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Résumé du document

Browsing through relevant literature, one can find several definitions of focus groups. One of the most apposite verbalizations is the description of a focus group "as a structured grouping process conducted for the purpose of exploring people's thoughts and feelings, and obtaining detailed information about a particular topic, issue or product." (Sherraden, 1995, p. 62) A focus group therefore is a carefully planned discussion form designed to obtain perceptions in a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment (Kreuger, 1988). We can thus say that a focus group discussion is an exploratory research tool whose purpose is to get to know the different thoughts, desires, propositions and feelings of various costumers towards a certain product or service. Focus groups are used by a client (e.g. a manufacturer) to get information about customers such as, how they act in the buying process, what is important for them and with which existing circumstances in this buying process they are satisfied or dissatisfied. Focus group interviewing thus aims at getting a deeper view of customers' thoughts and behavior, which wouldn't be possible with quantitative research methods.

Extraits

[...] Groups usually consist of eight to twelve people. If they are smaller than eight they are likely to miss a good dynamic .The group should follow some criteria in terms of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. A homogeneous group avoids conflicts and interactions between the members, even on side issues. A very big mistake would be having a married couple or close friends within one group. Similar thoughts or ideas can lead to less comments and therefore to a conversation with less quality and efficient results. [...]

[...] Because the participants' feelings are similar to those of other group members, they feel comfortable and are therefore willing to express their ideas and feelings. As already stated above, participants are not required to answer specific questions, their responses can be spontaneous and unconventional and should therefore provide an accurate idea of their views, which means that ideas are more likely to arise out of the blue in a group than in an individual interview. Therefore it is possible to receive valuable information in a very short period. [...]

[...] Focus Groups are difficult to moderate. (Malhotra, 1993) The Moderator requires special skills - stimulating and managing a guided group discussion is not as easy as it sounds, and the skill of the moderator can have a tremendous impact on the "success" of the group, i.e., whether discussion flows freely (Sherraden, 2001). Moderators with all the desirable skills are rare. The quality of the results depends heavily on the skills of the moderator and last there's the big danger of considering the results as representative. [...]

[...] In general, unstructured and open-ended questions suit best since they allow them to answer from different dimensions . “Why-questions” tend to be avoided in Focus Group as they force participants to provide quick answers that seem rational or appropriate to the situation” (Kreuger p.62), and should rather be changed into “how-questions”. In any cases, questions should be as neutral as possible, clearly worded, unbiased, non-threatening and able to stimulate the discussion. Leading questions should be avoided as well as putting the answer into the responders' mouth. [...]

[...] (Keeper, 1994) Another use of Focus Groups is testing. Through this way external persons express their opinion about new creations like marketing promotions or new concepts and provide a feedback which consists of different views. Although this feedback is not representative it offers the chance for marketing experts to get a feeling about possible reactions which could occur at the market. (Keeper, 1994) Further, Focus Groups are not only able to prepare information about innovations they can also help to improve existing marketing objects through figuring out customer's problems, or their way of thinking. [...]