The Perils of Focus Groups (Part Two)

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6. Following the Leader
Rarely do people have the same degree of experience and commitment to a research topic. 

The focus group format – whereby a question or topic is put to the group and the group is invited to respond – encourages the person with the strongest involvement and view and / or the most confident person present to speak first.

People observing group dynamics within unstructured groups (those that have been put together rather than organised) find that often the person who speaks first emerges as the leader of the group.

Groups are rarely, if ever, egalitarian. However well the moderator works there will emerge some hierarchy through which one person’s view leads the responses of the others.

I mentioned in part one of this article that there are one or two occasions when I believe focus groups can serve as legitimate market research tools for consumer understanding. 

Idea Generation
Provided that the aim of the process is to generate ideas, rather than determine their merit, the fact that group interaction changes what and how people think becomes an advantage.

Topics with High Social Currency
If you are exploring topics that people derive a benefit from discussing, in other words where the subject matter is of a type that consumers would routinely discuss in groups, then triggering such an exchange and noting what ensues can lead to useful insights.

I hasten to add that, for example, the fact that you ask your friend what she has in her sandwich, doesn’t mean hosting an eight person, ninety minute debate about sandwich marketing would be a legitimate topic for focus groups.

You can see why, most of the time, resorting to a focus group is a risk thing to do.  The likelihood of getting a powerfully expressed but inaccurate response is extremely high.
 

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