Online Focus Groups

11 Key excerpts on "Online Focus Groups"

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  eBook - ePub

  The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods

  • Nigel G Fielding, Raymond M Lee, Grant Blank, Nigel G Fielding, Raymond M Lee, Grant Blank, Author(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  25 Online Focus Groups

  Katie M. Abrams with Ted J. Gaiser

  Introduction to Online Focus Groups

  The purpose of a focus group is to enable a researcher to evaluate ideas in a group setting. The environment of a focus group is often thought of as a more natural setting for gathering data, as opposed to a one-on-one interview, and enables researchers to gain additional insights from the dialog and interaction between participants. Focus groups can be employed for many diverse purposes. Politicians use the technique to assess public opinion and develop policy. Marketers assess many aspects of public opinion, from specific consumer preferences to test marketing new products. For social scientists, a focus group often represents an inexpensive means for gathering qualitative data and exploring social phenomena.

  Much of the seminal literature describing the focus group method was developed with face-to-face communication in mind. Focus group methods are designed to create a group environment in which typically six to eight participants who have some commonality feel comfortable sharing a wide variety of ideas on a specific topic or focus with facilitation by a trained moderator. Since many texts offer details on the method in general and its validity, reliability and generalizability (see, for example, Krueger and Casey, 2014), this chapter will focus on the unique aspects of those conducted online. Although many of the same fundamentals of the method apply, the online medium has some nuances.

  Online Focus Groups are distinguished from face-to-face or in-person focus groups in that they take place in a networked computer environment. They can be categorized into asynchronous (participants contribute during different times, e.g. emails, forums) or synchronous (participants contribute during the same time, e.g. chat, conference) group interactions. Online Focus Groups may seem like the natural choice to study online social groups or topics related to the Internet; however, they are also useful to study a variety of topics and populations. Given the extent to which people are communicating over the Internet, the medium seems even more suitable to facilitating focus groups than in years past. Specialized applications are also now available to enhance group communication, as will be discussed in a later section.

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  Market Research in Practice

  An Introduction to Gaining Greater Market Insight

  • Paul Hague(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Kogan Page

    (Publisher)

  06

  Focus groups

  The focus group

  The focus group is a research tool used to collect data through group interaction on a topic. Essentially, it is a group experience comprising a small number of carefully selected people who are recruited to discuss a subject on the basis of their shared experience.

  Focus groups have four key characteristics:

  • They actively involve people.
  • The people attending the group have an experience or interest in common.
  • They provide in-depth qualitative data.
  • The discussion is focused to help us understand what is going on.

  Focus groups have traditionally taken place in a face-to-face environment, with all participants brought together in one location for a given period of time to discuss the research topic. However, technological advances have made it possible to bring groups together online, overcoming the barrier of participant proximity to the focus group venue. Online groups tend to adopt one of two styles: the ‘live chat’ forum or the ‘bulletin board’ group, which tends to remain open and live for several days but does not require participants to be logged in during the whole period.

  The people that make up a focus group

  Focus groups typically are made up of five to 10 people. The group needs to be small enough to allow everyone the opportunity to share insights, and yet large enough to provide group interaction and diversity of experience. Larger face-to-face groups inhibit discussion, as some delegates shy away from venturing opinions, while smaller groups may be limited in their pool of ideas. Bulletin style online groups afford the opportunity for a larger number of participants.

  Commonality of experience and interest

  Focus group participants have a degree of homogeneity, and this is important to the researcher. This similarity is the basis for recruitment, and indeed, specific requirements are usually necessary for attendance at the group.

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  Internet Communication and Qualitative Research

  A Handbook for Researching Online

  • Chris Mann, Fiona Stewart(Authors)
  • 2000(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  5 Online Focus Groups In recent years, focus groups have become a well-known instrument in the toolkit of qualitative research. Used in both market and academic research, they are a specif ic type of group discuss ion which is usually conducted in an FTF format involving between five and ten partic ipants. Although there is no universal direction as to how focus groups should be conducted (Krueger, 1988: 103), they are characterized by open-ended questions, which are arranged in sequence, yet which have scope for flexibi lity in format. The freedom and spontaneity which characterize the successful focus group have been described as being more akin to brainstorm ing than a structured group discussion (Krueger, 1988: 29). There can also be many permutations in the use and nature of focus groups. They may be held over single or repeated sessions. They may be held before, after or alongside other methods (for example, questionna ires). Partic ipants may be recruited using means ranging from snowballing to random sampling fro m telephone and/or other directories. The defin ing feature of focus group participants is that they are from all walks of life. The participants of any single focus group, however, can usual ly be characterized by their homogeneity. Depending upon the topic, the participants of a focus group wil l be of sim ilar profile in terms of age, gender or experience. The Focus Group Method Morgan has suggested that the main feature of the focus group method is that it is ' interaction focused' (Morgan, 1988: 9). It is this interact ion which is thought to il luminate what people feel or think as well as why they m ay feel or think in that particular way. According to Krueger: 'Focus groups provide a special type of information . .. They tap into the real-life interactions of people and al low the researcher to get in touch with partic ipants' perceptions, attitudes, and opinions in a way that other procedures do not allow' (1 988: 177).

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  Marketing Research

  • Carl McDaniel, Jr., Roger Gates(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  • Built-in collaboration tools enable the moderator to show multiple forms of stimuli (concepts, advertisements, storyboards) to the group. 3 Webcam groups require more screening than a traditional offline focus group. Additional questions include: one to evaluate a recruit’s comfort level participating in a webcam-based interview (strong comfort required); a question about broadband access on the computer they will use for the interview (broadband access required); a question about personal comfort using a computer and the Internet; and a question about webcam owner- ship. 4 Some research companies will send webcams to hard-to-find qualified respondents. 5 Many companies offer webcam-based software and hosting such as QualMeeting by 20/20 Research. Practicing Marketing Research Online Focus Groups 6 Online Focus Groups are today’s money and time-saving choice for organizations in need of qualitative and quantita- tive market research. They are also the green choice because they allow companies and researchers to connect with con- sumers without expending precious natural resources. Real-time Online Focus Groups (using text, audio, video, or all three) are your best choice for quick results when con- ducting qualitative market research. Not only do they cut down on money spent for materials and staff sent to moder- ate in-person groups, but they are also convenient because respondents can participate in the focus groups online from the comfort of their own home. You and your colleagues are also able to witness the entire online focus group session from your own PCs. This means that while participants engage in discussions around your products and services, you are able to collect data from your focus groups online instantly. In the privacy of our Virtual Backroom, you can communicate with the moderator and others on your team, even if you are in different locations. The respondents do not see these backroom communications.

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  Marketing Research

  • Carl McDaniel, Jr., Roger Gates(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Webcams connect participants and a moderator. Researchers are now using Zoom to conduct focus groups as well. The video-based online focus group marries the benefits of traditional qualitative research and the promised benefits of Online Focus Groups: • Moderators can see and hear participants, meaning that there is greater context to a participant’s responses and probing is not compromised. • Participants can log in from any part of the country (or the world, for that matter), thus eliminating the need for the moderator or clients to travel to a limited number of markets. • Built-in collaboration tools enable the moderator to show multiple forms of stimuli (concepts, advertisements, storyboards) to the group. Webcam groups require more screening than a traditional offline focus group. Addi- tional questions include: one to evaluate a recruit’s comfort level participating in a webcam- based interview (strong comfort required); a question about broadband access on the computer they will use for the interview (broadband access required); a question about personal comfort using a computer and the Internet; and a question about webcam own- ership. Some research companies will send webcams to hard-to-find qualified respondents. 174 CHAPTER 8 Online Marketing Research: The Growth of Mobile and Social Media Research Using the Internet to Find Online Participants The Internet is proving to be an excellent tool to locate participants that fit a very spe- cific set of requirements. Researchers are tapping online bulletin boards such as Craigslist, which attracts 60 million visitors each month to its classified advertisements. The site is most useful “when you’re trying to find niche users to a small population of users that is hard to find,” says Tim Plowman, an anthropologist who works at Cheskin, a marketing consulting firm.

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  Qualitative Social Research

  Contemporary Methods for the Digital Age

  • Vivienne Waller, Karen Farquharson, Deborah Dempsey(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Running face-to-face focus groups can be expensive, and scheduling the focus group at a time and location convenient to all participants may prove difficult. In addition, some people – and young people in particular – may not have sufficient confidence to meet strangers in an unfamiliar location (Fox et al., 2013). With the advent of new Internet technologies researchers have been experimenting with Online Focus Groups. As with online interviews, the term ‘Online Focus Groups’ encompasses a range of modes of communication: visual, audio and text, or any combination of these, using technologies such as chat rooms and immersive virtual environments. Many of the issues faced when conducting Online Focus Groups will be the same as those that are relevant to online interviews. In particular, when a focus group is held online a moderator will have to work much harder to keep the group interested. Hence Online Focus Groups should only be used for topics that the participants are likely to be passionate about. These are particularly useful for researching experiences related to medical conditions, as participants may value some anonymity, but at the same time also benefit from interacting with others with similar experiences. A characteristic of Online Focus Groups among people experiencing a similar disadvantage is the forging of a strong group identity. For example, Fox et al. used a real-time text-only focus group to look at ‘the appearance-related concerns of young people who have chronic skin conditions’ (2013: 320). Participants said they were more confident to meet online than face to face.

  Deb Dempsey conducted Online Focus Groups with the clients of sex workers to investigate the problem of trafficking in the sex worker industry. Clients were found through a well-known website that was a forum for sex workers and their clients. The focus groups were conducted through a real-time chat facility on the website which meant that the researcher didn’t have to know who the participants were, and the participants didn’t know the identity of the other participants.

  Real-time text-only focus groups are very challenging: ‘Although participants have an equal opportunity to respond and contribute, the participant who is most proficient at typing has the power to say the most’ (Fox et al., 2013: 327) in what can be a ‘fast, furious, and chaotic’ discussion (Tates et al., 2013). The problems experienced with turn-taking in online chat with just one person are multiplied as the numbers of participants involved in the discussion increase. Without visual cues, silences become even more difficult to interpret and the moderator has to make a judgement call as to whether they should intervene because the participants have nothing more to say on an issue or whether they should allow more time for thinking (Fox et al., 2013).

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  Focus Group Methodology

  Principle and Practice

  • Pranee Liamputtong(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 3 ). However, by facing other participants, individuals may be pressured to conform, and this can restrict overall interaction and the quality of the collected data. In virtual focus groups, it is likely that the pressure to conform may be markedly reduced. Hence, this offers a possibility for generating data which can be more difficult to obtain in face-to-face focus group interactions (Gaiser 2008).

  But are they focus groups? Virtual focus group researchers Kate Robson and Matthew Williams (2005: 396) ask ‘to what extent Online Focus Groups can truly be considered to belong to the focus group method’. In orthodox focus groups, a group discussion is organised around a particular topic and is facilitated by a researcher. The explicit use of group interaction to produce data is the distinguishing feature of a focus group. To facilitate more open discussion, a setting which is familiar, comfortable and unthreatening for the participants is essential. Will these essential features be catered for by the virtual focus group? Some of these questions have been discussed in the literature concerning the use of virtual focus groups. Most published research projects in the health and social sciences have employed asynchronous, or non-real-time, groups which include discussion groups and bulletin boards, where messages which are posted in a folder are examined and responded to by other participants (see a later section). Offering an asynchronous mode can be advantageous for people who cannot type fast, it can overcome time zone differences, and it can generate detailed and reflective responses (Fox et al. 2007). However, there has been some debate about whether this modality is actually a real form of a focus group method (Bloor et al. 2001). But Kate Robson and Matthew Williams (2005: 397) argue that ‘the acceptance of computer mediated variations on a whole range of research methods, including focus groups, is appropriate to contemporary technological developments’.

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  Qualitative Research Using Social Media

  • Gwen Bouvier, Joel Rasmussen(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 8

  FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS

  DOI: 10.4324/9780429319334-8

  Introduction

  This chapter will provide an overview of the use of focus group interviews, emphasizing in particular the study of social media. To begin with, the focus group interview is a planned conversation with a moderator and a small group of participants on a topic that all participants can weigh in on. Usually, the interviews are quite well structured with background material to be read or viewed and several questions from the moderator prepared in an interview guide. But there are also exceptions where the focus group interaction proceeds more like a naturally occurring group conversation, and the moderator’s intervention is limited to an introductory explanation and opening question. If done face-to-face or using video conferencing, sessions are recorded, and the handling of data thus continues with transcription before the main analysis is performed. Alternative online methods have informants responding in writing and utilize chats and online forums for the focus groups, thus avoiding the extra step of transcription.

  Because focus group interviews encourage participants to speak their minds, they are used to provide insight into people’s experiences, perceptions, interpretations, or discourse on various phenomena. A well-conducted focus group interview provides time and space for conversation, exchange, and reflection, and can therefore generate useful research material on selected themes. The focus group interview’s long-form conversation is suitable for investigating various questions regarding social media: What do consumers think about the presence of a particular brand in social media? How do relationships with loved ones and friends seem to be affected by social media? How can social media be used by groups that have different types of health problems, and does using social media help them in any way? What risks are different groups of regular users exposed to due to criminal behavior on social media? These types of questions have been studied by means of focus group interviewing.

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  Qualitative Marketing Research

  Understanding Consumer Behaviour

  • Dominika Maison(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  3    Qualitative methods The different tools in the hands of a marketing researcher Classic qualitative marketing research methods: focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews

  Focus group interviews (FGIs), also called focus group discussions (FGDs), are the most commonly commissioned type of qualitative research in marketing (Belk, Fischer, & Kozinets, 2013; ESOMAR, 2016; Greenbaum, 1993). The greater number of group discussions compared to individual interviews in the marketing context is mainly down to fashion (being considered more spectacular) and convenience (shorter performance times, ease of interview observation by clients), not actual methodological premises. From methodological point of view both methods are essentially very similar and can often be used interchangeably. This doesn’t mean that both methods are identical as certain differences do exist between them, thus, when deciding whether a group or individual interview is more suitable, we must be aware of the consequences of using each of these methods (see Table 3.1 ).

  A focus group interview is a discussion between several people, usually about six to eight, led by an interviewer, called a moderator. The moderator’s task is to guide (focus) the interview appropriately in order to find out as much as possible about the research subject (Cowley, 2000). This approach has four characteristic elements: (a) it is carried out in a group setting (several participants), (b) it is focused around (concentrates on) a specific topic, (c) the conversation is in-depth (not superficial), and (d) it is in the form of a discussion, not just a question and answer session. Its theoretical basis is two main fields of knowledge: (a) qualitative research methods (individual in-depth interviews, observations, and projective techniques), (b) social psychology – knowledge on small groups, their dynamics, and group processes (drawing from what is known about therapeutic groups, support groups, and interpersonal training).

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  A New Era in Focus Group Research

  Challenges, Innovation and Practice

  • Rosaline S. Barbour, David L. Morgan, Rosaline S. Barbour, David L. Morgan(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Lobe, B. (2008). Integration of online research methods. Information technology/ social/informatics collection. Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences. 11 Best Practices for Synchronous Online Focus Groups 247 Mann, C., & Stewart, F. (2000) Internet Communication and Qualitative Research: A Handbook. London: Sage. Martin, C. L., & Nagao, D. H. (1989) ‘Some effects of computerized interview- ing on job application responses’. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74: 72–80. Morgan, D. L. (1988) Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Morgan, D. L. (1997) Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks/ London: Sage. Morgan, D. L. (2010) ‘Focus groups and social interaction’, In J. F. Gubrium, J. A. Holstein, A. B. Marvasti & K. D. McKinney (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft. Thousand Oaks, CA/London: Sage Publications, pp. 161–176. Morgan, D. L. (2012) ‘Focus groups and social interaction’, In J. Gubrium & J. Holstein (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 161–176. Morgan, D. L., & Lobe, B. (2011) ‘Online Focus Groups’, In S. N. Hesse-Biber (ed.), The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 199–230 Mwanga, J. R., Mugasche, C. L., Magnussen, P., Gabone, R.M., & Aagaard- Hansen, J. (1998) ‘Perls, Pith and Provocation: Experiences from Video- Recorded Focus Group Discussions on Schistosomiases in Magu, Tanzania’. Qualitative Health Research, 8(5): 707–717. Nguyen, D. T., & Alexander, J. (1996) ‘The coming of cyberspacetime and the end of polity’, In R. Shields (ed.), Cultures of Internet: Virtual Spaces, Real Histories, Living Bodies. London: Sage, pp. 99–124. O’Conner, H., & Madge, C. (2003) ‘“Focus groups in cyberspace”: Using the Internet for qualitative research’. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 6(2): 133–143.

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  Successful Focus Groups

  Advancing the State of the Art

  • David L. Morgan(Author)
  • 1993(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  The advan- tage of focus groups is that the exchanges among the participants help them to clarify for themselves just what it is that their opinion or behavior depends on. We, as researchers, can thus gain insights into both the range of opinions they have and the sets of circumstances that will lead to one response rather than another. Consider Focus Groups When You Need a Friendly Research Method That Is Respectful and Not Condescending to Your Target Audience Focus groups have a unique niche for obtaining information as tensions between opposing parties begin to rise. Surveys and other means of obtaining information may be ineffective because neither party trusts the other’s intentions. By creating and sustaining an atmo- sphere that promotes meaningful interaction, focus groups convey a humane sensitivity, a willingness to listen without being defensive, and a respect for opposing views that is unique and beneficial in these emotionally charged environments. Naturally, when the tensions are excessive, it is unlikely that focus groups or any other procedure will work adequately. Even in situations that are not fraught with conflict, the friendliness of focus groups can be a major advantage. This friendliness extends to both the participants, who typically enjoy their interactions together, and to the end users of the research, who believe that they get a much better understanding of others’ points of view through listening to their discussions. From the researcher’s point of view, a successful focus groups project can help to forge a human connection between those who commission a project and those who serve as the subjects of their investigations. And, whether this helps to reduce tensions in troubled settings or simply makes people feel good about their experiences in the research process, it is a valuable end in itself.

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