Methods
Focus Group
Facts:
- Also called: Group Interview, Focus Group Interview
- Lifecycle stages: Planning, Feasibility, Requirements, Design
A focus group is a focused discussion where a moderator leads a group of participants through a set of questions on a particular topic. Focus groups are often used in the early stages of product planning and requirements gathering to obtain feedback about users, products, concepts, prototypes, tasks, strategies, and environments. Focus groups can also be used to obtain consensus about specific issues.
A focus group is a focused discussion where a moderator leads a group of participants, usually ranging from 5 to 12 people, through a set of questions on a particular topic. Focus groups are often used in the early stages of product planning and requirements gathering to obtain feedback about users, products, concepts, prototypes, general tasks, strategies, and environments. Focus groups can also be used to obtain consensus about specific issues. A focus group is generally not considered a usability evaluation method.
Focus group moderators generally follow a discussion plan that has the questions, prompts, tasks, and exercises for the group. The success of a focus group is heavily dependent on the skill of the moderator. The moderator must generate interest in the topic, involve all the participants, keep the discussion on track (but also allow for unexpected diversions), keep dominant personalities from overwhelming other participants, and not give away the sponsor’s beliefs or expectations.Read More About It
Originators/Popularizers
Focus group interviews had their origins in the work of social scientists in the 1930s and 1940s. Robert Merton, a prominent social scientist, used group interviewing to evaluate audience reactions to radio programs and to analyze World War II training and morale films. The term "focus group" is thought to have been coined by Merton in 1956 (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994, p. 365).
Authoritative References
Denzin, N.K., & Lincoln, Y.S. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. London: Sage.
Greenbaum, T. (1993). The handbook for focus group research (Revised edition). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Krueger, R. A. & Mary Anne Casey (2000). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Kuniavsky, M. (2003). Observing the user experience. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Morgan, D. L. (XXXX). The focus group guidebook. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Morgan, D. L. (XXXX). Planning focus groups. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Related Subjects
- Online focus groups: Online focus groups use chat or similar software as the basis for focus groups with geographically distributed participants.
- Pluralistic walkthrough: A usability inspection method where users and other stakeholders review a prototype by walking through a set of tasks to identify usability problems.
- Usability roundtables: Users are brought into a neutral site where they work with a prototype or working product and provide the product team with feedback. Users in the roundtable are asked to bring work with them if possible so they are working on realistic tasks during the roundtable.