Even with a wide variety of sources available, coming up with an idea as the basis for a new venture can still be a difficult problem. The entrepreneur can use several methods to help generate and test new ideas including focus groups, brainstorming and problem inventory analysis. The following are some of the key methods to help generate end test new ideas: 1. Focus Groups ? these are the groups of individuals providing information in a structural format. A moderator leads a group of people through an open, in-depth discussion rather than simply asking questions to solicit participant response. Such groups form comments in open-end in-depth discussions for a new product area that can result in market success. In addition to generating new ideas, the focus group is an excellent source for initially screening ideas and concept. 2. Brainstorming ? it is a group method for obtaining new ideas and solutions. It is based on the fact that people can be stimulated to greater creativity by meeting with others and participating in organized group experiences. The characteristics of this method are keeping criticism away; free wheeling of idea, high quantity of ideas, combinations and improvements of ideas. Such type of session should be fun with no scope for domination and inhibition. Brainstorming has a greater probability of success when the effort focuses on specific product or market area. 3. Problem inventory analysis? it is a method for obtaining new ideas and solutions by focusing on problems. This analysis uses individuals in a manner that is analogous to focus groups to generate new product areas. However, instead of generating new ideas, the consumers are provided with list of problems and then asked to have discussion over it and it ultimately results in an entirely new product idea. The entrepreneur is not limited by only the three methods presented in this article. There are other creative problem solving methods and techniques that are also available.
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Published on December 10, 2021 by Tegan George. Revised on December 7, 2022. A focus group is a research method that brings together a small group of people to answer questions in
a moderated setting. The group is chosen due to predefined demographic traits, and the questions are designed to shed light on a topic of interest. Focus groups are a type of qualitative research. Observations of the group’s dynamic, their answers to focus group questions, and even their body language can guide future research on consumer decisions, products and services, or
controversial topics. Focus groups are often used in marketing, library science, social science, and user research disciplines. They can provide more nuanced and natural feedback than individual interviews and are easier to organize than experiments or large-scale
surveys. Focus groups are primarily considered a confirmatory research technique. In other words, their discussion-heavy setting is most useful for confirming or refuting preexisting beliefs. For this reason, they are great for conducting
explanatory research, where you explore why something occurs when limited information is available. A focus group may be a good choice for you if: Make sure to choose the type of interview that suits your research best. This table shows the most important differences between the four types. As a rule of thumb, research topics related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus groups. If you are seeking direction, explanation, or in-depth dialogue, a focus group could be a good fit. However, if your questions are dichotomous or if you need to reach a large audience
quickly, a survey may be a better option. If your question hinges upon behavior but you are worried about influencing responses, consider an observational study. However, food is much more than just consumption and nourishment and can have emotional, cultural, and
other implications on individuals. Once you have determined that a focus group is the
right choice for your topic, you can start thinking about what you expect the group discussion to yield. Perhaps literature already exists on your subject or a sufficiently similar topic that you can use as a starting point. If the topic isn’t well studied, use your instincts to determine what you think is most worthy of study. Setting your scope will help you
formulate intriguing hypotheses, set clear questions, and recruit the right participants. A benefit of focus groups is that your hypotheses can be open-ended. You can be open to a wide variety of opinions, which can lead to unexpected conclusions. Scribbr editors not only correct grammar and
spelling mistakes, but also strengthen your writing by making sure your paper is free of vague language, redundant words and awkward phrasing.Step 1: Choose your topic of interest
Note:There are a few other types of interviews you can consider as
well. The
three most common options are: Differences between types of interviews
Structured interviewSemi-structured interviewUnstructured interviewFocus group Fixed questions
Fixed order of questions
Fixed number of questions
Option to ask additional questions
Topics favorable to focus groups
Step 2: Define your research scope and hypotheses
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Step 3: Determine your focus group questions
The questions that you ask your focus group are crucially important to your analysis. Take your time formulating them, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid leading questions, which can affect your responses.
Overall, your focus group questions should be:
- Open-ended and flexible
- Impossible to answer with “yes” or “no” (questions that start with “why” or “how” are often best)
- Unambiguous, getting straight to the point while still stimulating discussion
- Unbiased and neutral
If you are discussing a controversial topic, be careful that your questions do not cause social desirability bias. Here, your respondents may lie about their true beliefs to mask any socially unacceptable or unpopular opinions. This and other demand characteristics can hurt your analysis and lead to several types of reseach bias in your results, particularly if your participants react in a different way once knowing they’re being observed. These include self-selection bias, the Hawthorne effect, the Pygmalion effect, and recall bias.
Examples: Focus group questionsThere are a few types of questions you can use:- Engagement questions make your participants feel comfortable and at ease:
“What is your favorite food at the dining hall?” - Exploration questions drill down to the focus of your analysis:
“What pros and cons of offering vegan options do you see?” - Exit questions pick up on anything you may have previously missed in your discussion:
“Is there anything you’d like to mention about vegan options in the dining hall that we haven’t discussed?”
Step 4: Select a moderator or co-moderator
It is important to have more than one moderator in the room. If you would like to take the lead asking questions, select a co-moderator who can coordinate the technology, take notes, and observe the behavior of the participants.
If your hypotheses have behavioral aspects, consider asking someone else to be lead moderator so that you are free to take a more observational role.
Depending on your topic, there are a few types of moderator roles that you can choose from.
- The most common is the dual-moderator, introduced above.
- Another common option is the dueling-moderator style. Here, you and your co-moderator take opposing sides on an issue to allow participants to see different perspectives and respond accordingly.
Step 5: Recruit your participants
Depending on your research topic, there are a few sampling methods you can choose from to help you recruit and select participants.
- Voluntary response sampling, such as posting a flyer on campus and finding participants based on responses
- Convenience sampling of those who are most readily accessible to you, such as fellow students at your university
- Stratified sampling of a particular age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, or other characteristic of interest to you
- Judgment sampling of a specific set of participants that you already know you want to include
Beware of sampling bias and selection bias, which can occur when some members of the population are more likely to be included than others.
Number of participants
In most cases, one focus group will not be sufficient to answer your research question. It is likely that you will need to schedule three to four groups. A good rule of thumb is to stop when you’ve reached a saturation point (i.e., when you aren’t receiving new responses to your questions).
Most focus groups have 6–10 participants. It’s a good idea to over-recruit just in case someone doesn’t show up. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t have fewer than 6 or more than 12 participants, in order to get the most reliable results.
Lastly, it’s preferable for your participants not to know you or each other, as this can bias your results.
Step 6: Set up your focus group
A focus group is not just a group of people coming together to discuss their opinions. While well-run focus groups have an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere, they are backed up by rigorous methods to provide robust observations.
Confirm a time and date
Be sure to confirm a time and date with your participants well in advance. Focus groups usually meet for 45–90 minutes, but some can last longer. However, beware of the possibility of wandering attention spans. If you really think your session needs to last longer than 90 minutes, schedule a few breaks.
Confirm whether it will take place in person or online
You will also need to decide whether the group will meet in person or online. If you are hosting it in person, be sure to pick an appropriate location.
- An uncomfortable or awkward location may affect the mood or level of participation of your group members.
- Online sessions are convenient, as participants can join from home, but they can also lessen the connection between participants.
As a general rule, make sure you are in a noise-free environment that minimizes distractions and interruptions to your participants.
Consent and ethical considerations
It’s important to take into account ethical considerations and informed consent when conducting your research. Informed consent means that participants possess all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate in the research before it starts. This includes information about benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval.
Participants should also sign a release form that states that they are comfortable with being audio- or video-recorded. While verbal consent may be sufficient, it is best to ask participants to sign a form.
A disadvantage of focus groups is that they are too small to provide true anonymity to participants. Make sure that your participants know this prior to participating.
There are a few things you can do to commit to keeping information private. You can secure confidentiality by removing all identifying information from your report or offer to pseudonymize the data later. Data pseudonymization entails replacing any identifying information about participants with pseudonymous or false identifiers.
Preparation prior to participation
If there is something you would like participants to read, study, or prepare beforehand, be sure to let them know well in advance. It’s also a good idea to call them the day before to ensure they will still be participating.
Step 7: Host your focus group
Consider conducting a tech check prior to the arrival of your participants, and note any environmental or external factors that could affect the mood of the group that day. Be sure that you are organized and ready, as a stressful atmosphere can be distracting and counterproductive.
Starting the focus group
Welcome individuals to the focus group by introducing the topic, yourself, and your co-moderator, and go over any ground rules or suggestions for a successful discussion. It’s important to make your participants feel at ease and forthcoming with their responses.
Consider starting out with an icebreaker, which will allow participants to relax and settle into the space a bit. Your icebreaker can be related to your study topic or not; it’s just an exercise to get participants talking.
Leading the discussion
Once you start asking your questions, try to keep response times equal between participants. Take note of the most and least talkative members of the group, as well as any participants with particularly strong or dominant personalities.
You can ask less talkative members questions directly to encourage them to participate or ask participants questions by name to even the playing field. Feel free to ask participants to elaborate on their answers or to give an example.
As a moderator, strive to remain neutral. Refrain from reacting to responses, and be aware of your body language (e.g., nodding, raising eyebrows) and the possibility for observer bias. Active listening skills, such as parroting back answers or asking for clarification, are good methods to encourage participation and signal that you’re listening.
Many focus groups offer a monetary incentive for participants. Depending on your research budget, this is a nice way to show appreciation for their time and commitment. To keep everyone feeling fresh, consider offering snacks or drinks as well.
Step 8: Analyze your data and report your results
After concluding your focus group, you and your co-moderator should debrief, recording initial impressions of the discussion as well as any highlights, issues, or immediate conclusions you’ve drawn.
The next step is to transcribe and clean your data. Assign each participant a number or pseudonym for organizational purposes. Transcribe the recordings and conduct content analysis to look for themes or categories of responses. The categories you choose can then form the basis for reporting your results.
Advantages and disadvantages of focus groups
Just like other research methods, focus groups come with advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
- They are fairly straightforward to organize and results have strong face validity.
- They are usually inexpensive, even if you compensate participant.
- A focus group is much less time-consuming than a survey or experiment, and you get immediate results.
- Focus group results are often more comprehensible and intuitive than raw data.
Disadvantages
- It can be difficult to assemble a truly representative sample. Focus groups are generally not considered externally valid due to their small sample sizes.
- Due to the small sample size, you cannot ensure the anonymity of respondents, which may influence their desire to speak freely.
- Depth of analysis can be a concern, as it can be challenging to get honest opinions on controversial topics.
- There is a lot of room for error in the data analysis and high potential for observer dependency in drawing conclusions. You have to be careful not to cherry-pick responses to fit a prior conclusion.
Frequently asked questions about focus groups
How do you write focus group questions?
As a rule of thumb, questions related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus groups. Take your time formulating strong questions, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid leading questions, which can bias your responses.
Overall, your focus group questions should be:
- Open-ended and flexible
- Impossible to answer with “yes” or “no” (questions that start with “why” or “how” are often best)
- Unambiguous, getting straight to the point while still stimulating discussion
- Unbiased and neutral
How do you clean data?
Every dataset requires different techniques to clean dirty data, but you need to address these issues in a systematic way. You focus on finding and resolving data points that don’t agree or fit with the rest of your dataset.
These data might be missing values, outliers, duplicate values, incorrectly formatted, or irrelevant. You’ll start with screening and diagnosing your data. Then, you’ll often standardize and accept or remove data to make your dataset consistent and valid.
How do I determine scope of research?
Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process, prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.
Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation. A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods.
To define your scope of research, consider the following:
- Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
- Your proposed timeline and duration
- Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size, and the research methodology you’ll pursue
- Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Any anticipated control, extraneous, or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.
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George, T. (2022, December 07). What is a Focus Group | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from //www.scribbr.com/methodology/focus-group/
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