to-one, face-to-face interviews with research participants. This involves arranging a mutually convenient time and place to meet the participant, signing a consent form and audio-recording the interview. However, digital technologies have expanded the potential for interviews in research, enabling individuals to participate in qualitative research regardless of location.

Telephone interviews can be a useful alternative to face-to-face interviews and are commonly used in qualitative research. They enable participants from different geographical areas to participate and may be less onerous for participants than meeting a researcher in person. 15 A qualitative study explored patients' perspectives of dental implants and utilised telephone interviews due to the quality of the data that could be yielded. 21 The researcher needs to consider how they will audio record the interview, which can be facilitated by purchasing a recorder that connects directly to the telephone. One potential disadvantage of telephone interviews is the inability of the interviewer and researcher to see each other. This is resolved using software for audio and video calls online – such as Skype – to conduct interviews with participants in qualitative studies. Advantages of this approach include being able to see the participant if video calls are used, enabling observation of non-verbal communication, and the software can be free to use. However, participants are required to have a device and internet connection, as well as being computer literate, potentially limiting who can participate in the study. One qualitative study explored the role of dental hygienists in reducing oral health disparities in Canada. 22 The researcher conducted interviews using Skype, which enabled dental hygienists from across Canada to be interviewed within the research budget, accommodating the participants' schedules. 22

A less commonly used approach to qualitative interviews is the use of social virtual worlds. A qualitative study accessed a social virtual world – Second Life – to explore the health literacy skills of individuals who use social virtual worlds to access health information. 23 The researcher created an avatar and interview room, and undertook interviews with participants using voice and text methods. 23 This approach to recruitment and data collection enables individuals from diverse geographical locations to participate, while remaining anonymous if they wish. Furthermore, for interviews conducted using text methods, transcription of the interview is not required as the researcher can save the written conversation with the participant, with the participant's consent. However, the researcher and participant need to be familiar with how the social virtual world works to engage in an interview this way.

Conducting an interview

Ensuring informed consent before any interview is a fundamental aspect of the research process. Participants in research must be afforded autonomy and respect; consent should be informed and voluntary. 24 Individuals should have the opportunity to read an information sheet about the study, ask questions, understand how their data will be stored and used, and know that they are free to withdraw at any point without reprisal. The qualitative researcher should take written consent before undertaking the interview. In a face-to-face interview, this is straightforward: the researcher and participant both sign copies of the consent form, keeping one each. However, this approach is less straightforward when the researcher and participant do not meet in person. A recent protocol paper outlined an approach for taking consent for telephone interviews, which involved: audio recording the participant agreeing to each point on the consent form; the researcher signing the consent form and keeping a copy; and posting a copy to the participant. 25 This process could be replicated in other interview studies using digital methods.

There are advantages and disadvantages of using face-to-face and digital methods for research interviews. Ultimately, for both approaches, the quality of the interview is determined by the researcher. 16 Appropriate training and preparation are thus required. Healthcare professionals can use their interpersonal communication skills when undertaking a research interview, particularly questioning, listening and conversing. 3 However, the purpose of an interview is to gain information about the study topic, 26 rather than offering help and advice. 3 The researcher therefore needs to listen attentively to participants, enabling them to describe their experience without interruption. 3 The use of active listening skills also help to facilitate the interview. 14 Spradley outlined elements and strategies for research interviews, 27 which are a useful guide for qualitative researchers:

Greeting and explaining the project/interview

Asking descriptive (broad), structural (explore response to descriptive) and contrast (difference between) questions

Asymmetry between the researcher and participant talking

Expressing interest and cultural ignorance

Repeating, restating and incorporating the participant's words when asking questions

Creating hypothetical situations

Asking friendly questions

Knowing when to leave.

For semi-structured interviews, a topic guide (also called an interview schedule) is used to guide the content of the interview – an example of a topic guide is outlined in Box 1 . The topic guide, usually based on the research questions, existing literature and, for healthcare professionals, their clinical experience, is developed by the research team. The topic guide should include open ended questions that elicit in-depth information, and offer participants the opportunity to talk about issues important to them. This is vital in qualitative research where the researcher is interested in exploring the experiences and perspectives of participants. It can be useful for qualitative researchers to pilot the topic guide with the first participants, 10 to ensure the questions are relevant and understandable, and amending the questions if required.

Regardless of the medium of interview, the researcher must consider the setting of the interview. For face-to-face interviews, this could be in the participant's home, in an office or another mutually convenient location. A quiet location is preferable to promote confidentiality, enable the researcher and participant to concentrate on the conversation, and to facilitate accurate audio-recording of the interview. For interviews using digital methods the same principles apply: a quiet, private space where the researcher and participant feel comfortable and confident to participate in an interview.

Box 1: Example of a topic guide

Study focus: Parents' experiences of brushing their child's (aged 0–5) teeth

1. Can you tell me about your experience of cleaning your child's teeth?

How old was your child when you started cleaning their teeth?

Why did you start cleaning their teeth at that point?

How often do you brush their teeth?

What do you use to brush their teeth and why?

2. Could you explain how you find cleaning your child's teeth?

Do you find anything difficult?

What makes cleaning their teeth easier for you?

3. How has your experience of cleaning your child's teeth changed over time?

Has it become easier or harder?

Have you changed how often and how you clean their teeth? If so, why?

4. Could you describe how your child finds having their teeth cleaned?

What do they enjoy about having their teeth cleaned?

Is there anything they find upsetting about having their teeth cleaned?

5. Where do you look for information/advice about cleaning your child's teeth?

What did your health visitor tell you about cleaning your child's teeth? (If anything)

What has the dentist told you about caring for your child's teeth? (If visited)

Have any family members given you advice about how to clean your child's teeth? If so, what did they tell you? Did you follow their advice?

6. Is there anything else you would like to discuss about this?

Focus groups

A focus group is a moderated group discussion on a pre-defined topic, for research purposes. 28 , 29 While not aligned to a particular qualitative methodology (for example, grounded theory or phenomenology) as such, focus groups are used increasingly in healthcare research, as they are useful for exploring collective perspectives, attitudes, behaviours and experiences. Consequently, they can yield rich, in-depth data and illuminate agreement and inconsistencies 28 within and, where appropriate, between groups. Examples include public perceptions of dental implants and subsequent impact on help-seeking and decision making, 30 and general dental practitioners' views on patient safety in dentistry. 31

Focus groups can be used alone or in conjunction with other methods, such as interviews or observations, and can therefore help to confirm, extend or enrich understanding and provide alternative insights. 28 The social interaction between participants often results in lively discussion and can therefore facilitate the collection of rich, meaningful data. However, they are complex to organise and manage, due to the number of participants, and may also be inappropriate for exploring particularly sensitive issues that many participants may feel uncomfortable about discussing in a group environment.

Focus groups are primarily undertaken face-to-face but can now also be undertaken online, using appropriate technologies such as email, bulletin boards, online research communities, chat rooms, discussion forums, social media and video conferencing. 32 Using such technologies, data collection can also be synchronous (for example, online discussions in 'real time') or, unlike traditional face-to-face focus groups, asynchronous (for example, online/email discussions in 'non-real time'). While many of the fundamental principles of focus group research are the same, regardless of how they are conducted, a number of subtle nuances are associated with the online medium. 32 Some of which are discussed further in the following sections.

Focus group considerations

Some key considerations associated with face-to-face focus groups are: how many participants are required; should participants within each group know each other (or not) and how many focus groups are needed within a single study? These issues are much debated and there is no definitive answer. However, the number of focus groups required will largely depend on the topic area, the depth and breadth of data needed, the desired level of participation required 29 and the necessity (or not) for data saturation.

The optimum group size is around six to eight participants (excluding researchers) but can work effectively with between three and 14 participants. 3 If the group is too small, it may limit discussion, but if it is too large, it may become disorganised and difficult to manage. It is, however, prudent to over-recruit for a focus group by approximately two to three participants, to allow for potential non-attenders. For many researchers, particularly novice researchers, group size may also be informed by pragmatic considerations, such as the type of study, resources available and moderator experience. 28 Similar size and mix considerations exist for online focus groups. Typically, synchronous online focus groups will have around three to eight participants but, as the discussion does not happen simultaneously, asynchronous groups may have as many as 10–30 participants. 33

The topic area and potential group interaction should guide group composition considerations. Pre-existing groups, where participants know each other (for example, work colleagues) may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences and may enjoy a familiarity, which facilitates discussion and/or the ability to challenge each other courteously. 3 However, if there is a potential power imbalance within the group or if existing group norms and hierarchies may adversely affect the ability of participants to speak freely, then 'stranger groups' (that is, where participants do not already know each other) may be more appropriate. 34 , 35

Focus group management

Face-to-face focus groups should normally be conducted by two researchers; a moderator and an observer. 28 The moderator facilitates group discussion, while the observer typically monitors group dynamics, behaviours, non-verbal cues, seating arrangements and speaking order, which is essential for transcription and analysis. The same principles of informed consent, as discussed in the interview section, also apply to focus groups, regardless of medium. However, the consent process for online discussions will probably be managed somewhat differently. For example, while an appropriate participant information leaflet (and consent form) would still be required, the process is likely to be managed electronically (for example, via email) and would need to specifically address issues relating to technology (for example, anonymity and use, storage and access to online data). 32

The venue in which a face to face focus group is conducted should be of a suitable size, private, quiet, free from distractions and in a collectively convenient location. It should also be conducted at a time appropriate for participants, 28 as this is likely to promote attendance. As with interviews, the same ethical considerations apply (as discussed earlier). However, online focus groups may present additional ethical challenges associated with issues such as informed consent, appropriate access and secure data storage. Further guidance can be found elsewhere. 8 , 32

Before the focus group commences, the researchers should establish rapport with participants, as this will help to put them at ease and result in a more meaningful discussion. Consequently, researchers should introduce themselves, provide further clarity about the study and how the process will work in practice and outline the 'ground rules'. Ground rules are designed to assist, not hinder, group discussion and typically include: 3 , 28 , 29

Discussions within the group are confidential to the group

Only one person can speak at a time

All participants should have sufficient opportunity to contribute

There should be no unnecessary interruptions while someone is speaking

Everyone can be expected to be listened to and their views respected

Challenging contrary opinions is appropriate, but ridiculing is not.

Moderating a focus group requires considered management and good interpersonal skills to help guide the discussion and, where appropriate, keep it sufficiently focused. Avoid, therefore, participating, leading, expressing personal opinions or correcting participants' knowledge 3 , 28 as this may bias the process. A relaxed, interested demeanour will also help participants to feel comfortable and promote candid discourse. Moderators should also prevent the discussion being dominated by any one person, ensure differences of opinions are discussed fairly and, if required, encourage reticent participants to contribute. 3 Asking open questions, reflecting on significant issues, inviting further debate, probing responses accordingly, and seeking further clarification, as and where appropriate, will help to obtain sufficient depth and insight into the topic area.

Moderating online focus groups requires comparable skills, particularly if the discussion is synchronous, as the discussion may be dominated by those who can type proficiently. 36 It is therefore important that sufficient time and respect is accorded to those who may not be able to type as quickly. Asynchronous discussions are usually less problematic in this respect, as interactions are less instant. However, moderating an asynchronous discussion presents additional challenges, particularly if participants are geographically dispersed, as they may be online at different times. Consequently, the moderator will not always be present and the discussion may therefore need to occur over several days, which can be difficult to manage and facilitate and invariably requires considerable flexibility. 32 It is also worth recognising that establishing rapport with participants via online medium is often more challenging than via face-to-face and may therefore require additional time, skills, effort and consideration.

As with research interviews, focus groups should be guided by an appropriate interview schedule, as discussed earlier in the paper. For example, the schedule will usually be informed by the review of the literature and study aims, and will merely provide a topic guide to help inform subsequent discussions. To provide a verbatim account of the discussion, focus groups must be recorded, using an audio-recorder with a good quality multi-directional microphone. While videotaping is possible, some participants may find it obtrusive, 3 which may adversely affect group dynamics. The use (or not) of a video recorder, should therefore be carefully considered.

At the end of the focus group, a few minutes should be spent rounding up and reflecting on the discussion. 28 Depending on the topic area, it is possible that some participants may have revealed deeply personal issues and may therefore require further help and support, such as a constructive debrief or possibly even referral on to a relevant third party. It is also possible that some participants may feel that the discussion did not adequately reflect their views and, consequently, may no longer wish to be associated with the study. 28 Such occurrences are likely to be uncommon, but should they arise, it is important to further discuss any concerns and, if appropriate, offer them the opportunity to withdraw (including any data relating to them) from the study. Immediately after the discussion, researchers should compile notes regarding thoughts and ideas about the focus group, which can assist with data analysis and, if appropriate, any further data collection.

Qualitative research is increasingly being utilised within dental research to explore the experiences, perspectives, motivations and beliefs of participants. The contributions of qualitative research to evidence-based practice are increasingly being recognised, both as standalone research and as part of larger mixed-method studies, including clinical trials. Interviews and focus groups remain commonly used data collection methods in qualitative research, and with the advent of digital technologies, their utilisation continues to evolve. However, digital methods of qualitative data collection present additional methodological, ethical and practical considerations, but also potentially offer considerable flexibility to participants and researchers. Consequently, regardless of format, qualitative methods have significant potential to inform important areas of dental practice, policy and further related research.

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Gill, P., Baillie, J. Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age. Br Dent J 225 , 668–672 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815

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Focus group research: 8 essential steps

Last updated

20 March 2023

Reviewed by

Miroslav Damyanov

Learn the essential steps to focus group research on getting the most accurate insights from your participants.

Analyze focus group sessions

Dovetail streamlines focus group research to help you understand the responses and find patterns faster

Step 1: Choose your topic of interest

Topics favorable to focus groups

A favorable topic for focus groups is exploring the participant's beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and thoughts. Examples of topics that focus groups can explore include:

What are people's perceptions of a particular brand?

What are their thoughts on a new service?

How do they feel about the current trends?

Differences between types of interviews

In focus group research, interviews are used to explore the topic more in-depth. The three kinds of interviews used are: unstructured, semi-structured, and structured. The differences are discussed as follows:

Unstructured interviews are used to establish rapport with the participants. As a result, they often have few questions.

Semi-structured interviews involve the use of a guide throughout the process. This allows the researcher to probe the participant for additional information.

Structured interviews adhere strictly to an interview protocol. As a result, it limits the chance to explore topics further.

Primarily, focus group research uses semi-structured interviews.

Step 2: Define your research scope and hypotheses

This step is crucial because it defines how the subsequent steps will proceed. A rule of thumb is to be as specific as possible when defining the scope so that the questions you ask your participants from the discussion guide will be adequately answered. When clear scope is set, the focus groups become successful. In addition, by defining the research scope, you know what is expected from the focus group as well as:

Purpose of the focus group research

Types of questions to be asked

Specific information required

The outcome of the information being sought

A research scope helps highlight what will be covered in the focus group. It also helps in giving an estimate of the expenses and time needed to complete the study. To help you define your research scope, here are some preliminary questions that can be helpful.

Why is the research information needed?

Who is interested in the results of the focus group research?

What is the exact topic of interest?

Why does the client need the study to be done?

The next step is to formulate a hypothesis. This is a statement that predicts the outcome of the study and gives a relationship between variables.

When writing a hypothesis , ensure that it satisfies the following characteristics:

Clear and concise

Can be tested

Predicts the results or outcome of the study

Is relevant to the research study

Step 3: Determine your focus group questions

Questions asked in focus group discussions are crucial in collecting findings. Determining the right questions for the focus group is vital for collecting actionable findings. The questions should have a good questioning route. This means they flow logically and naturally, moving from a general concern to a more specific topic.

There are three categories of questions to ask a focus group. These are:

Engagement questions , which are used to get the participants to feel comfortable

Exploration questions, which are those that focus on the major areas of concern

Exit questions , which bring the discussion session to a close

The question should be appropriately formulated so that accurate responses are collected. In addition, good questions should be natural and conversational. Also, ensure that the questions are:

Unambiguous

Not leading

Step 4: Select a moderator or co-moderator

A moderator is responsible for leading the group in engaging discussions. A co-moderator is an assistant to the primary facilitator. Moderating a focus group requires adequate skills, expertise, and competency. Therefore, while selecting a moderator, consider one who has the following qualities:

An observer

Uses non-verbal communication cues

Restrains from expressing biased views

Has people skills

Is knowledgeable

Step 5: Recruit your participants

The next step is to recruit participants. An important step in conducting focus groups is the process of recruiting participants. The most common criterion for selecting participants is choosing individuals with adequate subject knowledge.

Number of participants

Most focus groups have five to 10 members. This is the ideal size for the moderator to manage the group and facilitate effective discussions. The participants of a focus group should be homogeneous. This means that they share common characteristics and behavior. For instance, recruit participants that have the same occupation, gender, age, and family characteristics or have used the service under study in the past.

Step 6: Set up your focus group

Confirm a time and date

When developing focus group research, the two good rules of thumb are to allow six to eight weeks of preparation time and create a schedule to help the planner stay on track. Make a schedule that is convenient for everyone.

Confirm whether it will take place in person or online

Be sure to inform the participants if the session will occur online or face-to-face. If the discussions are conducted virtually, send out reminders for the online event. In-person discussions will require a location that is accessible to all participants. To ensure high attendance rates, follow the steps outlined below.

Set an appropriate location, date, and time for the discussion.

Make contact with the participants via personal visits or phone calls.

Send a follow-up invitation to the participants. The invitation should have the proposed agenda, time, and date.

Call potential members before the actual date and remind them to attend.

Consent and ethical considerations

All the participants must provide informed consent. This includes being aware of what the focus group is about, the risks of participating, and having the right to withdraw from participating at any time. The stakeholders should also take the necessary measures to protect the participants' confidentiality and privacy.

Preparation prior to participation

Before the set date:

Select a location that is free from noise and can accommodate the members of the groups.

Ensure that the venue has bathrooms and refreshments to make the participants comfortable.

Arrange chairs so that all the participants can see each other.

Set in place an audio or video recorder to record the session.

Ensure that there are name tags for participants to wear.

Create forum brochures with a welcome note, agenda of the discussions, and ground rules.

Step 7: Host your focus group

Starting the focus group

Focus group discussions should be scheduled to last between 60 to 90 minutes. This ensures that the participants remain active and contribute to the discussion. Before starting the session, the moderator should welcome the members. Also, engaging in small talk will make the process easier for shy participants.

Leading the discussion

After the pre-session, explain the purpose of conducting the discussion by giving an overview of the agenda. Then proceed to ask the predetermined set of questions. While asking questions, the moderator should allocate equal time to each participant to give their responses. Some of the valuable tips to make the discussion successful include the use of the following:

Pauses, including giving participants a chance to add feedback

Probes, ensuring that the answers are explored more. It may include asking follow-up questions such as "Can you tell us more about that?"

Non-verbal communication, including the use of eye contact and hand signals to encourage engagement

During the discussion, the co-moderator can help with note-taking. Once the main tasks of the session have been completed, the moderator can give a closing summary and thank the participants for their time.

Step 8: Analyze your data and report your results

This last step involves examining, tabulating, and recombining evidence collected during the session. The sources to be analyzed include:

Moderator's notes

Audio tape recordings

Since the collected data is mainly descriptive and not measurable, it has to be converted into forms that can be analyzed. The moderator’s notes will capture the key points that will be analyzed. The audio recordings can be converted into abridged text documents (transcripts).

To gather information from memory, aided recall and directed cues are effective. Data analysis will then involve indexing, managing, and interpreting collected data.

Indexing refers to transcribing the transcripts or notes and assigning unique codes to each. The codes link together pieces of text that represent a similar perspective related to the focus group questions.

Management will involve collecting all pieces of text with the same code.

Interpretation will involve generating a summary statement that applies to each piece of text. These statements become the key themes that will be recorded in the research report.

When the analysis is completed, a report is written and discussed with the top stakeholders of the research study. The written report should include the aim of the study, a description of the methodology used, a summary of results, and recommendations.

Advantages of focus groups

A focus group is a research method that involves bringing together a small group of people to discuss a particular topic or issue.

Here are some advantages of using a focus group:

In-depth insights

Focus groups allow for a detailed exploration of a particular topic or issue. The group members can provide rich, in-depth insights into their experiences, opinions, and attitudes related to the topic being discussed.

Interactive discussion

A focus group encourages an interactive discussion among the group members. Participants can bounce ideas off each other, challenge each other's opinions, and explore different perspectives. This can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of the topic being discussed.

Group dynamics

Group dynamics can provide valuable information about how people interact with each other and how they form opinions. For example, a focus group can reveal how group members influence each other's opinions or how certain individuals dominate the conversation.

Flexibility

Focus groups are a flexible research method that can be adapted to different research objectives. For example, focus groups can be used to explore new ideas, test product concepts, or evaluate advertising campaigns.

Cost-effective

Compared to other research methods, focus groups can be a cost-effective way to gather data from multiple participants. This is because data can be collected from a group of people at once rather than individually.

Focus groups can quickly generate data, especially when compared to more traditional research methods such as surveys or experiments. This can be especially useful when time is of the essence, such as when evaluating a new product or service.

Disadvantages of focus groups

The following are some disadvantages of using focus groups.

Limited sample size

Focus groups typically involve few participants, meaning the findings may not be generalized to the broader population.

Moderator bias

Moderator bias affects the outcome of the results. Facilitators may inject explicit bias or allocate unequal response times to the participants. For example, the moderator may force participants to answer questions in a certain way. This significantly impacts the outcome of the research.

Time-consuming

Conducting focus groups can be time-consuming and expensive, particularly if they involve recruiting participants, paying incentives, and renting a space for the session.

The group dynamics can also impact the quality of the data collected. Some participants may be more dominant and vocal, while others may be quieter or reluctant to share their opinions.

Biased responses

Group thinking may influence the opinions of participants. For instance, participants may agree with the responses of fellow group members and avoid sharing their honest views. In addition, desirability bias is common. Participants may also be influenced by social desirability bias, which can lead them to provide responses that they believe are more socially acceptable rather than their true opinions.

Sensitive topics

Sensitive topics may be avoided. Some participants may be uncomfortable discussing sensitive issues that may concern the public.

Difficulty in analyzing data

Analyzing focus group data can be challenging, as the data can be subjective and open to interpretation. Additionally, the data may be difficult to quantify or summarize meaningfully.

Why is a focus group the best method?

Focus groups allow the researcher to gather in-depth information on a specific topic from all participants at once.

Is the focus group quantitative or qualitative?

Focus groups are a qualitative data collection technique since collected results are mostly descriptive rather than statistical and measurable.

What is the sample size in the focus group?

The sample size is defined as the total number of participants in the research study. The ideal sample size for a focus group is six to ten participants.

What type of data collection is a focus group?

A focus group is a qualitative data collection technique in which the researcher learns and understands people's motivations for certain actions.

How do you find people for a focus group?

Several ways to recruit participants in focus groups to include nominations, convenience sampling, random selection, or open calls. Online forums, social media, and social media interest groups can be a source to recruit participants. Consider also discussion boards and professional networks. Last but not least, you can use the services of a recruitment agency which will arrange a sample of representative participants.

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Focus Group in Market Research: Types, Examples and Best Practices

Focus Group is one of the critical components of market research. It is an interactive group discussion method where selected participants share their thoughts on a particular product, service, or other things.

Suppose you are planning to launch a new product in the market. But before that, you want to undertake extensive market research to understand customers’ thoughts and opinions. Although surveys and questionnaires are helpful to a certain extent in conducting in-depth research, it’s not practical to extract enough actionable insights into a customers’ thought process or feelings. Moreover, they can’t provide quantitative data about the subject.

By conducting a focus group, you can understand what your target audience will like, so you can incorporate those elements into it before launching the product in the market. Or how much they are ready to spend so you can set the pricing accordingly.

This blog will discuss what a focus group is, its advantages, examples, and how to conduct one for your next research.

Let’s start.

What Is a Focus Group?

A focus group is one of the most popular and effective market research methods of gathering qualitative data through group interaction. It consists of a small group of people (usually 6-10) and a moderator to participate in a discussion. People are selected based on shared characteristics like geographic location, age group, ethnicity, shopping behavior, shopping history, or other such factors. The participants share their thoughts and feelings on the particular subject so the researcher can collect valuable data and make informed decisions.

The purpose of conducting a focus group is to understand a topic, whether it is a product, service, belief, perception, or anything in greater depth. It is used to identify people’s opinions, attitudes, sentiments and explore the reasons behind these.

Characteristics of Focus Groups

For focus research to be effective, it is essential to have the following given characteristics:

Small-Group of People

Usually, focus groups consist of 6-10 people. The group needs to be small in size to make a valuable contribution to the discussion. Large groups can hinder the focus discussion as some people may dominate the conversation, and others might not present their thoughts.

Homogenous Group

It is crucial for focus groups to have a degree of homogeneity. Specific topics can only be explored in greater depth when there is homogeneity among the participants about usage or attitudes toward the product. The participants can be similar in terms of demographic, geographical, psychographic, purchase behavior, attitude, or any other criteria that suit your research.

Open-Ended Questions

Focus Group consists of pre-decided open-ended questions that enable participants to share their thoughts and feelings about the subject. For example, “what do you think about the features of this product?” It is important not to include close-ended questions like “Yes” or “No” as this will not result in open-ended, free-flowing discussion among the participants.

Qualitative Data

Another essential characteristic of the focus group is that it offers qualitative data that is comprehensive in nature and not numerical. It provides a platform for in-depth discussion. Also, there is a lot more than the group interview. Essentially, it involves sharing first-hand opinions and experiences by participants.

Types of Focus Group

Basically, there are 7 types of focus groups. Based on your research, you can select any type. Let’s have a look at them:

Two-Way Focus Group

It involves two groups; each group with its own moderator. One group discusses the topic while the other group listens and observes them. Then, the second group discusses the subject by observing the thoughts of the first group. This arrangement aims to facilitate more discussion and additional insights about the particular topic.

Dual-Moderator Focus Group

In this type of opinion group, two moderators are used. One moderator ensures smooth execution of the session, the other guarantees that each question is covered in the discussion.

Dueling Moderator Focus Group

Just like the Dual-Moderator focus group, it also involves two moderators. The difference is that both moderators purposefully take opposite sides of the topic to explore both sides of an issue and generate new insights regarding the subject.

Client-Participant Focus Group

In this type of arrangement, a client who asked to conduct the focus group is also sitting as a participant with the group. It gives the client more control over the discussion, and he can lead the qualitative discussion wherever he wants to.

Respondent Moderator Focus Group

In this type of focus group, the researcher asks some participants to act as moderators for a temporary period to avoid unintentional bias. This type of arrangement changes the groups’ dynamics and makes people more open and honest with their answers.

Mini Focus Group

In contrast to a regular research focus group with 6-10 people, a mini focus group has only 4-5 people. This type of event is suitable when a more intimate approach is needed as ordered by the client and subject matter.

Online Focus Group

Using a teleconference or the internet, the remote or online focus group brings together people from different places who might not meet in person. Here, participants interact through a video call, and the moderator asks the questions and leads the conversation.

How to Conduct a Focus Group

As discussed above, not all focus groups are the same. But there are some general steps that you can follow that help gather data from customers efficiently. Let’s discuss how to run a focus group:

1. Set Your Focus Group Objectives

Before you select the focus group participants, it is crucial to determine what you want to achieve from this activity. Why are you conducting this survey? For example, do you want to launch a new product or service? Or want to study in detail about your existing customers? Setting clear specific objectives will help you efficiently plan your focus group.

2. Select the Right Audience and Moderator

Establishing clear goals will help you decide the right target audience for focus groups. You need to select the people who have adequate knowledge of the topic so that they can add a valuable contribution to your group research.

It is also equally necessary to select the right moderator. Your moderator should understand the topic, ensure participation from all members, and that group discussion is steering in the right direction that aligns with research objectives.

3. Choose Time and Venue

You can either conduct focus groups offline or online mode. Having a group discussion online will have greater flexibility as more people worldwide will be able to join the focus grouping from the comfort of their homes. If you decide to get together in person, make sure to select the location that is easy to find and access and is large enough to accommodate your participants in one space, like a meeting room or hall.

Also, ensure to select the proper time when your target audience will be available. For instance, if your focus group requires professionals, you should go for weekends or after work hours.

4. Write The Questions

The objective of conducting a focus group is to gather rich information. Hence, it is crucial to write the survey questions engagingly before you actually complete the event. Ensure to keep the questions open-ended with no particular answer implied. You can start questions with words like “how,” “why,” and “what” to get more participation from participants. For instance, “How do you feel about using this product?”

5. Conduct the Session and Analyze the Data

The next step is conducting the focus groups. While following the list of topics to be covered is vital, the moderator should also remain open-minded and allow participants to speak about the things that they believe are significant. Make sure to record or document the entire conversation that will help you analyze the data and make conclusions.

Focus Group Research Best Practices

Running a successful focus group requires a lot of careful planning. So, if you’re new to this concept, you can follow the below tips to best utilize this qualitative research method .

Have a Clear Strategy

For a focus group to be successful, it is important to have a clear plan before inviting the participants. You should be clear in your approach what end-result you want to achieve. For instance, you want qualitative data regarding the launch of new products or the effect of change in the pricing of existing products.

Ask Important Questions in the Beginning

Usually, the participants are most focused at the beginning of the event. So, try to ask the most crucial focus group questions at the event’s start and steer the conservation in the direction that matches the research objectives. This will also ensure that all the essential questions are covered before the time runs out.

Use Ice Breaker Questions

You can ask the participants to introduce themselves or ask quick icebreaker questions at the beginning of the event. It will help people ease up and interact more with other participants during the focus group discussions.

Select the Convenient Venue

It is vital to select a public place for the focus group discussion that is easy to access, well connected by public transport, and has good parking. It will ensure that participants arrive on time without facing any significant difficulties. You can also provide clear instructions on reaching the location to your audience before the event.

Create a Relaxing Environment

Participants will speak openly and freely only when they feel comfortable. Ensure to set a comfortable temperature in the hall/room, proper seating space, and arrange water bottles for everyone. You can also offer light snacks if you think the discussion will take more than 1 hour.

Try to Interact More With Quiet Participants

In a focus group, some individuals may sometimes dominate the topic, so make sure to approach quiet participants directly so you can gain insights from everyone. You don’t have to be demanding; simply go around the room and direct particular focus group questionnaires to specific people.

Keep the Duration Short

In general, the longer your focus group runs, the less interested people are likely to be in it. This can make it more challenging for people to come up with creative ideas or have a lively debate. Try to keep it short by not exceeding 1-2 hour duration.

Focus Group Examples

A Focus group is used in various fields to collect quantitative data about a subject. It is used in situations where public opinions guide an action. Let’s look at some of the focus group examples:

Focus Group in Political Field

Suppose a political party is interested to know how the working population would react to change in a specific policy. They can conduct the focus group research method in this scenario, where they can select some of the respondents who will act as the representative sample of a population. By observing the respondents discussing those policies, market researchers would analyze the data and report their findings to the party.

Focus Group in Marketing Field

Focus groups are also used in the Marketing and Sales domain. For example, a marketing firm wants to launch a new cosmetic product for its female customers. So, they will conduct the focus group of females, where they will discuss what features are essential for them, how much they are willing to pay for those benefits, which product they are currently using, why they like it, and what problems they face while using the product. The researcher can collect in-depth data based on these discussions and draw a suitable conclusion.

Focus Group Question Examples

Focus group questions fall into four categories, each of which is discussed below.

Introductory Questions

Introductory Questions are usually open-ended questions that are asked at the beginning of the focus group. The purpose of these questions is to stimulate the members to interact with each other and set the tone of the discussion. You can use introductory focus group questions to drive the discussion in the way you want it to go.

Today we are here to discuss product X. What are your thoughts about it?
When was the last time you used product X?
What is your favorite brand of product X? Why?
How often do you use this product?
From where did you hear about product X?
What do you like the best about product X?
What do you not like about product X?

Exploration Questions

As the name suggests, these questions explore the subject more deeply. They stimulate responses from the audience that offer detailed insight into what they think of the particular topic. Exploration questions should be structured to draw out as much information from members as possible. Let’s discuss some focus group questions examples in this case.

What will you like to change about product X?
What first comes to your mind when you think of product X?
Why have you stopped using product X?
What do you like about brand X as compared to brand Y?
Has your usage of product X declined or increased in the last three years?
What are your specific expectations while selecting this product?
If brand X is not available in the market, which brand will you choose and why?

Follow-up Questions

After exploration questions are asked, follow-up questions are used to collect specific insights to clarify anything that is unclear or to invite more participation from participants. Let’s discuss some of the focus group examples for follow-up questions.

How can product X be improved?
You said …………………….. about product X. What do you mean by that?
Can anyone else relate to this (Name) experience?
What is it about product X that makes you feel this way?
Is there anyone in the group that doesn’t feel this way about product X?
What are the chances that you will recommend this product to others?

Exit Questions

After all the pre-decided topics have been covered, you can ask exit questions to ensure that nothing has been left unsaid. Make sure that your participants don’t leave the event with any lingering doubt. Exit questions are designed in a way to wrap the event. Let’s discuss some focus group questions examples in this case.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about product X?
Would you like to discuss any other topic related to the product?
Anything else that you feel essential has not been covered during the discussion?
We discussed in detail about brand X but not Y. Would you like to add anything about brand Y?

Advantages of Focus Group

The best part of focus groups is their interactive nature. It allows participants to interact and discuss topics in detail that offers rich qualitative data. Focus Groups are beneficial because they provide an alternate way of collecting data from target consumers without using surveys that only produce quantitative data. Getting into the minds of customers is extremely difficult. But the focus group research method provides an engaging way to gather first-hand information of customer thoughts, opinions, and perception of your brand, service, or product.

Also, focus groups are flexible by design. You can understand what customers feel about the subject by their body language and way of speaking. Moreover, you can steer the discussion to match your research objectives to collect the information you want.

Ready to Collect Qualitative Data to Obtain Rich Customer Insight?

By now, you must have understood the importance of a focus group. There is no better way to collect in-depth customer insights than conducting this extensive market research method. Focus groups can be utilized in different fields where the action is based on the customer’s opinion. It is an excellent way to get into a customer’s head.

Focus groups can also be combined with other research methods like interviews and surveys to make it more effective. Based on the type of research and data you need, a focus group can be used with other research methods to offer actionable insights. You can use a robust survey tool to quickly deploy your survey and combine it with a focus group for efficient results.

About the author

Emma David is a seasoned market research professional with 8+ years of experience. Having kick-started her journey in research, she has developed rich expertise in employee engagement, survey creation and administration, and data management. Emma believes in the power of data to shape business performance positively. She continues to help brands and businesses make strategic decisions and improve their market standing through her understanding of research methodologies.

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How to Run a Focus Group for Your Business

Updated: March 22, 2022

Published: February 02, 2022

When you're developing or launching a new product, service, or business, you'll want to have a general sense of how receptive your target market will be to it.

facilitator demonstrating how to run a focus group for your business and insightful feedback

Typically, this is done through extensive market research — and one key component of the research process is running a focus group.

In this article, we'll define what a focus group is, give you an agenda to follow when conducting on, explain how to run a focus group step-by-step, and help you plan your questions with a focus group questionnaire .

What is a focus group?

A focus group is a small group of people, typically representative of your target market, with whom you share ideas and ask questions about your product, service, or business. The individuals who make up the focus group should be a mix of current customers and people who’ve never made a purchase but might in the future. The ideal outcome is a stronger understanding of how the subject of the focus group would be received by a wider audience, and what changes (if any) should be made before the formal roll-out.

Now you may be asking, is information gathered from focus groups really important? And is it a good strategy to gather information?

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Focus Group Strategy

Focus groups can provide your business with priceless information if the participants are a reflection of your target audience .

The data you collect from them is important because it can help you build successful strategies by:

Collecting more accurate needs assessments from customers.
Pulling meaning behind facts and numbers obtained from more general surveys.

You can take this information and apply it to how you choose to market your product or service, adjust the features to better suit your customers’ pain points .

Now that we understand the importance of focus groups to your operation, you have to have a focus group agenda to follow before you bring in your own participants.

Focus Group Agenda

To get started with your focus group, you’ll need an agenda to stay on task during the meeting. Here are the main points to follow when making your own.

1. Welcome the focus group participants.

First, you’ll want to welcome the participants in the focus group and introduce yourself and other researchers who may be present. This step is important as it establishes rapport with the group and builds trust.

2. Have the participants introduce themselves.

This does a few things: it continues building rapport among the group members, and it confirms the pronunciation of everyone’s names — you don’t want to spend the next hour or more together saying everyone’s names incorrectly!

3. Establish some ground rules for the group.

Before asking questions, establish some ground rules for the group. Take this moment to clarify any concerns such as:

If a topic could become controversial, let that be known and set boundaries for how far a discussion can go.
If you’ll be asking for information that isn’t normally shared in a group setting, assure the cohort that the findings won’t have names or identifying data attached to the responses.
If your company is reimbursing expenses or providing payment to the focus group participants, let them know how and when they’ll receive their disbursements.

Once these are clarified — as well as any others they may ask during this portion of the session — you can begin asking the questions about your product, service, or business.

4. Ask questions methodically.

Now, here’s the fun part. Although you may have one broad topic to discuss during the focus group, you’ll likely have several subtopics that need to be addressed separately. Structure your questions in such a way that the flow of the conversation makes sense. This could be by theme, chronological order, or the current-future state of your business.

5. Wrap up final thoughts.

Once you’ve reached a stopping point during the conversation, wrap up any lingering questions and ideas within the group. Finally, thank everyone for their time and end the session.

If you need those steps organized in a handy agenda, we’ve got you covered. Download the PDF below and save it for your next focus group.

Now that you have an understanding of how to conduct the session, let’s dive into what it takes to run a successful focus group from the very beginning.

How to Run a Focus Group

Choose your topic of discussion
Choose your questions or discussion prompts
Prepare your focus group questionnaire
Appoint a notetaker
Recruit and schedule participants
Get consent and start the discussion
Have everyone introduce themselves
Ask your questions
Seek equal representation from the group
End the meeting in a reasonable amount of time
Analyze and incorporate feedback

Follow Along With a Free Focus Group Questionnaire Template

How-to-Run-a-Focus-Group-for-Your-Business-1-2-1

HubSpot's Market Research Kit includes everything you need to run an effective round of market research, including a focus group questionnaire and a guide on how to run focus groups. Download the kit now to incorporate the steps in this post into your focus group strategy.

1. Choose your topic of discussion.

Going into a focus group, your discussion should be narrowed down to one or a few topics. Keep in mind that you won't be able to thoroughly address every area you want to discuss in one short focus group session.

Because of this, it's not uncommon for companies to run multiple rounds of focus groups around different topics. For example, if you're launching a new product, you could center one focus group around the product's marketing and brand positioning, and another one around the usability and functionality of the product itself.

2. Choose your questions or discussion prompts.

Once you determine the topic of discussion for your focus group, create a list of questions and discussion prompts that will help you gather the data you need.

Let's return to the product launch example from above. If you're running the product marketing focus groups, you could ask questions like:

What do you think of the packaging design?
How much money would you spend on a product like this?
What other companies do you think of when you see a product like this?

Meanwhile, for a focus group about the product itself, you’ll want to ask about the product's functionality, ease of use, and perceived favorability.

Also, remember to ask open-ended questions — "Do you like the product?" and "What do you think of the product?" may seem similar in nature, but the latter will produce more detailed results.

3. Prepare your focus group questionnaire.

After you've chosen your questions and discussion prompts, organize them on a focus group questionnaire . Be sure to leave enough space on the questionnaire for overall notes, a list of common responses, and one or two noteworthy responses that really stood out.

Download this Template for Free

4. appoint a notetaker..

Your focus group discussion should be facilitated by at least one person while another person on your team should be a designated notetaker.

Why? The facilitator's job is to facilitate — to guide the discussion and foster new ideas from participants. This task can get easily derailed if the facilitator also needs to pause the discussion to write down big, bold ideas and reactions from participants.

To avoid this possibility of disruption, appoint a notetaker before going into the focus group who can focus solely on jotting down the general consensus from the group, unique and noteworthy individual responses, and the key takeaways for the business.

5. Recruit and schedule participants.

One of the most challenging parts of running a focus group is getting people to actually show up. After you select a time and a place, you'll want to start spreading the word to participants.

Here are a few ways to find them:

Reach out to existing customers.

If you're doing market research for an existing company, reach out to your customers through account managers or an email database. Since current customers will likely be the first to use what you're launching, this will be the perfect opportunity to gauge early reactions for the official launch.

For incentives, you could offer free or discounted services or reward them on a customer advocacy program like Influitive .

Advertise on social media.

Looking for middle-aged males or senior citizens in the greater Ann Arbor area? No problem! Social media advertising offers advanced targeting options for you to reach your target market.

You should also think about which sites are most used by the people you want in your focus group. If you're interested in surveying middle-aged working professionals, you'll probably have better luck on LinkedIn than you would on TikTok.

Try location-based promotion.

If you're hyper-targeting a location, supplement your recruiting efforts with advertisements that will only be seen by those in your area. A few examples include:

Location-based social media campaigns (Location targeting ads)
Public Transit-Based Ads (Trains, Busses, Taxis, etc.)
Ads in Local Publications and Newspapers
Billboard Ads

Be prepared to offer incentives.

People rarely do anything for free. In your advertisements and promotional assets, highlight the incentive you're prepared to offer — which could be cash, a gift card, or a discount on whatever you're selling.

If you're strapped for cash, consider hosting a raffle or giveaway for participants. That way, if you host a focus group of eight people, you could offer a chance at a $100 gift card (rather than a guaranteed $25 per participant) to save you $100.

6. Get consent and start the discussion.

Before you start your focus group discussion, remind participants of the purpose of the group and hand out a consent form. The consent form should reiterate the purpose of the event, outline the participants' rights, identify the compensation, list the facilitators' contact information, and prompt participants to sign.

After everyone signs off, it's time to run the focus group.

7. Have everyone introduce themselves.

To break the ice and get people talking, start the discussion off by introducing yourself and inviting the participants to do the same.

This is another chance for you to learn more about your target market. In addition to having participants say their names, consider asking them to share their industry or interests to get a more personal understanding of how your product, service, or business could play a role in their everyday lives.

8. Ask your questions.

Remember, this is not an interview! Before the focus group begins, you should prepare a list of five to 10 questions .

That being said, it can be easy to tie yourself to your list of questions or discussion points, but sticking too closely to this can hamper natural and effective conversations. If the group takes a slightly different turn than you were expecting, don't be afraid to allow the conversation to veer off-course if it seems productive.

The point of a focus group is not just to confirm information you think is true, but also to uncover what you don't know.

So long as it's not too far off-topic, allow the conversation to happen naturally and use an agenda as a guide rather than a point-by-point checklist of topics to cover.

Additionally, you may not ask every question on your list, depending on the direction of the conversation. Make sure you ask the most important questions first, and follow up on certain discussion points to keep things flowing rather than hosting a pure question-and-answer forum.

9. Seek equal representation from the group.

Your session involves an entire group of people, so you have to make sure you hear from each and every one of them! That may seem obvious, but a focus group can quickly turn into an interview of one or two of the most talkative members.

If you run into this problem, be ready to jump in when someone has been quiet for too long by thanking the most active participants for their input and re-opening the floor to the other participants. Say something along the lines of "Isabella, what's your input here?" or "Raheem, what do you think about what Isabella said?" for the rest to chime in.

10. End the meeting in a reasonable amount of time.

Exhaustion and the law of diminishing returns are real, so keep them in mind when planning the time frame for your focus group.

At the start of the session, in your advertisements, and/or on your consent form, you should specify how long the focus group will last. It's your responsibility to moderate the discussion in a way that ensures the time frame is not exceeded.

Now, if the exercise lasts for an hour and five minutes and you promised an hour focus group, that's acceptable. However, if you promised a 45-minute session and it goes well over an hour, your attendees could be resentful and less likely to offer valuable feedback.

When the discussion is over, thank your attendees for their time and deliver the promised incentive, if applicable. Additionally, remind them of your contact information if they decide they have more feedback or comments they'd like to provide.

11. Analyze and incorporate feedback.

Ideally, your focus group has provided you with plenty of responses, unique angles, and actionable ideas to help your business thrive. After all of your focus groups have taken place, have your team compile and analyze the commonalities of the ideas presented and what changes, if any, are applicable to the product, service, or business in question.

You have a step-by-step guide for conducting a focus group, let’s take a look at a real-world application of one.

Focus Group Example

This recent focus group study follows most of the guidelines we’ve recommended and derived useful information for real-world application.

Post-Election Focus Group

Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service conducted a focus group with first-time voters after the 2020 election. It could have been very easy for this focus group to get off track and into political affiliations; However, you’ll notice in this example that the researcher had a topic in mind — the first-time-voter experience — and didn’t deviate from that topic. She asked probing questions and sought out a variety of perspectives from the group.

Watch this focus group to get a better understanding of how to start these conversations and keep them going to get the insights you need.

The information can now be studied for political research thus helping guide future campaigns for first-time voters.

Run a Successful Focus Group

Taking this methodical approach to running a focus group can produce better and more insightful feedback from your participants. To keep your questions, thoughts, and responses organized, we developed a focus group template, which you can use to run a better focus group. Download it for free now to get the most out of your marketing research.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Glob Qual Nurs Res
v.3; Jan-Dec 2016

Methodological Aspects of Focus Groups in Health Research

Anja p. tausch.

1 GESIS–Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim, Germany

Natalja Menold

Although focus groups are commonly used in health research to explore the perspectives of patients or health care professionals, few studies consider methodological aspects in this specific context. For this reason, we interviewed nine researchers who had conducted focus groups in the context of a project devoted to the development of an electronic personal health record. We performed qualitative content analysis on the interview data relating to recruitment, communication between the focus group participants, and appraisal of the focus group method. The interview data revealed aspects of the focus group method that are particularly relevant for health research and that should be considered in that context. They include, for example, the preferability of face-to-face recruitment, the necessity to allow participants in patient groups sufficient time to introduce themselves, and the use of methods such as participant-generated cards and prioritization.

Focus groups have been widely used in health research in recent years to explore the perspectives of patients and other groups in the health care system (e.g., Carr et al., 2003 ; Côté-Arsenault & Morrison-Beedy, 2005 ; Kitzinger, 2006 ). They are often included in mixed-methods studies to gain more information on how to construct questionnaires or interpret results ( Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007 ; Kroll, Neri, & Miller, 2005 ).

The fact that the group process helps people to identify and clarify their views is considered to be an important advantage of focus groups compared with individual interviews ( Kitzinger, 1995 ). The group functions as a promoter of synergy and spontaneity by encouraging the participants to comment, explain, disagree, and share their views. Thus, experiences are shared and opinions voiced that might not surface during individual interviews ( Carey, 1994 ; Stewart, Shamdasani, & Rook, 2007 ). Although focus groups allow participants to respond in their own words and to choose discussion topics themselves, they are not completely unstructured. Questions relating to the research topic are designed by the researchers and are used to guide the discussion ( Stewart et al., 2007 ). The degree of structure of the focus group depends on the openness of the research question(s). Hence, although it takes more time and effort to organize focus groups, and they cause greater logistical problems than individual interviews do, they might generate more ideas about, and yield deeper insights into, the problem under investigation ( Coenen, Stamm, Stucki, & Cieza, 2012 ; Kingry, Tiedje, & Friedman, 1990 ; Morgan, 2009 ).

Historically, focus groups were used mainly for market research before the method was adopted for application in qualitative research in the social sciences ( Morgan, 1996 ). The use of focus groups in health care research is even more recent. For this reason, methodological recommendations on using focus groups in the health care context are quite rare, and researchers rely mainly on general advice from the social sciences (e.g., Krueger, 1988 ; Morgan, 1993 ; Morgan & Krueger, 1998 ; Stewart et al., 2007 ). Even though focus groups have been used in a great variety of health research fields, such as patients’ treatments and perceptions in the context of specific illnesses (rheumatoid arthritis: for example, Feldthusen, Björk, Forsblad-d’Elia, & Mannerkorpi, 2013 ; cancer: for example, Gerber, Hamann, Rasco, Woodruff, & Lee, 2012 ; diabetes: for example, Nafees, Lloyd, Kennedy-Martin, & Hynd, 2006 ; heart failure: for example, Rasmusson et al., 2014 ), community health research (e.g., Daley et al., 2010 ; Rhodes, Hergenrather, Wilkin, Alegría-Ortega, & Montaño, 2006 ), or invention of new diagnostic or therapeutic methods (e.g., Vincent, Clark, Marquez Zimmer, & Sanchez, 2006 ), the method and its particular use in health research is rarely reflected. Methodological articles about the focus group method in health care journals mainly summarize general advice from the social sciences (e.g., Kingry et al., 1990 ; Kitzinger, 1995 , 2006 ), while field-specific aspects of the target groups (patients, doctors, other medical staff) and the research questions (not only sociological but often also medical or technical) are seldom addressed. Reports on participant recruitment and methods of conducting the focus groups are primarily episodic in nature (e.g., Coenen et al., 2012 ; Côté-Arsenault & Morrison-Beedy, 2005 ) and often focus on very specific aspects of the method (communication: for example, Lehoux, Poland, & Daudelin, 2006 ; activating methods: for example, Colucci, 2007 ) or aim at a comparison between face-to-face focus groups and other methods (individual interviews: for example, Coenen et al., 2012 ; telephone groups: for example, Frazier et al., 2010 ; Internet groups: for example, Nicholas et al., 2010 ). Thus, systematic reviews of factors influencing the results of focus groups as well as advantages, disadvantages, and pitfalls are missing. One consequence is that researchers might find it difficult to recruit enough participants or might be surprised by the communication styles of the target groups. Furthermore, in the tradition of classical clinical research, the group discussions might result in a question-and-answer situation or “resemble individual interviews done in group settings” ( Colucci, 2007 , p. 1,424), thereby missing out on the opportunity to use the group setting to activate all participants and to encourage a deeper elaboration of their ideas. Colucci, for example, proposed the use of exercises (e.g., activity-oriented questions) to focus the attention of the group on the core topic and to facilitate subsequent analyses.

Recommendations from the social sciences on using the focus group method can be subsumed under the following headings: subjects (target groups, composition of groups, recruitment), communication in the groups (discussion guide, moderator, moderating techniques), and analysis of focus groups (e.g., Morgan, 1993 ; Morgan & Krueger, 1998 ; Stewart et al., 2007 ). Specific requirements for health research can be identified in all three thematic fields: Recruitment might be facilitated by using registers of quality circles to recruit physicians or pharmacists, or by recruiting patients in outpatients departments. It might be hampered by heavy burdens on target groups—be they time burdens (e.g., clinical schedules, time-consuming therapy) or health constraints (e.g., physical fitness). With regard to communication in focus groups, finding suitable locations, identifying optimal group sizes, planning a good time line, as well as selecting suitable moderators (e.g., persons who are capable of translating medical terms into everyday language) might pose a challenge. The analysis of focus groups in health care research might also require special procedures because the focus group method is used to answer not only sociological research questions (e.g., related to the reconstruction of the perspectives of target groups) but also more specific research questions, such as user requirements with regard to written information or technical innovations.

The aim of our study was to gather more systematic methodological information for conducting focus groups in the context of health research in general and in the more specific context of the implementation of a technical innovation. To this end, we conducted interviews with focus group moderators about their experiences when planning and moderating focus groups. The groups in question were part of a research program aimed at developing and evaluating an electronic personal health record. We chose this program for several reasons: First, because it consisted of several subprojects devoted to different research topics related to the development of a personal electronic health record, it offered a variety of research content (cf. next section). Second, the focus groups were conducted to answer research questions of varying breadth, which can be regarded as typical of research in health care. Third, the focus groups comprised a variety of target groups—not only patients but also different types of health care professionals (general practitioners, independent specialists with different areas of specialization, hospital doctors, pharmacists, medical assistants, nursing staff).

In this article, we report the findings of these interviews in relation to the following questions: (a) What challenges associated with the characteristics of the target groups of health research (patients, physicians, other health care professionals) might be considered during the recruitment process? How should the specific research question relating to a technical innovation be taken into account during the recruitment process? (b) Should specific aspects of the communication styles of target groups be taken into account when planning and moderating focus groups in health care? Can additional challenges be identified in relation to the technical research question? and (c) How was the method appraised by the interviewees in their own research context?

Research Program and Description of Focus Groups

The “Information Technology for Patient-Centered Health Care” (INFOPAT) research program ( www.infopat.eu ) addresses the fact that, because patients with chronic conditions (e.g., colorectal cancer, type 2 diabetes) have complex health care needs, many personal health data are collected in different health care settings. The aim of the program is to develop and evaluate an electronic personal health record aimed at improving regional health care for chronically ill people and strengthening patients’ participation in their health care process. Subprojects are devoted, for example, to developing the personal electronic health record (Project Cluster 1), a medication platform (Project Cluster 2), and a case management system for chronically ill patients (Project Cluster 3). In the first, qualitative, phase, the researchers explored patients’ and health care professionals’ experiences with cross-sectoral health care and patient self-management, and their expectations regarding the advantages and disadvantages of a personal electronic health record. The information gathered in this phase of the program served as a basis for constructing a personal electronic health record prototype. This prototype was implemented as an intervention in a second, quantitative, phase dedicated to investigating the impact of such a record on a range of health care variables (e.g., self-management, health status, patient–doctor relationship, compliance). The University Hospital Heidelberg Ethics Committee approved the studies of the INFOPAT research program. All participants gave their written informed consent, and the participants’ anonymity and confidentiality were ensured throughout the studies according to the ethical standards of German Sociological Association. 1

Twenty-one focus groups were conducted during the qualitative phase of the program. Three groups consisted of colorectal cancer patients, four comprised type 2 diabetes patients, four were made up of physicians, three comprised physicians and pharmacists, four consisted of physicians and other health care professionals, and three consisted of other health care professionals (for more detailed information, see Tausch & Menold, 2015 ). Participants were recruited from urban and rural districts of the Rhine-Neckar region in Germany. Patients were approached in clinics, by their local general practitioners, or in self-help groups. Health care professionals were recruited in clinics, cooperating medical practices, and professional networks.

The focus groups took place at several locations at the National Center of Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg, Germany, and the University of Heidelberg. The groups consisted of between four and seven participants and lasted between 1.5 and 2 hours. All focus groups were conducted by two researchers—a moderator and a co-moderator; a third researcher took notes. Semistructured discussion guides were used, and the groups were video- and audio recorded (cf., for example, Baudendistel et al., 2015 ; Kamradt et al., 2015 ). The researchers performed content analysis on the transcripts; the schema of categories was oriented toward the research questions. The focus groups addressed research questions of varying breadth, including, for example, individual health care experiences (comparatively broad), the expected impact of the record on the patient–doctor relationship (medium breadth), and technical requirements for such a personal health record (comparatively narrow). The variety of the research questions was important for our study because it proved to be of relevance for the interviewees’ appraisal of the usefulness of the focus group method.

Interviews With the Focus Group Moderators

We conducted qualitative interviews with nine of the 10 focus group moderators in the INFOPAT program (one moderator moved to a different department shortly after the completion of data collection and was not available for interview). The interviewees were aged between 30 and 54 years ( M age = 36 years; SD = 8.3 years). Their professions were health scientist, pharmacist, general practitioner, or medical ethicist. Their professional experience ranged from one to 23 years ( M = 7.1 years, SD = 7.7 years), and they had little or no previous experience of organizing and conducting focus groups. The moderators were interviewed in groups of one to three persons according to their project assignment (cf. Table 1 ).

Overview of Interviews and Interviewees.

The interviews lasted approximately 1 hour, and the interview questions were guided by the chronological order in which a focus group is organized and conducted (recruitment, preparation, moderation, methods) and by the utilization and usefulness of the results. We tape recorded the interviews, transcribed them verbatim, and performed qualitative content analysis on the transcripts ( Elo & Kyngäs, 2008 ; Mayring, 2015 ) with the help of the program MAXQDA 10.0.

The final system of categories 2 ( Tausch & Menold, 2015 ) consisted of two types of codes: All relevant text passages were coded with respect to the content of the statement. In addition, a second type of code was required if the statement related to a specific group of participants (e.g., patients, hospital doctors, men, women).

On the basis of the research questions, the contents of interview statements were classified into the three superordinate thematic categories: recruitment, communication in the focus groups, and appraisal of the focus group method. Consequently, the reporting of the results is structured according to three main topics.

Recruitment

Statements relating to the recruitment of the participants were sorted into the main categories “factors promoting participation”, “factors preventing participation”, and “general appraisal of the recruitment process”. Figure 1 shows the subcategories that were identified under these main categories. Because many of the statements referred only to patients or only to health care professionals (physicians, other health care professionals), the subcodes shown in Figure 1 are sorted by these two types of participants.

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Factors relating to the recruitment process.

Factors relevant for all target groups

As the following interviewee statement shows, addressing potential participants face-to-face (rather than in writing) proved crucial for the success of recruitment in all target groups:

Well, a really good tip when recruiting patients is . . . to address the people yourself. Not to get someone else to do it who . . . has nothing to do with [the project], because ultimately you really do have to explain a lot of things, also directly to the patient. And then it’s always good if the person [who does the recruiting] is actually involved in the project. 3

In the case of the clinicians, being addressed by a superior was even more effective for their willingness to participate: “And then top down. If the nursing director asks me, then it’s not so easy to say no.”

Furthermore, a positive response was more often achieved if the groups were scheduled at convenient times for the addressees, and they only had to choose between several alternatives. Patients welcomed times contiguous with their therapies: “And many [of the patients] said: ‘Yes, maybe we can do it after my chemotherapy, on that day when I’m in the clinic anyway?’” Whereas medical assistants were given the opportunity to take part in the groups during working hours, general practitioners preferred evening appointments on less busy weekdays (e.g., Wednesdays and Fridays):

Well, what I found quite good was to suggest a day and a time. And we concentrated on the fact that practices are often closed on Wednesday afternoons. So that’s a relatively convenient day. And then evenings for the pharmacists from seven-thirty onwards.

Interest in the topic of the discussion, or at least in research in general, was an important variable for participation. Together with lack of time, it turned out to be the main reason why sampling plans could not be realized. Among patients, men were much more interested in discussing a technical innovation such as an electronic personal health record, while women—besides their lesser interest—often declined because of family responsibilities: “Well, I’d say a higher proportion of women said: ‘I have a lot to do at home, housework and with the children, therefore I can’t do it.’”

Family physicians, physicians from cooperating medical practices, and hospital doctors showed more interest in discussing an electronic personal health record than did medical specialists in private practice, who often saw no personal gain in such an innovation. For example, one interviewee stated,

Family physicians generally have a greater willingness [to engage with] this [health] record topic. They see . . . also a personal benefit for themselves. . . . or they simply think it might be of relevance to them or they are interested in the topic for other reasons. Some of them even approached us themselves and said, “Oh, that interests me and I’d like to take part.”

In addition, because of heavy workload, private practitioners were difficult to reach (e.g., by telephone). This also lowered the participation of this target group on the focus groups.

Factors relevant only for patients

Two other variables that influenced patients’ willingness to participate were mentioned in the interviews. First, because this target group consisted of cancer patients and diabetes patients with multimorbidity, poor physical fitness also prevented several addressees from participating in the groups. The inability to climb stairs, or the general inability to leave the house, made it impossible for them to reach the location where the groups took place: “[They] immediately replied: ‘Well, no, . . . that’s really too much for me,’ and unfortunately they could not, therefore, be included in the groups.” Furthermore, unstable physical fitness often led to high drop-out rates. The moderators of the focus groups therefore proposed that up to twice as many participants as required should be recruited: “And depending on the severity of the illness, you have to expect a drop-out rate of up to fifty percent. So, if you want to have four people, you should invite eight.”

Second, moderators reported that patients’ liking for, or dislike of, talking and discussing influenced their tendency to join the groups. Participating patients were generally described as talkative. For example: “And with patients, all in all, I had the feeling that those who agreed [to participate] were all people who liked talking, because those who did not like talking refused out of hand.” Patients who refused to participate often argued that they felt uncomfortable speaking in front of a group: “And the men, when they declined they often said: ‘No, group discussion is not for me! I don’t like talking in front of a group.’”

The researchers eventually succeeded in recruiting sufficient participants. However, they were not able to realize the sampling plans according to a certain proportion of male and female patients or types of physicians. “Well, we finally managed to fill up our groups, but only as many [participants] as necessary.” Comparing the different target groups, recruiting patients was described as easier than recruiting physicians: “And that was much easier insofar as you just had to go to the clinic and each day there were five or six patients whom you could address.” However, only 10% of the patients who were addressed agreed to participate. In the health care professional group, the recruitment rates ranged between 0% and 30%, depending on the subgroup. This can be demonstrated by the following interviewee utterance:

And in the private practitioner sector it was rather . . . . Well, we tried to recruit specialists in private practice, in other words internists, gastroenterologists, and oncologists. The success [rate proved to be] extremely poor. . . . Well, on the whole, the willingness to take part, the interest, is not there. Or, well they don’t give the reasons, but they say they don’t want to take part. So that was difficult and, yes, it didn’t go too well.

Communication in the Focus Groups

With regard to the communication in the focus groups, the moderators identified factors that influenced communication in a positive or negative way. In addition, we discussed a number of factors with them that are often described in the social science literature as problematic when conducting focus groups. However, the interviewees considered that some of these factors had not influenced communication in the focus groups conducted within the framework of the INFOPAT program. In our system of categories, we also coded whether the factors in question were related to (a) the setting or (b) the moderation of the focus groups (cf. Figure 2 ).

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Influences on and characteristics of the focus group discussion.

Factors relating to the setting

As Figure 2 shows, communication was reported to be positively influenced by small group size, location, provision of food and beverages, and conducting the focus group without a break. In contrast to general recommendations on focus groups in the context of sociological research, the moderators in the INFOPAT program considered a smaller group size of between four and six participants to be ideal. With regard to location, the interviewees reported that, depending on the target group, different places were perceived as positive. Patients preferred locations inside the clinic because they were easy to reach and caused no additional effort. Furthermore, because these locations were familiar to them, they facilitated an atmosphere of security and ease, which was seen as an important prerequisite for an open and honest discussion. This is clear from the following quotation:

Well, the patient focus groups were all located at the clinic. We chose this location on purpose to make it easier for them, because they come to the clinic anyway for their therapy. And they know the place and they feel comfortable and in good hands.

By contrast, the clinician groups benefited from being located outside the clinic. In contrast to other common addressees of focus groups, these professionals were not only accustomed to participating in groups outside their familiar surroundings but also this location helped them to distance themselves from their professional duties and to engage more deeply in the discussion, as shown by the following quotation:

Yes, one was located at the O-Center. We chose this location on purpose so that the clinicians had to leave the hospital. It’s not too far, only a few yards away. But we wanted them to leave the clinic, and not to run back to the ward when they were called. And, well, I liked this location.

Food and beverages were welcome in all the groups and also helped to create a positive and trusting atmosphere. And finally, the interviewees found that it was better to omit the break, thereby avoiding the interruption of the ongoing discussion. This is reasonable considering the comparatively short duration of the focus group session (between 1.5 and 2 hours). Statements relating to a break might have been different in the case of longer focus group durations.

The interviewees reported that the size and temperature of the room and time pressure on the participants or the moderator had a negative impact on communication. Some of the focus groups in the project took place in midsummer and had to be held in rooms without blinds or air conditioning. The moderators of these groups had to work hard to maintain the participants’ (and their own) attention and concentration. Time pressure on the participants (e.g., the clinicians) led to an unwillingness to engage in active discussion and created a question-and-answer situation, as shown by the following statement:

And in one group of physicians . . . we never reached the point where they joined in fully. During the whole discussion they never completely arrived. And they had already cut the time short in advance. They were under so much time pressure that they were not able to discuss in an open manner.

Moderators reported that they, too, had experienced time pressure—namely, in situations where they did not have enough time to prepare the room and the recording devices. This had caused them to be nervous and stressed at the beginning of the discussion, which had negatively affected the mood of the participants, thereby rendering an honest and open discussion particularly difficult.

Factors relating to the moderation

Many of the positive factors reported by the interviewees have already been described for focus groups in general—for example, using open questions, directly addressing quiet participants, and handling the discussion guide in a flexible way. Furthermore, by showing interest in every statement, and by generating a feeling of security in every participant, moderators fostered a fruitful discussion:

I believe that another important point is that you are calm yourself. That you give the people the feeling “you can feel safe with me, you don’t have to worry that I will make fun of you . . . or that I won’t take you seriously.”

Interviewees also considered that building a bridge between the technical innovation under discussion (a web-based electronic personal health record) and everyday life (e.g., online banking) was an important factor in getting all participants to contribute to the discussion. As one interviewee noted,

We tried to anchor it in their everyday lives. And . . . the example that always worked was when we said: “Think of it as if it were a kind of online banking.” Everyone understands what online banking is. It’s about important data on the internet; they’re safe there somehow. I have my password. And people understood that. Well, it’s important to anchor it in their reality . . . because otherwise the topic is simply far too abstract.

In this context, the fact that the groups were moderated by the researchers themselves proved very helpful because they were able to answer all questions relating to the research topic. As the following quote shows, this was an important prerequisite for opinion formation on the part of participants:

Well, I think that a really important quality criterion . . . is that you have completely penetrated [the topic]. If you only know the process from the outside . . . and you then conduct the focus group about it. . . . Somewhere, at some stage, [one discussion] narrowly missed the point. . . . You simply have to be totally immersed in the topic, well, I believe that [someone who is totally immersed in the topic] is the ideal person for the job. And in our case the thinking was, okay, so I’m a doctor, but on balance it’s more important that both [moderators] are absolutely well informed because it’s a complex topic.

The more specific the research question was, the more useful the moderating strategy of inviting one participant after the other to express their opinion appeared to be. By using this strategy, the moderators ensured that every participant contributed to the discussion.

A point that was strongly emphasized by the interviewees was the duration of the round of introductions at the beginning of the focus group session. In the patient groups, introductions took much more time than the researchers had expected. Patients had a high need to express themselves and to tell the others about their illness and their experiences with the health system. Although this left less time to work through the topics in the discussion guide, the researchers came to realize that there were several good reasons not to limit these contributions: First, the introductions round proved important for helping the participants to “arrive” at the focus group, for creating a basis of trust, and for building up a sense of community among the participants. Second, the interviewees reported that, because many topics in the discussion guide (e.g., participants’ experiences with coordinating visits to different medical specialists) had already been brought up in the round of introductions, they did not have to be discussed further at a later stage:

And that is the crux of this general exchange of experiences at the beginning. Sure, it costs you a lot of time, but I almost think that if you don’t give them that time, you won’t get what you want from them, in the sense that you say: “I want to hear your frank opinion or attitude.” You don’t want them to simply answer you because they think that’s what you want to hear. You have to create an atmosphere in which they really forget where they are. I’m relatively convinced that you wouldn’t achieve that without such [a round of introductions].

The moderators’ experience in the physician groups was different. These groups benefited from having a rather short round of introductions. Giving participants too much time to introduce themselves meant that they presented their expertise rather than reporting their experiences. In contrast to the patient groups, this did not substantially contribute to the discussion of the research topics.

Depending on the context, status differences between the moderators and the participants, or among the participants, were appraised differently by interviewees. In one group comprising physicians and medical assistants, the moderators observed that status differences had a negative influence on communication. Very young female medical assistants, in particular, did not feel free to express their opinions in the presence of their superiors. By contrast, presumed differences in status between family doctors, hospital doctors, and medical specialists in private practice did not have any negative impact on communication. Nor did different forms of address (some participants in these groups were addressed by their first name and some by their last name, depending on the relationship between the moderator and the participants). Status differences between moderators (if medical doctors) and participants (patients) had an impact on communication when patients regarded doctors as an important source of information (e.g., about the meaning of their blood values) or as representatives of the health care system to whom complaints about the system should be addressed. The latter case was the subject of the following interview statement by a moderator who is a physician by profession:

And a lot [was said about] the kind of experiences they had had here at the NCT. And of course, when the patients have been treated here for many years—or even for not so many [years], but they have had many experiences—they sometimes reported at length. And I had the feeling that this had a bit of a feedback function, quite generally, for the NCT. Also the somehow frustrating experiences they had had, or a lot of things that had not gone that well in conversational exchanges [with the staff]. There was a relatively large amount of feedback that didn’t have a lot to do with the topic because I was, of course, involved as a senior physician and I am not an external researcher, but rather someone who is also seen as being jointly responsible, or at least as someone who can channel criticism.

Finally, because most of the moderators were not medical professionals, they did not experience the translation of medical or technical terms into everyday language as problematic. Rather, they automatically used terms that were also familiar to the participants.

Characteristics of the discussion

The factors described above resulted in focus group discussions that might be interpreted as characteristic of health research. The patient focus groups were characterized by a strong need to talk and a high need for information. In the health care professional focus groups, researchers experienced a greater variety of communication styles. Because of a lack of time, or because they falsely expected a question-and-answer situation, some groups demonstrated a low degree of willingness to engage in discussion:

Although, I believe that was partly due . . . well there was one [woman] who was very demanding; she wanted to know straight away: “Yes, what’s the issue here? What do I have to say to you?” Well, the three who came from the one practice, I think they really had the feeling that we would ask them questions and they would bravely answer them and then they could go home again. So, for them this principle that they were supposed to engage in a discussion, for them that was somehow a bit, I don’t know . . . disconcerting. . . . They really thought: “Okay, well we want to know now what this is all about. And they’ll ask us the questions and then we’ll say yes, no, don’t know, maybe. And then we’ll go home again.” Well, at least that was my impression.

Other groups, especially those consisting of different types of health care professionals (e.g., physicians with different areas of specialization, or physicians and pharmacists), were characterized by lively discussion and a great variety of opinions.

Appraisal of the Focus Group Method

We classified moderators’ statements relating to the appraisal of the focus group method into four main categories: “advantages of the method”, “disadvantages of the method”, “recommendations for other researchers in related research areas”, and “statements on how they used the results” (cf. Figure 3 ).

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Appraisal of the focus group method.

The researchers reported that the focus group method yielded a rich blend of perspectives and opinions, brought forth, in particular, by the interaction between the participants:

But for this question and the topic, and for our lack of knowledge, that was . . . a lot of new information . . . and very many good ideas and critical remarks that you naturally read in the literature from time to time. But, let’s say, because of the complexity of the participants’ reactions and the weight they attached to things, it’s different than reading in a literature review that [this or that] could be taken into account.

The results of the focus groups further enriched the researchers’ work by relating it to everyday life: “Well, what was nice was that the topic was related to the participants’ lives. That people said: ‘Now the topic is important for me.’” Furthermore, the method yielded information about which aspects were most important and how the variety of opinions should be prioritized. This was achieved, in particular, by using participant-generated cards:

And with regard to prioritization, we incorporated it using participant-generated cards. We said: “Look: If you could develop this record now, what would be the three most important things that must absolutely be taken into consideration, from your point of view, no matter what they relate to.” And they wrote them down on the cards. And after that they were asked to carry out their own prioritization—that is, what was most important to them personally. One person wrote “data protection” first, while another [wrote] “sharing with my wife.” . . . That was good. . . . That helped a lot because it was simply clear once again what things were important to them.

In cases where concrete questions had to be answered or decisions had to be made, the interviewees also welcomed the opportunity to use structuring methods such as presentations, flip-charts, and participant-generated cards to obtain the relevant information:

. . . Well, the aim was that at the end we [would] have a set of requirements for the engineering [people]. And the engineering [people] don’t so much want to know about experiences and desires and barriers, but rather they want to know should the button be green or red and can you click on it. And that’s why I thought at the beginning it will be difficult with a focus group and an open discussion. Now, if you say that one can also interpret a focus group the way we did, partly with very specific questions and these participant-generated cards, then I think it is indeed possible to answer such questions as well.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantages of the focus group method were seen in the considerable organizational effort and expenditure of time involved. A question raised by some of the interviewees was whether comparable results could have been achieved using less time-consuming and organizationally demanding methods.

It’s true to say that you lose time. Well, you could implement [the innovation] straight away and see whether it’s better. Maybe, in this case you’re wrong and you just think it’s better or in any case not worse than before. You basically lose a year on this whole focus groups thing.

Moreover, in some cases, the discussion went in an unwanted direction and the moderators never fully succeeded in bringing the group back to the intended topics.

Furthermore, like many other medical research projects, INFOPAT included quite specific research questions. In this connection, the moderators emphasized that open focus group discussions would not have succeeded in answering those questions. Only by using methods such as participant-generated cards and prioritization was it possible to answer at least some of them. Nonetheless, some interviewees did not consider the focus group method to be really suitable for this type of research questions:

Of course we also have our engineers as counterparts who . . . need very specific requirements at some point. The question is whether such a focus group . . . . [It] can’t answer that in detail in this first stage. It’s simply not practicable.

Recommendations

As described under the “Communication in the Focus Groups” section above, the round of introductions in the patient groups lasted much longer than planned, thereby shortening the time available for other topics in the discussion guide. As a result, the moderators decided to choose a different thematic focus in each group so that every topic was discussed more deeply in at least one group.

What we usually did was to consider what hadn’t been addressed that much in the previous focus group. That [topic] was given more room in the next focus group because the guide, well it was quite a lot. You could have easily gone on discussing for another hour or two.

Using the results

On the whole, the researchers were satisfied with the number of groups that were conducted and the results that they yielded. They did not agree that more groups would have led to better, or different, results—with one possible exception, namely, in the case of specific target groups (e.g., migrants). Only one group had been composed of patients with a migrant background, and, as one interviewee stated, “I just thought, the patients with a migrant background . . . now that was [only] one group, it by no means covers the whole range.”

In cases where the results of the focus groups were perceived as not being concrete enough to proceed to the next research step (e.g., formulating a specification sheet for the construction of the electronic personal health record), the researchers planned to bring experts together in a roundtable format to make decisions on the basis of the priorities, agreements, and disagreements that had emerged from the focus groups. Following the construction of a prototype, they intended to conduct further focus groups to validate or adapt the usability of the electronic personal health record system.

Our analysis of interviews with focus group moderators yielded considerable insights into methodological aspects of conducting focus groups in health research. Our first research question related to characteristics of the target groups that should be considered during the recruitment process. We identified face-to-face contact as an important factor promoting focus group participation. The interviewees considered this type of contact to be better suited to answering target persons’ questions and explaining the method and aims of the focus groups. Moreover, they felt that addressees might find it more difficult to decline a face-to-face invitation than a written one. With regard to health care professionals, an invitation issued by a hierarchically higher person was most effective, even though ethical aspects should be considered in this case, and voluntary participation should nevertheless be ensured. Otherwise, the order to participate might prevent an atmosphere of open communication and might lead to a lower quantity or to more negative statements.

Furthermore, whereas physicians are usually accustomed to discussing topics with others, an important characteristic that influenced willingness to participate on the part of members of other target groups (other health care professionals, patients) was a liking for, or a dislike of, talking. Researchers might take account of this fact by explaining the method in more detail, by developing arguments to overcome fears, or, as suggested, for example, by Colucci (2007) , by convincing the addressees with other activities implemented in the focus groups. Other relevant personal characteristics—be they related to the research topic (e.g., technical interest in the case of an electronic innovation) or to the specific target group (e.g., physical fitness on the part of patients or lack of time on the part of health care professionals)—should be anticipated when planning recruitment. These characteristics might be taken into account by preparing arguments, providing incentives, giving thought to favorable dates and times, and choosing easily accessible locations. An interesting finding was that, depending on the target group, different locations were considered to have a positive influence on the discussion. Whereas locations inside the clinic were preferred in the case of the patient focus groups because of familiarity and easy accessibility, hospital doctors were more engaged in the discussion when the focus group site was located at least some yards away from their workplace.

Finally, the experience of our researchers that up to 50% of the patients had to cancel at short notice because of health problems does not appear to be uncommon in this research context. That overrecruitment is an effective strategy—particularly in health care research—has been reported by other authors (e.g., Coenen et al., 2012 ).

With our second research question, we focused on aspects of communication in the focus groups. The interviews revealed several factors specific to research topics and addressees of health care studies that influenced the discussions. Consequently, in addition to considering general recommendations regarding the organization and moderation of focus groups (e.g., choosing adequate rooms with a pleasant atmosphere, serving food and beverages, using open questions, showing interest in all contributions, and directly addressing quiet participants), these health care specific aspects should be taken into account. Relevant factors that should be addressed when moderating focus groups in this context are (a) the strong need to talk and the high need for information in the patient groups, (b) status differences between the participants or between the moderators and the participants, (c) the size of the focus group, and (d) the specificity of the topic of discussion. The interview data revealed that these factors influenced the discussions and thus the results achieved with the groups. In addition, the following four possibilities of addressing these factors were identified:

First, the moderators had to devote more time to the round of introductions in the patient groups, which served as a warm-up, created an atmosphere of fellowship and openness, and accommodated this target group’s strong need to talk. Second, with respect to status differences between the moderator and the participants, no definite recommendations can be derived from the interviews. The interviewees found that it was less favorable when the moderator was perceived not only in that role but also in other roles (e.g., physician), because this might hamper a goal-oriented discussion. However, they considered deep insight into the research topic on the part of the moderators to be beneficial, at least for certain research topics. Thus, one should carefully weigh up whether it is more advantageous or more disadvantageous when the group moderator is a physician. Interviewees considered status differences between participants to be disadvantageous only in one case, where—because of organizational constraints—medical assistants and their superiors joined the same focus group, which gave rise to some reticence on the part of the young assistants. Similar problems have been reported by other authors, for example, Côté-Arsenault and Morrison-Beedy (2005 ; see also Hollander, 2004 ). However, interviewees did not experience as problematic status differences between physicians with different areas of specialization.

Third, with respect to group size, interviewees found comparatively small focus groups appropriate to give all participants enough time to tell their stories. In contrast to social science research, where groups of between eight and 20 participants are recommended, our interviewees considered groups of between four and six persons to be optimal. This is in line with Côté-Arsenault and Morrison-Beedy (2005) , who recommended small groups for health research, especially when sensitive topics are discussed. Our interview data revealed that this recommendation might also be useful for other health research topics.

Fourth, with regard to the topic of the discussion, interviewees found it helpful to structure different phases of the discussion in different ways, depending on the specificity of the research questions. In contrast to social science research, certain types of research questions in health research require comparatively specific answers. Some of the focus groups in our study were aimed at collecting participants’ expectations regarding an electronic personal health record or—even more specifically—at developing a product specifications document. Conducting focus groups during the development of a technical innovation is a method that is being increasingly used in health care research. Hence, the experiences of the interviewees with regard to these aspects of their research might be relevant for many other research programs. For this type of research questions, it proved useful to include more structured parts in the discussion, for example, having certain questions answered by each participant in turn, or using methods such as participant-generated cards and prioritization. This made it easier to obtain the opinion of each participant and to cover as many concerns and expectations as possible. This finding is in line with recommendations by Colucci (2007) , who proposed the use of activity-oriented questions for health research topics as an enrichment of data collection and a means of making it easier to talk about sensitive and complex topics.

All the moderators found that their discussion guides contained too many questions and too many topics. This might have been due, at least partly, to a desire to determine all relevant aspects in advance—a tendency that might be typical of health research. However, Morgan (1995) also addressed this phenomenon in relation to social research in general: “A common error in focus group question guidelines is too much emphasis on what is of interest to the researcher and not enough emphasis on what is of interest to the participants” (p. 520).

With our third research question, we addressed the appraisal of the focus group method in the interviewees’ research context. Our results show that one should think carefully before using focus groups in the field of health research. The impression that they are quick and easy to conduct might be a misconception, especially in this research context. In fact, the appraisal of the method by the moderators revealed both advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages were the rich blend of perspectives and opinions obtained and the opportunity to have them prioritized by the target groups. For their research topics, the interviewees saw a further important advantage in the fact that they were able to relate their scientific research to everyday life, a point that might be of general importance for a number of research questions in health research, especially those that refer to new medical diagnostics or technical innovations.

The interviewees considered that the main disadvantages of focus groups were the substantial organizational effort and expenditure of time they required. They raised the question whether comparable results could have been achieved using less costly methods. Fortunately, we conducted our interviews with researchers from a research program aimed at answering research questions of different degrees of specificity. As a result, the moderators were able to compare the usefulness of focus groups for different types of research questions. Their statements revealed that they were satisfied with the results relating to more open research questions such as experiences with cross-sectoral health care. For more specific research questions, the interviewees valued the possibility of organizing the discussions in a more structured way and using methods that activated all participants (e.g., participant-generated cards, prioritizations). Nonetheless, they considered meetings of experts to be a necessary intermediate step, for example, on the way to a product specifications document. We recommend that, depending on the specificity of the results that are projected, consideration should be given to including such intermediate steps in the planning stage.

Limitations of the Study

Our analysis of the interviews with the focus group moderators revealed a number of methodological problems that typically occur when focus groups are used in a health research context and yielded recommendations on using such groups in this context. However, some limitations of the present study should also be discussed: First, we conducted our research with focus group moderators, all of whom worked in the same research program. Even though the INFOPAT program consists of several subprojects, they all deal to a greater or lesser extent with the advantages and disadvantages of an electronic support system (electronic personal health record). Furthermore, the moderators were mainly health scientists and had little or no experience with conducting focus groups. This might also have been specific for the research program in which our study was conducted. In other health care programs, focus groups might be moderated mainly by physicists or lay persons (e.g., in participatory health research). Consequently, had we also conducted interviews with focus group moderators from other research areas or included moderators with other professions or more focus group experience, this might have led to different results. However, our research project is rather typical for applied qualitative research in medical science when developing new technologies. Here, focus groups are used by the researchers to find out the potential requirements for the new technology. The researchers are often experts in a specific scientific topic and have no or only limited experience in conducting qualitative research in terms of focus groups. Therefore, our findings are of a particular importance for the researchers with little experiences in conducting focus groups, which can apply to every research, conducted first time. In addition, the little experience of our focus group moderators was a special advantage and strength of the study. More experienced moderators would have prevented some of the problems our moderators—as other unexperienced moderators—faced. As a result, the moderators would not have named these potential problems in the interviews and given no advice for preventing them.

Second, the study was conducted in Germany and thus represents problems and challenges of the German health care system. In other countries, physicians might have different work-shifts or there might be different possibilities in the health care system to reach the target groups. Therefore, more research on the methodology of focus groups in the context of the development of new technologies in health care in other countries and cultures with a consideration of additional relevant groups is needed.

Third, in our interviews, we focused mainly on the organization and conducting of focus groups. For two reasons, we did not address the aspect of data analysis: First, we conducted the interviews shortly after the focus groups had been completed, at a time when data analysis was still in progress. Second, analysis of qualitative data can be carried out in many different ways, depending on research questions and preferences of researchers, and some of the recommended methods are very complex. Had we discussed them in detail, it would have been too time-consuming in the interviews.

Concluding Remarks

Our results revealed a number of methodological challenges that might be typical of conducting focus groups in health research. We hope that our findings will be of use to researchers in similar research fields. Furthermore, we encourage other researchers who are interested in health research topics to gather more information about methodological aspects specific to this research field. Our results were achieved in the context of the development of a technical innovation. It might be interesting to endeavor to replicate them in other health care research projects dealing with technical innovations. Moreover, we would encourage researchers of other topics in health research to interview focus group moderators about their experiences in their specific research context. We hope that our results will serve as a useful basis for comparing results in different areas of health research.

Acknowledgments

We thank the focus group moderators in the INFOPAT program for their great willingness to share their experiences and for their openness during the interviews.

Author Biographies

Anja P. Tausch , PhD, is senior researcher at GESIS–Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim, Germany.

Natalja Menold , PhD, is senior researcher and head of the Survey Instruments Unit at GESIS–Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim, Germany.

1. http://www.soziologie.de/en/gsa/ethik-kommission/code-of-ethics.html , retrieved on 05/10/2015.

2. The language of the research project, focus groups, and interviews was German. The scheme was developed in German on the basis of the German text material from the transcribed interviews. The scheme and the citations were translated for the purpose of international publication by an experienced, qualified, and fully bilingual translator, whose mother tongue is English and who also has an MA in sociology from a German university. A German version of the full categorial system can be found in Tausch and Menold (2015) .

3. All citations included in this publication were translated from German.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; FKZ 01KQ1003D).

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Tausch A., Menold N. (2015). Methodische Aspekte der Durchführung von Fokusgruppen in der Gesundheitsforschung - Welche Anforderungen ergeben sich aufgrund der besonderen Zielgruppen und Fragestellungen? [Methodological aspects of conducting focus groups in health research - which requirements result from the particular target groups and research questions?]. GESIS Papers , 2015 ( 12 ). Retrieved from http://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/upload/forschung/publikationen/gesis_reihen/gesis_papers/GESIS-Papers_2015-12.pdf [ Google Scholar ]
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Focus Group Research

In the course of designing a research project researchers may deem a focus group as the best way to gather data from several participants in a short amount of time. When conducting focus groups please remember to inform participants of the topics to be discussed, the risks and benefits of participation, and the manner and form in which data will be collected and confidentiality will be maintained. Below you will find more specific guidance on conducting focus groups with an eye toward human subjects research compliance. For examples of consent forms please refer to our consent form template page.

Informing Participants: Participants should be informed about the topics that will be discussed and who will participate in the focus group so that they may make an informed decision to participate beforehand. This is especially important for research that will engage sensitive topics and are considered more than minimal risk. Please refer to the to the types of review to determine level of risk for your particular research project.

Audio and Video Recordings: Participants should be informed before the focus group if the session will be audio or video recorded. Participants should also be informed about what will be done with these recordings. If audio or video from the focus groups will be used for something other than data analysis for the approved protocol (i.e. – future research studies, educational purposes, conference presentations, etc.) then participants must explicitly agree to this in the form of a checked box agreeing to or not agreeing to have their video/audio used for the above purposes in the consent form. For an example of wording to be used in the consent form please refer to our consent form template page. For further information on audio, video, and digital recordings of data please refer to our guidelines .

Risks and Confidentiality: The nature of a focus group is such that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. The researchers must provide participants with the procedures in place to maintain confidentiality of the research data and they must inform participants not to repeat what is said in the focus group to others. For research that is minimal risk adding a paragraph to the informed consent detailing issues of confidentiality for focus groups will suffice.

Paragraph to be included in Focus Group Informed Consent:

Please be advised that although the researchers will take every precaution to maintain confidentiality of the data, the nature of focus groups prevents the researchers from guaranteeing confidentiality. The researchers would like to remind participants to respect the privacy of your fellow participants and not repeat what is said in the focus group to others.

For research that is above minimal risk it may be necessary to include a statement of non-disclosure that participants would agree to in the informed consent.

Non-Disclosure Statement:

____I agree to maintain the confidentiality of the information discussed by all participants and researchers during the focus group session.

If you cannot agree to the above stipulation please see the researcher(s) as you may be ineligible to participate in this study..

Again please refer to the types of review to determine level of risk for your particular research project. For examples of consent forms please refer to our consent form template page

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Compliance, Human Subjects/IRB
Research Compliance

Research Guidance

Audio/Video/Digital Recordings of Research Participants
Types of Review

Research Form

Informed Consent Template - Focus Group - Revised
Informed Consent Template - General - Revised

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What is a Focus Group
Step 1: Choose your topic of interest. Step 2: Define your research scope and hypotheses. Step 3: Determine your focus group questions. Step 4: Select a moderator or co-moderator. Step 5: Recruit your participants. Step 6: Set up your focus group. Step 7: Host your focus group.
Focus Groups
Definition: A focus group is a qualitative research method used to gather in-depth insights and opinions from a group of individuals about a particular product, service, concept, or idea. The focus group typically consists of 6-10 participants who are selected based on shared characteristics such as demographics, interests, or experiences.
What is Focus Group Research? Definition, Types, Methods, and Examples
Focus Group Research Examples These focus group research questions are just examples and can be tailored to fit the specific research needs of a business or organization. The key is to ask open-ended questions that allow participants to express their thoughts and opinions freely, while also ensuring that the questions are specific enough to ...
Chapter 12. Focus Groups
"Using Focus Groups to Research Sensitive Issues: Insights from Group Interviews on Nursing in the Northern Ireland 'Troubles.'" International Journal of Qualitative Methods 6(4), 1-19. A great example of using focus groups productively around emotional or sensitive topics.
7 focus group examples for your next qualitative research project
A focus group is a qualitative fact-finding method involving a small group of five to 10 people discussing a specific topic or issue. A moderator leads the group, poses open-ended questions, and encourages participant discussion and interaction. A focus group aims to gain insights into participants' opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors about the discussed topic.
What is a Focus Group? Definition, Questions, Examples and Best
A focus group is a qualitative research method used in market research and social sciences, where a small group of people, typically 6 to 10 individuals, participate in a guided discussion about a particular topic. Learn more about focus group with examples, questions and best practices.
What Is a Focus Group?
A focus group is a qualitative research method that involves facilitating a small group discussion with participants who share common characteristics or experiences that are relevant to the research topic. The goal is to gain insights through group conversation and observation of dynamics. In a focus group: A moderator asks questions and leads a group of typically 6 to 12 pre-screened ...
Focus Group: What It Is & How to Conduct It + Examples
Their job is to ensure legitimate results and reduce bias in the discussions. You use a focus group in qualitative research. A group of 6-10 people, usually 8, meet to explore and discuss a topic, such as a new product. The group shares their feedback, opinions, knowledge, and insights about the topic at hand.
What Is a Focus Group and How to Conduct It? (+ Examples)
Example 2: Business Strategy Alignment. A retail chain considers expanding its product offerings. To align their business strategy with customer preferences, they conduct a focus group: Planning: The company defines research objectives to understand customer preferences and potential demand.
UCSF Guides: Qualitative Research Guide: Focus Groups
Focus groups are "a carefully planned series of discussions designed to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment" (Krueger and Casey, 2000, p. ... A detailed description with instruction and tips for focus group research from the Center for Assessment, Planning & Accountability. Focus ...
Focus Groups
For example, in marketing research, a focus group might be used to gather feedback on a new product design or to understand how potential users interact with a prototype. In social science research, focus groups might be used to refine and verify concepts or theories that are relevant to group behavior. This kind of feedback can help ...
LibGuides: Qualitative study design: Focus groups
Focus groups use a group setting to generate data different to that obtained in a one-to-one interview. The group context may allow for better examination of beliefs, attitudes, values, perspectives, knowledge and ideas. Focus groups can be useful in action research methodology and other study designs which seek to empower research participants.
Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the
A focus group is a moderated group discussion on a pre-defined topic, for research purposes. 28,29 While not aligned to a particular qualitative methodology (for example, grounded theory or ...
Focus group research: 8 essential steps
Focus groups are a flexible research method that can be adapted to different research objectives. For example, focus groups can be used to explore new ideas, test product concepts, or evaluate advertising campaigns. Cost-effective. Compared to other research methods, focus groups can be a cost-effective way to gather data from multiple ...
A Practical Guide to Focus-Group Research
View PDF. This article guides readers through the decisions and considerations involved in conducting focus-group research investigations into students' learning experiences. One previously published focus-group study is used as an illustrative example, along with other examples from the field of pedagogic research in geography higher education.
Focus Group in Market Research: Types, Examples and Best Practices
A focus group is one of the most popular and effective market research methods of gathering qualitative data through group interaction. It consists of a small group of people (usually 6-10) and a moderator to participate in a discussion. People are selected based on shared characteristics like geographic location, age group, ethnicity, shopping ...
Focus Group Research: An Intentional Strategy for Applied Group Research?
Focus group research, as a stand-alone endeavor, or as an intentional means of data collection within a research tradition supporting its use, offers much potential for research of groups in counseling. ... For example, in healthcare, focus groups have been implemented to study the process of change in a therapeutic community (Debaere et al ...
How to Run a Focus Group for Your Business
Follow Along With a Free Focus Group Questionnaire Template. HubSpot's Market Research Kit includes everything you need to run an effective round of market research, including a focus group questionnaire and a guide on how to run focus groups. Download the kit now to incorporate the steps in this post into your focus group strategy.. 1. Choose your topic of discussion.
PDF toolkit for conducting focus groups
This manual has been provided to assist you in conducting focus groups. Consider this manual a "toolkit" that will facilitate your training and enhance your facilitation skills. This toolkit contains two sections: Research Basics and Focus Groups. The first part of the manual gives you a brief introduction to this research project, contact ...
(PDF) Focus group research
This article summarises the practice of running focus groups, explores the nature of focus group data and provides an example of focus group analysis. Discover the world's research 25+ million members
Methodological Aspects of Focus Groups in Health Research
Focus groups have been widely used in health research in recent years to explore the perspectives of patients and other groups in the health care system (e.g., Carr et al., 2003; Côté-Arsenault & Morrison-Beedy, 2005; Kitzinger, 2006).They are often included in mixed-methods studies to gain more information on how to construct questionnaires or interpret results (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007 ...
The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two
Focus group discussion can be utilised within a suite of techniques in a multi-method research design, as a principal research method in its own right, or as a form of participatory action research to empower participants and promote social change (Wilkinson, 1998, 1999). Our review showed that a range of topics ranging from community ...
Focus Group Research
Focus Group Research. In the course of designing a research project researchers may deem a focus group as the best way to gather data from several participants in a short amount of time. When conducting focus groups please remember to inform participants of the topics to be discussed, the risks and benefits of participation, and the manner and ...

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What is a Focus Group | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

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Differences between types of interviews

Topics favorable to focus groups

Number of participants

Confirm a time and date

Confirm whether it will take place in person or online

Consent and ethical considerations

Preparation prior to participation

Starting the focus group

Leading the discussion

Disadvantages

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Focus Groups – Steps, Examples and Guide

Focus Group

Types of Focus Group

Traditional Focus Group

Mini Focus Group

Dual Moderator Focus Group

Teleconference or Online Focus Group

Client-led Focus Group

How To Conduct a Focus Group

Define the Research Question

Recruit Participants

Select a Venue

Conduct the Session

Record the Session

Analyze the data

When to use Focus Group Method

Exploratory Research

Product Development

Marketing Research

Customer Feedback

Public Policy Research

Examples of Focus Group

Purpose of Focus Group

Generating New Ideas and insights

Understanding Consumer Behavior

Testing Concepts and Ideas

Gathering Customer Feedback

Advantages of Focus Group

Limitations of Focus Groups

Characteristics of Focus Group

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

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Advanced: Focus Groups on Sensitive Topics

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