Moderating Focus Groups

A Practical Guide for Group Facilitation

Thomas L. Greenbaum

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 1999
• Print ISBN: 9780761920441, 9780761920434
• eBook ISBN: 9781506320564
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

"Like every other agency research director, I suffer from focus-group anxiety. Pumping M&M?s behind the one-way mirror, I?m monitoring the groups, the moderator and the client simultaneously. It?s tough enough to manage the client?s expectations and responses. Worrying about whether the moderator can effectively manage the content flow and the group dynamic makes the experience life threatening. Watching Tom moderate, I find myself constantly thinking, ?Wow, he?s smart. I wish I thought of that. He?s the best.?"

--George Scribner, Research Manager, Organic Inc.

"Dynamic, entertaining, and armed with information on new drugs and medical techniques that would challenge the knowledge of most physicians, Tom Greenbaum presides over an attentive yet relaxed group of medical specialists anxious to share their opinions and prejudices with this most charming of focus group moderators. Serving as a polished master of ceremonies, Mr. Greenbaum is able to work with the many individual styles of his physician panel and at the conclusion, leaves one with the sense of having participated in something important."

--Alan H. Richman, M.D., Chairman, Department of Radiology of Norwalk Hospital

"Tom Greenbaum is a highly effective moderator who has the special ability to quickly learn any subject matter and can conduct groups with expert knowledge. From the discussion guide to the final report, Tom works with speed and accuracy."

--Mark Alfonso, V. P. of Marketing, The Purdue Frederick Company

"Tom is one of the most competent and intuitive moderators I have ever worked with: not only does he have an impeccable understanding of the technical skills necessary for a successful moderator, he also has a unique and uncanny ability to foster and capitalize on the internal dynamics of any group."

--Joseph A. Ciaralli, The Prudential Insurance Company of America

"Thomas L. Greenbaum eats and breathes focus groups. If you want a definitive look at this research technique, you need to either live with the guru for a year or read his books."

--Dave Quincy, Clarion Marketing and Communications

The entire range of facilitation techniques is covered in this comprehensive handbook, from pre-session tips in participant recruitment to post-session reporting. Moderating Focus Groups covers all the fundamentals of successful group facilitation, and also includes a wealth of advanced techniques not found in other books on focus group research (on managing group dynamics, energizing a tired group, and digging deeper into the minds of participants.) Greenbaum also goes beyond the basics with chapters on how to build a business moderating focus groups, and how to price moderating services. While this book is particularly aimed at the needs of focus group practitioners, there is plenty of advice that will benefit anyone who conducts in-depth interviews or group facilitation. Additionally, the many people who hire moderators to facilitate their sessions will benefit from reading this book because it will provide them with valuable insights on how to evaluate their moderators? work.

1

---

INTRODUCTION

---

This book is written for people who facilitate discussions, including focus groups, individual in-depth interviews, or general business meetings. The principles of moderating are the same, whether the objective of the session is to conduct research or to share information among colleagues. I have chosen to write this book because I have been unable to uncover another text that gives current or prospective moderators sufficient practical, “how-to” information to be helpful to their success in the field of qualitative research.

When I began moderating focus groups many years ago, the only resources I had to learn from were other moderators, some of whom were effective and others of whom were not especially talented. As a product manager converting to the focus group industry, I took a long time to identify which practices of the various moderators that I observed could teach me something useful for entry into this field. It took me almost 5 years of moderating, or close to 500 groups, to develop and refine an approach to this profession that was effective and could provide a meaningful added value to my clients.

Unfortunately, however, most people who rely on focus group research have great difficulty telling the difference between a good and a bad moderator because several tangential factors can affect the perception of the moderator’s skills. Clients’ attitudes at the conclusion of a focus group project are often heavily influenced by the reaction of the participants to the topics being discussed or by the entertainment the clients got from observing the group, rather than by the validity of the findings or the depth of information that was obtained. Further, because focus groups are only one part of the overall marketing mix, the success or failure of a product or an idea is ultimately determined by many factors that are never even addressed in focus groups, so it is difficult for a client organization to look back on a project and reflect on the impact that the qualitative research had on the success or failure of the venture. Although this book is intended for moderators, I hope that many people who hire moderators to facilitate their sessions will review it, as it might provide them with some excellent insights on how to evaluate the moderators with whom they work and how to establish criteria for selecting those they hire.

A NOTE ABOUT A PERSONAL BIAS IN THIS BOOK!

---

This book has been written to help anyone do a more effective job of facilitating a meeting. However, the bulk of the text will address moderating focus groups. Although this is only one form of moderating, it is the most popular type of marketing research used in America (and perhaps the world) today and therefore deserves the single-minded attention of a manual such as this book. Further, the focus group moderator is one of the few people in business who is consistently evaluated not just on the outcome of his or her work but on the manner in which information is obtained. Because they work in front of a one-way mirror almost 100% of the time, constantly being observed by superiors, peers, and clients, moderators need to pursue ways to maximize their technique and approach, acknowledging that the pressure to “perform” is always very great. Many moderators consider each day to be somewhat like the opening of a new show in which they perform and then are reviewed by the critics (superiors or clients) on the basis of the quality of their work.

My decision not to spend significant time addressing other types of facilitation in this book is not intended to suggest that they are not as challenging, difficult, or important as moderating focus groups. Rather, it is a recognition that I can do a much better job for the reader by concentrating my efforts on focus groups, confident that people will be able to take the principles outlined for the focus group technique and apply them to other types of facilitation. I have done this in my career, and I find that good facilitation skills are essentially the same whether one is conducting an individual interview, a focus group, a teleconference, or a business meeting.

WHAT ARE FOCUS GROUPS?

---

Focus groups are groups of 7 to 10 people, recruited on the basis of similar demographics, psychographics, buying attitudes, or behavior, who engage in a discussion, led by a trained moderator, of a particular topic. Thus, use of focus groups is a qualitative research technique. Its goal is to delve into attitudes and feelings about a particular topic, to understand the “why” behind the consumer behavior. The intent of using the group for the discussion is to encourage the participants in the session to interact with each other so that the quality of the output is enhanced. Some professionals in the qualitative research industry prefer to work with a mini-group, which is a focus group conducted among 4 to 6 people. Other than the absolute numbers of participants in the sessions, there are no substantive differences between mini-groups and full groups.

A focus group is normally conducted in a specially constructed facility that includes a discussion room and a client observation area, with the two places separated by a one-way mirror so that the people watching the session will not be seen by the participants. Although the ethics of focus groups requires the moderator to tell the participants that observers are watching the session, normally the identity of the people behind the mirror is not revealed. As will be discussed later in this book, if the moderator introduces the one-way mirror correctly, the participants will soon forget about the observers and essentially ignore the existence of the mirror.

For a discussion to be classified as a legitimate focus group, it should contain virtually all of the following characteristics:

 

• Be held in a facility where a one-way mirror exists to permit observers to watch the session
• Be conducted by an objective, external, trained facilitator
• Be composed of 7 to 10 people (or 4 to 6 for mini-groups) who were recruited on the basis of common characteristics
• Be implemented using a discussion guide that has been prepared in advance to ensure that the appropriate topics are covered in the session and that the proper amount of time is allocated to each
• Be executed in such a way that the participants interact with each other both verbally and nonverbally
• Contain a vehicle for the observers to communicate with the moderator during the session to ensure that the process is interactive between both parties
• Be conducted in an environment that is conducive to all participants’ giving their complete attention to the discussion topics for the entire session

 

Many different types of discussions are inaccurately called focus groups because the basic technique has become so important to the overall research process that the moniker has been attached to many different types of interactions and information-gathering sessions that are not focus groups. For example:

 

• Internet chat sessions are often called Internet focus groups in an effort to try and benefit from the halo effect of the original tried and proven methodology. However, anyone who is a student of the focus group technique realizes that most of the elements that make the methodology successful (discussed in detail in Chapter 2) are not present in Internet chat sessions. Therefore, it is incorrect to call this type of research a focus group.
• Some organizations conduct telephone conferences and call them telephone focus groups. While this might be a viable means of collecting information, it is difficult to consider such conferences focus groups for the same reasons that Internet sessions are not focus groups. Most of the basic elements that are integral to the focus group methodology are not present with the telephone research approach.
• Companies sometimes recruit people to a discussion as a way to expose them to a product in what is really a promotional session disguised as a focus group. For example, drug companies frequently recruit physicians to a central location under the guise of participating in a focus group, but the real intent of these meetings is to promote a new pharmaceutical product or service. Although these sessions often involve some discussion, they clearly are not intended to be research, and the structure and dynamics of the meetings do not conform to the basic characteristics of a focus group.
• Also, many people conduct internal business meetings (among employees or customers) and call them focus groups, with the objective of emphasizing the importance of encouraging discussion and interaction among the participants. However, these also should not be called focus groups because they do not contain the most fundamental elements that are required for a session to be considered a focus group.

FOCUS GROUPS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE OVERALL MARKETING MIX

---

Focus groups are typically used in the early stages of product or concept development, when organizations are trying to create an overall direction for a marketing initiative. Because it is possible to change the content of focus groups from session to session, the dynamic nature of this technique makes it an excellent vehicle to explore ideas with consumers and then to modify them on the basis of what is learned from the sessions.

Whereas focus groups used to be considered only as a precursor to quantitative research (in which projectable numerical data are developed), in recent years the technique has been employed to give executives qualitative information that they can use in the decision-making process without necessarily doing quantitative research as a follow-up technique. With increasing pressure on companies to develop new products, advertising, or promotion on a faster timetable and with reduced research budgets, the tendency to use quantitative research following focus groups has declined significantly. As a result, the role of focus groups in the overall marketing process has changed from a purely exploratory technique to one that often represents the voice of the consumer on the future of a product, service, advertisement, or packaging innovation. This has placed new requirements on the focus group moderator in terms of bringing client organizations additional skills in drawing conclusions and understanding the marketing impact of research findings.

WHEN ARE FOCUS GROUPS APPROPRIATE, AND WHEN SHOULD THEY NOT BE USED?

---

As a general rule, focus groups are an appropriate research vehicle when the goal of the investigation is to gain an understanding of the “why” behind a consumer attitude or behavior. The strength of the focus group technique is that it enables a group of individuals to share their views in a nonthreatening environment, with the goal of learning about the factors that dictate a particular action or attitude. Because of the quick turnaround time and accessibility of focus groups, many marketing professionals seeking information today immediately look to focus groups as a way to get answers to their questions. The first four words in my first book on focus groups were “Let’s do some groups”—a suggestion that reflects the attitudes of many people who are faced with the need to find information. But although focus groups can be a very effective part of a research program, this technique is not always the most appropriate way to gather information, and in some situations the output may be more misleading than helpful. Therefore, it is important to understand when focus groups are and are not appropriate so that the methodology can be applied to the situations in which the technique will provide the greatest return.

It is probably easiest to address this question by first asking when focus groups are not an appropriate research vehicle and when it would be prudent to employ a different qualitative or quantitative technique. Focus groups are not appropriate

 

• When the goal of the research is to be able to develop quantitative outputs that the user plans to incorporate into a projection, such as a sales estimate or a pricing model. The qualitative research methodology is not oriented toward generating numerical outputs, although some users do try to project sales, advertising recall, or the trial-generating impact of a promotion on the basis of reactions from focus groups.
• When the goal of the research is to obtain consumer inputs regarding the selection of different product formulations or packaging graphics. Although focus groups are often used for this purpose, the outputs must be considered qualitative because of the methodology and nonprojectable sample size. Normally, product and package preference testing requires a quantitative methodology so that statistical significance testing can be employed to provide a basis for the validity of the outputs.
• When the topic material being covered could not be addressed objectively by the participants. For example, if the criteria for recruiting the participants requires that the individuals be competitors, the dynamics of focus groups will not work: These people generally will not provide honest, objective inputs because of the need for confidentiality and security regarding their corporate interests.
• When the participants required for a group are widely dispersed geographically and cannot be economically brought together in the same room. This is often the case when groups are conducted among very specialized market segments, where the universe of candidates is small and candidates are not located in the same geographic area. In this case, individual interviews, dyads, or triads would be a much more appropriate research technique.

 

Some people believe that the focus group methodology is not appropriate for use with very sensitive personal topics, such as those relating to health, sex, money, or religion. However, it has been my experience that if the sensitive topic is handled professionally by the moderator, most people will actually bemore comfortable talking about it in a group than in a one-to-one environment. In a later chapter, we will address the controversy in the industry regarding the use of focus groups versus individual in-depth interviews as the most effective methodology for generating qualitative research information.

2

---

THE FOCUS GROUP METHODOLOGY

Why the Technique Works So Effectively

---

Focus groups have served as an effective research method for almost 50 years, with dramatically increased usage during the last decade of the 20th century, suggesting that focus groups will continue to be used well into the next millennium. An understanding of the ke...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Focus Group Methodology
• 3. Focus Groups Versus One-on-One (In-Depth) Interviews
• 4. The Role of the Moderator
• 5. The Characteristics of a Successful Moderator
• 6. Preparation for Moderating
• 7. Recruiting Participants
• 8. Pre- and Postgroup Briefings
• 9. The Discussion Guide
• 10. External Stimuli
• 11. The Moderator Report
• 12. Moderating Fundamentals
• 13. Advanced Moderating Techniques
• 14. Unique Moderating Situations
• 15. Moderating Focus Groups Internationally
• 16. Building a Business Moderating Focus Groups
• 17. Pricing Focus Groups
• Glossary
• Index
• About the Author