Focus Group Case Study

A Critical Review

Report By: Mariam Ahmad

 Table of Contents

Examing the focus group guide

Examing discussions, questions, and techniques

Examining the moderator's role

Examining the use of an online medium

Examining the sample and ethical practices

Applications of modern focus group techniques

Bibliography
 The Guiding Light
Examining the focus group guide.

Things that Things to do

worked well differently

-Communicating -Planning out

objectives questions

-Setting group
-Time breakdown norms
 Discussion
The central aim of a focus group guide is to ensure that the procedures
carried out are aligned well with the research objectives and ensure that
the discussion remains productive, well-structured, and relevant. Looking
at the guide provided for Pronto, we see that the objectives are
clearly communicated to understand: customer demand;
preference for functionality, aesthetics, and cost; and the ranking of
items. Overall, the research aims to investigate customer preferences and
attitudes toward furniture items. Clearly communicating the purpose of
the study with the participants, enables them to contextualize their
answers accordingly. Therefore, when they are providing their opinions,
they do so keeping in mind the ultimate use to which they will be put. This
enhances the ability to link back the results to the guiding research
questions that started it all.

One critical yet often overlooked aspect of a well-managed focus group is

the use of time. The guide provides a well-structured breakdown of
how the time will be broken down. This ensures that each point is
addressed and no point is missed, it also provides guidance over how
much time to dedicate to each question and taking in the respective
responses. Lastly, it also provides an organized sequence of events.
Discussion
Most of the research on effective focus group guides also suggests the use of
planning out questions to ask the participants and including them for the
moderator’s referral. Given that this is largely an open-ended discussion, many of
the questions would arise from previous participant responses so the exclusion of
structured questions is understandable. However, the inclusion of some baseline
questions such as “Among painted, natural solid wood, and weaved solid wood,
which material do you prefer for utility furniture?” and “What specific benefits or
drawbacks do you associate with each material type?” would have benefited the
quality of responses. The addition of questions can potentially assist the
moderator in moments of silence amongst the group and can provide a fail-
safe if the conversation is no longer simulating. Moreover, the user-friendly
characteristic of the research is improved for an outsider, a guide is a quick
snapshot of what the focus group entails and it is much easier to assess the type of
data collected by reviewing questions in a guide rather than having to dig them out
from the recording. It also allows the grouping of responses under main themes and
ideas for smoother data evaluation. Lastly, having a set of questions in the guide
makes it easier to replicate the focus group for other businesses or with another set
of participants.

Another quintessential role of a guide is to set the principles that will regulate
how participants interact with one another within the focus group. Although
there are some guidelines mentioned, these are mainly instructions regarding how
the logistics will be approached, for instance, mentions of a raise hand feature,
keeping phones on silent, use of chat boxes, and voluntary speaking. An
explanation on the use of Zoom does improve the flow of conversation as it
reduces chances of technological disruptions; however, in order to improve
the quality of responses received during a focus group, it is important to go
one step beyond this by also including guidelines regarding participant
behaviors and attitudes exhibited in the focus group. Setting norms around
respecting everybody's opinions, reassuring there are no right or wrong ideas, and
listening intently to others are just a few examples of how this can be achieved. The
benefit of such a norm-setting is that it creates an atmosphere where
participants feel not only comfortable expressing their honest opinions but
also adds value to their interactions with one another as they build upon
each other's points in a more judgment-free and sincere manner.
 Constructing
Conversations
Examining the prompts thrown,
questions asked, and discussions held.

Things that Things to do

worked well differently

-Define key terms

-Imagery

-breakdown questions

-clear pathways
-Avoid dichotomy

-Focusing questions -Expand on the variety of

questions asked
Discussion
Imagery can be a great tool to implement when questioning participants. The use of
imagery to assist participants in visualizing the exact type of furniture being
discussed, increased the psychological realness of the research as participants
encounter objects visually in everyday life. This technique elicited more realistic
responses than simply describing the furniture would have. Moreover, the moderator’s
use of description, such as painted, weaved, and plain, not only strengthened
this visualization but also provided cues as to which aspects of the furniture the
participants should be focusing on and as a result structured their responses
better.

In order to further strengthen the psychological realism of the study, 3 three-

dimensional short clips, such as those included in the embrace presentation,
should be shown to participants. The use of these videos will enable members of the
focus group to better visualize the furniture in terms of depth, height, width, and
proportions and phrase their answers bearing these attributes in mind.

When conducting a focus group it is critical to set out a clear path between the data
obtained, encoding of data, and analysis of data. When steering a conversation some
questions lead to responses that may not necessarily translate into useful results. The
use of chat boxes by the moderator to gauge preferences between furniture
items resulted in the collection of quantifiable data (votes per furniture) that
could easily be traced back to the question (preferences) and extended further to
an analysis (features of popular furniture in Pakistan).

Another thing done well, observed in the video, was the use of focusing the
question techniques, this can be seen when the moderator starts out broadly by
asking about painted tables in general and then zeros in on their accessibility
within Islamabad. What this accomplishes is responses specific to a particular context,
in this case Islamabad, as we move from broad to narrow, the validity of results increases
from generalizations to highly likely possibilities.
Discussion
When beginning any sort of research it is useful to define and clarify key
terms at the start so that all individuals involved are approaching the
questions with the same understanding. At the start of clip 1, the moderator
does a good job at distinguishing and specifying which type of furniture is being
referred to when utility is under investigation. However, for even further clarity,
the research would have benefited from also defining what is meant by
key terms such as utility and design. For instance, whether the owner wants
to gauge utility in terms of multiple uses, compact and transportable qualities,
both, or some third factor altogether. Clarifying concepts is beneficial even for
terms that may seem simple or straightforward, as it can prove risky to assume
your participants are always educated about what these terms mean.

At the start of the video, the moderator throws around a prompt aimed at
gauging member views about online shopping. The way in which the question
has been phrased is quite extensive and long, since the focus group is a mental
and verbal exercise rather than written, participants can easily lose track of the
conversation. By the time the question ends they have forgotten the start, in
order to limit this from happening, it would be better to split the question
into segments and proceed step by step.

For the most part, the moderator employs the use of open-ended questions
however there are a few instances where dichotomous questions (yes or no)
have been used such as “Do exhibitions help you transition into online
buying?”These questions tend to limit responses to a yes or no and we are not
able to gauge the what and why aspects Therefore it is better to ensure
the; questions asked are open-ended for example, “What features about
exhibitions help the transition, why is this so?”.

The fundamental element of a rigorous focus group that was lacking in

the case study was the use of a variety of questions and questioning
techniques in order to capture multiple aspects of participant
preferences and attitudes toward furniture. Additions to the research in
terms of questioning techniques that it could benefit from are addressed on the
following page.
Things to do differently
Adding variety in the type of questions and
questioning techniques used

Technique Example Benefit

What comes to Help generate ideas
and develop in depth
Word your mind
understanding of all
Association when you think the features of
of utility furniture that yield
utiltiy

Technique Example Benefit

What do you
Explore what a different
children/nieces/n segment of target market
Third Person ephews go might feel towards online
shopping. Improve
Technique through when participant responses by
they have to buy having them explore a
different perspective.
things online

Technique Example Benefit

Reflect on the Think back questions
prompt participants to recall
last utility specific events or
Think Back furniture item experiences from their
memory, enabling
Questions you bought researchers to gather
detailed and context-rich
and describe
information about past
it. occurrences
 Moderator’s
Managing
Examining the role and duties of
the Moderator.

Things that Things to do

worked well differently

-Dual Moderation

-Probing questions

-Rapport Building

-Making room for

-Script on hand
individuals
Discussion
One very interesting thing about the way in which the focus group has been
conducted, which also works to its benefit, is the use of a dual moderator focus
group with distinct moderator roles. The distinction of roles between two
moderators ensures that there is a smooth progression of operations
since there are no clashes over the same task and all the relevant bases
are covered. We can see that there was a primary moderator (Ms. Saima) who
was conducting the focus group, asking questions, presenting the material, and
navigating the conversation. There was also a secondary moderator (Ms.
Saulah) who was the owner of the venture and had commissioned the focus
group and was clarifying any queries regarding the objectives of the research or
the furniture items themselves. Having Ms Saulah present herself rather
than an external moderator ensured that the focus group was always
aligned with the objectives of her venture and any confusion was
addressed directly by the source avoiding inaccurate assumptions a
third party would have made.

The role of a moderator is often overlooked in terms of the impact it can have
on the quality of results. The moderator is the make or break in a focus group.
Before a discussion begins it is the moderator's role to create an
atmosphere that solicits honest opinions and mutual respect, also
referred to as building a rapport. According to research, this should ideally be
done at the very start before any sort of other discussion takes place. Although
the conversation does not start out with rapport building, before any
discussion amongst participants and researchers properly takes place
the moderator does iterate that honest opinions are valued. Building a
connection with participants by making them feel comfortable improves the
quality of the results collected as responses are valid expressions of members'
true feelings.
Discussion
By referring to each participant by their individual name, and
targeting specific participants during questioning, the moderator
ensured that there was a balance between those who were speaking.
Ensuring this balance allows responses to reflect opinions from each and
every individual present and prevents responses from being restricted to one
or two perspectives.

Although Ms Saima did a good job in embodying the roles and

characteristics of an effective moderator there were some instances where
she would repeat statements, take pauses, and use filler words. This draws
out the questions asked and descriptions provided, making them longer than
they need to be as well as causing participants to lose focus and disengage.
Moreover, participants may perceive this as a lack of confidence and lose
their faith in the moderator’s credibility. In order to counteract this from
happening it would be beneficial to have a script of questions
prepared beforehand to read off of and refer to. Another thing I felt
the moderator lacked in terms of facilitating questions was the use of
probing questions. For instance, when one of the participants mentioned
trust as one of her criteria for online purchases the moderator could have
intervened and asked what are the key ingredients to building trust for her.
Probing questions helps extract further insight from participants.
Additional things done well by
the moderator
The use of clarifying
statements:
Repeating back what
was understood of a
participant's response
and asking whether this
is a correct
interpretation
Avoids any
miscommunications
Ability to remain impartial:
This can be seen when the
moderator refrains from
expressing her opinion on
online shopping
Allows participants to openly
communicate their points and
ensures as little influence as
possible of moderator’s
beliefs on participant
responses.
Flexibility and Flow:
Ability to change course as
the conversation moves in
new directions,
demonstrated by asking
questions relevant to the
conversation at hand
Adjusting to participants'
requests in instances such
as those where they asked to
look at prices
Thank participants for their time:
This can be seen at the end
of video two
According to research it is a
part of ethical focus group
practices.
It show appreciation for their
time and enhances the
researchers credibiltiy.
 Age of internet
Examining the use and
implications of the online medium

Things that Things to do

worked well differently

-Participant diversity

-Assistant moderator to
observe participants.
-Balancing chatbox and
conversations
Discussion
The use of an online medium to conduct the focus group enables
greater convenience between the researchers and the participants in
terms of scheduling and timing as it can be conducted from the comfort
of everyone's own home. Moreover, it enables the researcher to conduct a
focus group with participants from more geographically dispersed areas
such as in the case over here where some members were from Islamabad,
some were from Lahore which leads to more in-depth data collection. The
geographic diversity among participants meant that furniture opinions could be
compared within the subcultures of each city.

In zoom meetings, it is often the case that an invigilator will get absorbed in the
verbal conversation taking place and overlook the chat box. The moderator
successfully avoided this pitfall by continuously remaining updated on
comments and queries coming in through the chatbox while also
remaining present in the conversation. The benefit of this is that chatbox
items are addressed then and there when they are still relevant, rather than
resolving them when the conversation has moved forward onto newer topics.

One limitation of the online medium is that gauging participant' body

language and facial expressions in response to stimuli presented and
questions asked is a critical part of understanding their perspectives
and opinions. Observing participant behavior becomes more difficult in
an online setting, especially during moments when the screen is being
shared and participants are no longer visible. By employing an assistant
moderator who was responsible for observing reactions in participants
and recording their results the researchers would ensure all aspects of behavior
are being recorded.
 Sample and Ethics
Examining the sample selected and
implementation of ethics

Things that Things to do

worked well differently

-size -multiple segments of

target market

-Informed consent to
record -Privacy of data
Discussion
The sample size consisted of 10 members, this is appropriate and keeps
in line with the principles of the focus group where a small sample is
desired in order to obtain in-depth responses from each member. Moreover,
before recording the researcher has mentioned in the guide that this will
be a recorded session. It is important to get permission before taking
any sort of videos or photos of participants as some may object to being
recorded.

The research is conducted with a focus group of only a particular segment of

the market. Although, having homogeny within the sample prevents decisions
from getting volatile, having separate focus groups for various other
market segments would lead to a more realistic capture of all
preferences for furniture. One particularly important market to capture would
be newlywed couples as they are often seeking affordable utility furniture items.
Another thing that I would do differently in this research would be to rather than
state that the recording will not be shared outside of the group acquire
informed consent for sharing it for academic or business purposes. This
ensures that there is no violation of the ethical code of conduct and
maintains the researcher's credibility.
 Things to do differently
The application of new, innovative, and advanced
focus group techniques in the case study.

Virtual Reality: Participants engage in a

virtual environment where they can interact
with furniture prototypes. VR focus groups
provide a realistic and immersive
experience, allowing participants to provide
feedback as if they were physically present.

Gamification: This is when focus group

discussions are structured as interactive
games or activities, which can enhance
engagement and creativity. For instance,
creating an online game where participants
have to design their dream utility furniture
items.

Bulletin Boards: These are online

platforms that allow for the collection of
asynchronous data by connecting
researchers with participants. It is an
easily accessible community of
individuals willing and interested in
participating in research and allows for
data collection from a larger sample size.
However, the scope of bulletin boards
may be limited in Pakistan.
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