Focus Groups: Uses and History

Focus Groups

• Focus groups involve 6-15 individuals, guided by a moderator, for intensive exploration of questions proposed by an auditor
• The process focuses on the perceptions that participants build on one another

History of Focus Groups

• Focus groups have been used for making marketing decisions
• Examples include testing website usability, brand image, and differentiation
• They are also used in politics for sampling opinions
• Additionally, they are used in organizational communication for investigating communication issues
• Focus groups gives insights for planning the implementation of new processes and plans

Nature of Focus Group Interviews

• Data collected is considered qualitative, providing in-depth and wide-ranging responses
• Can be used for finding out interviewees’ definitions of the situation of involvement
• Serve as preliminary steps in an initial audit
• Help secure information for quantitative data interpreations
• Data collection is done for audits
• Key to uncovering differences in perspectives and influences

Advantages of Focus Groups

• Efficiency as they gather a lot of information in little time
• Free association allows participants to learn from each other without systematic questioning restrictions
• Reliability checks provide checks and balances from the opinions of one another
• Economy as they provide extensive information for free
• Flexible
• Speed facilitates generating conclusions soon after the group interaction
• Participation leads to enjoyable communicative interactions

Challenges of Focus Groups

• Realistic interpretations are susceptible to researcher bias
• Small sample sizes make it difficult to generalize the findings to a larger population
• Lack of depth can result from time constraints, answer limitations, group size, and social pressure
• Group personality can dominate discussions and diminish the authenticity or value of answers
• Confidentiality is often totally lost
• Time constraints hinder addressing all aspects

Focus Group Protocols

• Keep objective in mind
• Analyse objectives and identify the organizational issues
• Determine what you want to conclude at the end of the focus groups?
• When soliciting respondents, determine the number of people to be interviewed and the composition of the group
• Discussion should be emphasized rather than an expression of unrelated views
• Auditors should be aware of the bias introduced by relying solely on volunteers
• Call potential participants and explain the reason for the invitation
• Choose a length for the focus group
• Arrange the group setting, prioritize the ease of assembly and an environment that facilitates interactions
• When facilitating interactions ensure privacy, comfort, and free interaction for participants
• Schedule carefully, considering changing work demands
• Determine the number of groups to conduct based on established criteria

Facilitating a Focus Group

• Challenges include staying focused on the objective
• Orienting the group
• Controlling the pace of the group
• Dealing sensitively with group problems
• Probing in depth to cut through superficial opinions
• Using controversy positively for effect
• Ensuring all members are involved
• Choosing a variety of techniques to prompt discussion, such as visual aids and role-playing

Analyzing Focus Group Data

• To enhance notes taken during the focus groups, another person can take notes or audiotape interactions
• Content analysis involves labeling themes, listing all related comments, and arranging comments into pre-planned categories

Avoiding Common Analytic Problems

• Minimize the statistics: avoid quantifying
• Probe the depths of what is thought or experienced while being aware of subtleties
• When using multiple focus groups, identify cross-cutting themes rather than focusing on individual discussions
• Strive for objectivity to ensure realistic understanding and avoid auditor bias
• Prioritize and limit the scope as not everything said is important

Preparing a Final Report

• Focus group data is combined with data collected through other techniques
• Structure of a final report should include:
• Executive summary
• Background
• Methodology
• Disclaimers
• Findings
• Conclusions and recommendations
• Appendices

Choosing Focal Areas to Assess

• Examine the impact of task processes on communication
• Determine the adequacy of information exchange
• Check the directionality of information flow
• Assess how well employees use communication media/technologies
• Be sensitive to differences in communication functions
• Check the quality of communication relationships
• Plot communication networks
• Review the organization as a communication system
• Relate communication to organizational outcomes
• Link internal communication to organizational strategies
• Assess the impact of new technologies on communication
• Remain open to unexpected findings