Focus Groups

Focus groups serve as an important tool to gather information for qualitative research.

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What You Will Learn!

Explain What are Focus Groups
List the Objectives of Focus Group
List the Advantages and Disadvantages of Focus Group
Describe the Types of Focus Groups
Explain the Steps involved in Conducting a Focus Group
Describe the Designing of Questions for Focus Groups
Explain How Moderator should Speak to Focus Group
List the Ground Rules for Moderator of Focus Groups
Explain the Facilitating of Focus Groups
List the Characteristics of a Good Moderator

Description

‘Focus Groups’ are also known as ‘Group Interviews’ or ‘Group Discussions’. They are used to understand the attitude or behavior of the audience. Six to twelve individuals are selected and either one or two moderators are selected. Focus Group is an important tool for Marketing Research. So, it can be said that if there was no Marketing Research being conducted, then there was really no need for conducting focus groups too.

Marketing Research is the function that links consumer, customer and public to marketer through information gathered through tools such as focus groups. Marketing Research is systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for the purpose of important decision making and control in the marketing of goods and services.

Information gathered through tools such as focus groups is used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems, generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing Research is sometimes defined as the application of scientific method in the solution of marketing problems. Marketing Research plays a very significant role in identifying the needs of customers and meeting them in best possible way. The main task of Marketing Research is systematic gathering and analysis of information.

Focus Group is Qualitative Research and is generally undertaken to develop an initial understanding of the problem. It is non-statistical in nature. It uses an inductive method, that is, data relevant to some topics are collected and grouped into appropriate meaningful categories. The explanations are emerged from the data itself. It is used in exploratory research design and descriptive research also. When there is uncertainty or when the problem is not clearly defined, we deploy exploratory research and use qualitative studies for it.