FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION

Presented by:
Khushboo Jariwala
INTRODUCTION
 A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a small group of people are
interviewed as a group regarding their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes
towards a particular topic or problem. Surveys are great for collecting information
about people’s attitudes and beliefs, but if the researcher would like to fully understand
the participants at a deeper level, a focus group is an excellent tool.
 Focus group is a small group of carefully selected participants who contribute in open
discussions for research about a new product or a feature update or any other topic to
generalize the results from this focus group to the entire population. A focus group is
conducted in the presence of a moderator who will ensure the results are as unbiased
and legitimate as possible
 A focus group commonly contains 5 to 12 people and a moderator who asks the
questions and guides the conversation.
 A focus group relies on the interaction of the participants to draw out useful
information. 
SOME DEFINITION…
  “ A focus group is a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss
and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research”
(Powell et al, 1996)

 “ Focus groups are a form of group interviewing but it is important to distinguish between the
two. Group interviewing involves interviewing a number of people at the same time, the
emphasis being on questions and responses between the researcher and participants. Focus
groups however rely on interaction within the group based on topics that are supplied by the
researcher” (Morgan, 1997) 

 In 1991, marketing and psychologist expert Ernest Dichter came up with the name “Focus
Group” for meetings held with a limited group of participants who assembled with the
objective of discussion.
PURPOSE OF FOCUS GROUP
 Exploring respondents’ behavior, experiences, ideas, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, feelings,
and reactions in a social setting
 Generating hypotheses
 Finding common language
 Revealing group dynamism and norms
 Brainstorming (product-ideas/concepts, communication-ideas/concepts, …)
 Developing questions or concepts for questionnaire
 Sharing and exchange of information.
TYPES OF FOCUS GROUP
 Single focus group – This is the classical type of focus group where all respondents are placed
in one group to interactively discuss the topic.
 Two-way focus groups – This format involves using two groups. One group actively discusses
the topic and the other group observes the first group and then discusses their interactions.
 Dual moderator focus groups – The moderators work together with one moderator asking the
questions and leading the session and the other moderator ensuring that all questions are asked
and any new evolutions are discussed further.
 Respondent moderator focus group – One of the respondents will temporarily act as the
moderator which changes the dynamics of the group.
 Mini Focus Groups – This format uses smaller groups of only 4-5 participants.
 Teleconference or online focus groups – These formats use conference calling, chat rooms or
other online means to conduct the focus group to allow for better outreach to participants.
HOW FOCUS GROUP WORK…
Advantages of Focus Group

  Provide a broader range of information

 Fast way of gathering lot of insights
 Less expensive than other research methods
 Deepen the understanding and explain with statistical information
 Each participants are given chance to express their viewpoints
 Encourage Brainstorming session among employees which can result
by coming up with bright, unique and unexpected idea.
 It allows to explore topics and generate hypothesis.
Disadvantages of Focus Group

 There can be disagreements and irrelevant discussion which distract from the
main focus
 It can be hard to control and manage
 some participants may find a focus group situation intimidating or off-putting;
participants may feel under pressure to agree with the dominant view.
 Possibility to side track from the main origin of discussion.
 Difference in opinion may take a form of debate.
 Difficult to analyze the data immediately and to interrupt in the content.
Key Role of Moderator

 Understand fully the research objectives

 To observe carefully
 Be attentive to note down the appropriate points
 To make sure that topic don’t divert from main discussion
 To make environment positive and live
 Keep control over conservation
 To be flexible
 To analyze and interpret properly
CONCLUSION
 Thus, FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION is a QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUE
which is useful for interactive group discussion . The results of group discussion
are generally used as a basis for further evaluation in various stream such as
management, social science, information system ..etc.

 It work out smoothly because of its general characteristic mainly homogeneity of

group, sequence of session, obtaining data and to focus on topic.

 Careful planning , analysis and interpretation are fundamentally important.

THANK YOU !!!