DOCSLIB.ORG

The Birth of the Focus Group Radio Research and the ‘Focused Interview’

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Birth of the Focus Group Radio Research and the ‘Focused Interview’ For marketing research and insights professionals THE BIRTH OF THE FOCUS GROUP RADIO RESEARCH AND THE ‘FOCUSED INTERVIEW’ PLUS Using improv to spice up your qual How to win with creative research design Fix that troublesome segmentation 2018 Focus Group Moderator Directory ADVERTISING SECTION Quirk’s Marketing Research Review May 2018 13 Top Full-Service Research Volume XXXII Number 5 Companies www.quirks.com WHAT SETS US APART? An unparalleled understanding of quality drivers World-class experts in panel, sample, and recruitment A collaborative and consultative approach Global and hybrid solutions at our fingertips Discover the full value of our quantitative advantage at SchlesingerGroup.com. Quirk’s Marketing Research Review CONTENTS May 2018 • Vol. XXXIII No. 5 DEPARTMENTS 6 Click With Quirk's 8 In Case You Missed It... page 11 Ask the Expert For marketing research and insights professionals 24 12 Survey Monitor 16 Product and Service Update page 28 42 13 Top Full-Service THE BIRTH OF Research Companies THE FOCUS GROUP 48 Names of Note RADIO RESEARCH AND THE ‘FOCUSED INTERVIEW’ page 50 Research Industry News PLUS Using improv to spice up your qual 34 How to win with creative research design 54 Calendar of Events Fix that troublesome segmentation page 55 2018 Focus Group 2018 Focus Group Moderator Directory 18 Moderator Directory 73 Index of Advertisers page 74 Before You Go… 55 Quirk's Marketing Research Review 4662 Slater Road | Eagan, MN 55122 page 651-379-6200 | www.quirks.com Quirk’s Marketing Research Review ADVERTISING SECTION 42 Publisher • Steve Quirk May 2018 13 Top Full-Service Research Volume XXXII Number 5 [email protected] | x202 Companies www.quirks.com Editor • Joseph Rydholm [email protected] | x204 Digital Content Editor • Emily Koenig ON THE COVER [email protected] | x210 24 The birth of the focus group News Editor • Sara Cady [email protected] | x212 Lazarsfeld, Merton and Audience Development • Ralene Miller the Nazis [email protected] | x201 By Liza Featherstone Production Manager • James Quirk [email protected] | x206 Directory Sales • Ilana Benusa [email protected] | x213 TECHNIQUES COLUMNS V.P. Sales • Evan Tweed [email protected] | x205 10 Trade Talk 28 ‘Yes, and...’ Sales • Lance Streff Building synergy in focus groups Book reviews: Boost your critical [email protected] | x211 with applied improvisation thinking and trend-spotting European Sales • Stewart Tippler By Michelle Lenzen By Joseph Rydholm [email protected] | +44(0)7989-422937 34 Let the research defi ne the 18 Data Use method Retrofi tting your segmentation- ••• moving? make sure How to win with creative research typing tool Quirk’s comes with you! By Mark Travers Send change of address information designs to [email protected] By Julia Eisenberg 20 Qualitatively Speaking One moderator’s confession: What I Download the Quirk’s iPad, iPhone 38 A rewarding experience or Android app to view this issue. The building blocks of a successful get out of every project By Paul Tuchman panel loyalty program An interactive downloadable PDF of By Kathryn Felke this magazine is available at www. quirks.com/pdf/201805_quirks.pdf. Follow us on Twitter @QuirksMR. 4 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // May 2018 www.quirks.com ••• online, e-newsletter CLICK WITH and blog highlights // Noted Posts ••• online tools/social media QuirksBlog.com Subscribe to SURVEY Magazine Best in show at the 2018 Quirk’s Events n 2017, Quirk’s Media took over https://goo.gl/wRBHqw Ithe assets of SURVEY Magazine and in April 2018 we launched the fi rst Ads, marketing and the issue as the new sponsored content Millennial dad companion of Quirk’s. Whether you are interested in reading the latest https://goo.gl/VngJRh industry white papers or checking My husband’s leery of phone out a case study, it is our hope that surveys the professionally edited sponsored https://goo.gl/AKMb5A content published in SURVEY Magazine will become your go-to resource. We invite you to check out our fi rst issue at www.surveymagazine. org. If you like what you see, click ResearchIndustryVoices.com the subscribe button in the top right- hand corner. Social media, Millennials drive We will also be sharing content growth of K-beauty in U.S. and connecting with subscribers https://goo.gl/BvqXnS on Twitter @SurveyMagazine, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/ 7 tips for avoiding survey groups/2210412 and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SurveyMagazine. fatigue https://goo.gl/JqUaXH A future where cost is not a barrier to MR https://goo.gl/Yzkmun // E-newsworthy ResearchCareersBlog.com What B2B marketers need What your team needs to know from MR in 2018 about cybersecurity quirks.com/articles/2018/20180326-1.aspx https://goo.gl/6B9bcn Tips for leveraging video Getting the most out of feedback conferences you can’t attend quirks.com/articles/2018/20180325-2.aspx https://goo.gl/VBjLeQ View from the sidelines: Unemployed Quirk’s readers 8 approaches to onboarding share struggles new employees quirks.com/articles/2018/20180326-3.aspx https://goo.gl/UdL2zf 6 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // May 2018 www.quirks.com The only platformtool you’ll ever need! Toluna helps companies to speed We are laser focused on streamlining time to insight and transform the the research process and offer a full Schedule a demo with our way they do business. We are suite of digital research tools - use team today to learn more powered by the perfect fusion our DIY interface, have our team do of expertise, technology and it for you, or opt for a combination community – which we use to of the two. connect businesses and consumers to deliver insights ‘on-demand’ to companies of all sizes. E : [email protected] | T : +1 203 834 8585 | W : corporate.toluna.com In Case You Missed It news and notes on marketing and research ••• gaming research Roblox gaining on Minecraft inecraft is the juggernaut of kid gaming, backed by Microsoft and boasting Mnearly 144 million lifetime sales. A study by research fi rm Interpret confi rms that while Minecraft is still the most-played game among kids in the ••• social media U.S., currently being played by over a quarter of gamers age 6-12, the title seems to have lost some steam. Taking a break GameByte – an annual study of kids’ gaming habits and preferences from the ‘Gram? – has tracked Minecraft n a December 2017 survey by ad playership since 2012 Iagency Hill Holliday, conducted by and the results of its in-house research division Origin, this year’s study more than half of young adults ages show the fi rst 18 to 24 said they’re “seeking relief drops in active from social media.” playership ever. Some have deleted their social Minecraft’s accounts entirely – 34 percent of share of young adults surveyed said they’d all gaming done so – and roughly two-thirds time by kids said they’d taken a break from social age 6-12 has platforms. dropped 5 The reasons vary but for many, percent since it’s worries about wasting time, last year, while others think there’s a lot although it still of negativity on social platforms. commands a hefty Disinterest in content and platform 13 percent of total commercialization were also cited as game time. motivations for quitting social media. One possible Facebook, for example, checks explanation for the dip is many boxes named by young the recent rise of Roblox, a mod- adults as reasons to take a social friendly title that borrows Minecraft’s ethos sabbatical. Many users said they of building and playing anything. Roblox still lags behind Minecraft (the study were dissatisfied with the social ranks it as the No. 2 kids game in the U.S. by active playership) but its gains over media giant because of negative the past 12 months are signifi cant. Since last year’s study, Roblox’s active kid interactions with other users, playership has more than doubled on both PC and console. irrelevant content due to News One thing that Minecraft and Roblox share is their ability to monopolize play Feed updates and a sense that time. Over one-third of Roblox and the platform is inundated with Minecraft players report playing other promotional ad space. And it wasn’t games less because of these titles. This just Facebook. Young adults were “one-game” phenomenon aff ects toys more likely to take a break from or as well, causing a similar proportion delete their Instagram, Snapchat or of Roblox and Minecraft to play less Twitter accounts than their Tinder, www.quirks.com/articles/2018/20180501.aspx with physical toys. Pinterest or LinkedIn ones. 8 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // May 2018 www.quirks.com Leading International Trade Show for Market 24-25 October 2018 Research MOC Convention Center Munich · Germany 3,300 Participants 180 Exhibitors 105 Workshops Make Your Reservation Now! Contact: Ms Alexandra Frank [email protected] or visit www.research-results.com/rr18.html Trade Talk By Joseph Rydholm, Quirk’s Editor Book reviews: Boost your critical thinking and trend-spotting ggregating and analyzing absorb. In fact, if your team has some Ainformation are two skills newer members who you’d like to that are often cited as essential for work with on developing their critical researchers who want to graduate thinking, there are exercises in the www.clarepix.com Pix Photography ©Clare Joe Rydholm can be reached from (or rise above) the order-taker book that could be quite helpful for at [email protected] role that insights professionals are launching discussions. often relegated to. Some people are Now, the world of naturally gifted critical thinkers marketing research is future but insights pros (and, if you’re a researcher, it’s pretty certainly no bastion of are often seen as the hard to advance without some skill logical, non-emotional oracles of consumer in that area) but for those who need decision-making, not behavior within their to rethink their when executives insist organizations, thanks thinking or want on acting on gut feel to their close proximity a crash course in rather than on what the to customers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Conversations with Web Site Users: Using Focus Groups to Open Discussion and Improve User
    Conversations with Web Site Users: Using Focus Groups to Open Discussion and Improve User Experience Suzanna Conrad, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, [email protected] Nathasha Alvarez, East Los Angeles College, [email protected] 1 Abstract: User feedback on Web site design can be vital to understanding what issues library users may encounter when visiting a Web site. But obtaining this feedback can be time consuming, difficult to structure, and expensive. In past years, staff working on the Cal Poly Pomona University Library Web site collected user feedback from surveys and usability testing. This team was interested in acquiring a more basic understanding of how users interact with the web in general, whether for research or other purposes, and how such experiences could inform design decisions. This article will discuss what focus groups are, why libraries should consider conducting focus groups for Web site testing and development, how focus groups can complement usability testing, and if focus groups are worth the time and effort. Results from focus group sessions will also be shared and discussed including information that fueled design decisions and benefits that participants gained from the experience. Keywords: focus groups, user-centric Web site design, academic libraries Acknowledgments: Thank you to the Cal Poly Pomona Teacher-Scholar Support program for providing assigned time to support this project. Thank you to the Library Web Team Alfredo Lafarga, Cecilia Huang, James Koga, Julie Shen, and Paul Hottinger, for support before, during, and after focus group sessions. Thank you to student assistants Sabrina Bommarito for assisting with a mock test session and to Natasha Tambaoan for sitting in on focus group sessions.
    [Show full text]
  • Netnography: the Marketer's Secret Weapon
    Netnography: The Marketer’s Secret Weapon How Social Media Understanding Drives Innovation By Robert V. Kozinets, BBA, MBA. Ph.D. MARCH 201 0 Executive Summary Marketers in today’s competitive world need an edge. This paper offers two of them. First, it tells marketers to consider social media not just as a marketing tool, but as a way to continuously build high-level consumer insight. Second, it offers a rigorous method based in anthropology for building social media data into applied cultural insights. That method is called netnography. In netnography, online interactions are valued as a cultural reflection that yields deep human understanding. Like in person ethnography, netnography is naturalistic, immersive, descriptive, multi-method, adaptable, and focused on context. Used to inform consumer insight, netnography is less intrusive than ethnography or focus groups, and more naturalistic than surveys, quantitative models, and focus groups. Netnography fits well in the front-end stages of innovation, and in the discovery phases of marketing and brand management. Netnography follows six overlapping steps: 1. Research planning 2. Entrée 3. Data collection 4. Interpretation 5. Ensuring ethical standards 6. Research representation A short illustration of a computationally assisted netnographic approach to a brand study of Listerine is provided. It demonstrates how insights can be used to inform marketing activities including brand perceptions, brand positioning and repositioning, segmentation studies, new product development and innovation, trend identification, new service models for co-creation of value, social media usage and opportunities for marketing campaign activation. By leveraging the power of netnography, marketers can make better business decisions, giving companies a unique competitive advantage.
    [Show full text]
  • Focus Groups in HCI: Wealth of Information Or Waste of Resources?
    Focus Groups in HCI: Wealth of Information or Waste of Resources? Stephanie Rosenbaum (Organizer) Gilbert Cockton Kara Coyne Tec-Ed, Inc. University of Sunderland Nielsen Norman Group +1 734 995 1010 +44 191 515 3394 +1 646 613 1122 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Michael Muller Thyra Rauch Lotus Research IBM +1 617 693 4235 +1 919 224 1861 [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT SUMMARY OF EACH PANELIST’S POSITION Many HCI professionals frown on focus groups, while Stephanie Rosenbaum some believe focus group methodology can be successfully Focus groups can be an effective tool for collecting applied to collect usability data. This panel features usability data, if we apply a methodology and guidelines interaction among HCI professionals with very different designed for usability focus groups rather than marketing experiences and opinions. ones. Our primary distinction is that usability focus groups are task-based, so that we can observe the participants’ Keywords actual behavior with products. After an initial group Focus groups, methodology, participatory design, discussion, we typically “break out” into smaller clusters of ethnography, market research, usability two or three people who explore a product in a co- OVERVIEW OF PANEL TOPIC AND FORMAT discovery manner (each cluster with a facilitator), then we Focus groups, with their roots in market research, are also reconvene the full focus group for discussion of the being used in human factors and HCI programs. But this participants’ experiences. Usability focus groups are use is highly controversial; some HCI professionals especially valuable when an organization needs to increase discourage dependence on focus group data for design limited knowledge of its target audiences.
    [Show full text]
  • Precincts and Prospects in the Use of Focus Groups in Social and Behavioral Science Research
    The Qualitative Report 2012 Volume 17, Article 29, 1-16 http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR17/sagoe.pdf Precincts and Prospects in the Use of Focus Groups in Social and Behavioral Science Research Dominic Sagoe Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway Over the past few years, the focus group method has assumed a very important role as a method for collecting qualitative data in social and behavioural science research. This article elucidates theoretical and practical problems and prospects associated with the use of focus groups as a qualitative research method in social and behavioural science research. The core uses of focus groups in social and behavioural science research are discussed. In addition, the strengths and limitations of employing focus groups in social and behavioural science research are elucidated. Furthermore, the article discusses practical recommendations for strengthening the focus group method in social and behavioural science research. Key Words: Focus Groups, Qualitative Research, Social Science, Behavioural Science. In recent years, the importance of qualitative approaches in understanding social realities has been increasingly recognized by social and behavioural scientists. Many researchers have begun questioning the adequacy of an exclusively quantitative approach in social and behavioural research. Among the various qualitative methods, focus group methodology has become very popular and is being extensively used. Powell and Single (1996) define a focus group as a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research. Fern (1982) also defines focus groups as small group discussions, addressing a specific topic, which usually involves six to 12 participants, either matched or varied on specific characteristics of interest to the researcher.
    [Show full text]
  • Importance of Focus Groups in Qualitative Research Manju Gundumogula
    Importance of Focus Groups in Qualitative Research Manju Gundumogula To cite this version: Manju Gundumogula. Importance of Focus Groups in Qualitative Research. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS), Center for Promoting Ideas (CPI), USA, 2020, 8 (11), pp.299-302. 10.24940/theijhss/2020/v8/i11/HS2011-082. hal-03126126 HAL Id: hal-03126126 https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-03126126 Submitted on 30 Jan 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Copyright THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL STUDIES ISSN 2321 - 9203 www.theijhss.com THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL STUDIES Importance of Focus Groups in Qualitative Research Manju Gundumogula Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Sociology, SLTC Doctoral School, Lorraine University, Nancy, France Abstract: The use of focus group discussions in qualitative research has been increasing for the last decades, both in academics and applied research areas, mostly in social sciences, health, management and education. The focus group approach is a qualitative method to collect the data on the selected topic with a structured and focused discussion in a small group of people. Focus groups are especially useful as a complement to other methods of data collection for providing in-depth information in a relatively short period of time.
    [Show full text]
  • Qualitative Research and Consumer Policy: Focus Group Discussions As a Form of Consumer Participation
    The Qualitative Report Volume 13 Number 2 June 2008 152-172 http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR13-2/heiskanen.pdf Qualitative Research and Consumer Policy: Focus Group Discussions as a Form of Consumer Participation Eva Heiskanen, Katja Järvelä, Annukka Pulliainen, Mika Saastamoinen, and Päivi Timonen National Consumer Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland This paper describes our ongoing attempts to involve consumers in innovation and technology policy by means of a national Consumer Panel, using focus group discussions as the primary method of consumer participation. We evaluate our experiences of the usefulness of focus group discussions in this context by considering two examples of studies focused on product safety. We evaluate the usefulness of this method in promoting consumer empowerment, deliberation, and multivocality in the assessment of new technologies and innovations. We also raised some critical questions that require further analysis and discussion. Key Words: Focus Group Discussions, Consumer Participation, Empowerment, and Multivocality Modern Western societies are increasingly defined by consumption. Over the past decade, growth in the EU and North America has been driven largely by consumer demand. The consumer is at the heart of political thinking in the EU, and policy makers assert that consumer participation enhances the economy. This argument is supported by marketing and business gurus, who argue that modern demanding consumers force markets to become more competitive (Inglehart, 1997; Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Porter, 1990). Moreover, consumers have been recognized as a source of many economically and socially significant innovations (Leadbeater & Miller, 2004). Within consumer research, as well, interest has grown in the role of consumers as initiators, drivers, and shapers of innovation (Firat & Dholakia, 1998; Wikström, 1996).
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Sharing in Consumer Communities
    A Study of Sharing in Consumer Communities Abstract: In this paper we study sharing behavior in consumer communities. Using Netnographic approach, deep interviews and focus group we propose a causal model of sharing behavior and we suggest it is constituted of three types of sharing: (1) motivated sharing, (2) spurious sharing, and (3) inadvertent sharing. In addition, motivated sharing is impacted negatively by perceptions of costs, and positively by: identification with members, user’s sense of personal responsibility, user’s overall engagement in the community, consumer’s sense of reciprocity, consumer’s belief in the organizational principles, and beliefs that one is going to gain personally from sharing. Keywords: Consumer Networks, Sharing Behavior, Consumer Communities, Consumer Behavior Track indication: New Technologies and e-Marketing 1 A Study of Sharing in Consumer Communities Introduction Over the last decade or so, consumer communities have been in ascendance (e.g., Kozinets, 2002; Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). These communities take many forms. Some consumer communities, such as those found on the eBay web site, have primarily commercial purposes of buying and selling gainfully. Others, such as Gnutella and BitTorrent, are peer-to- peer (P2P) networks of consumers who share digital information like music or video files, software programs, videogames, images, documents etc., with one another. Still other consumer communities are found in the chat rooms and user groups that congregate to discuss experiences, and share knowledge regarding a particular product or service. For example, in the MUSE chat- room devoted to the Apache server software (http://ws.apache.org/muse/contact_info), experienced developers help novices with specific software installation and usage issues.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups SOCIAL PROGRAMS SCIENCE TOOLS for COASTAL Social Science Tools for Coastal Programs Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups
    Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups SOCIAL PROGRAMS SCIENCE TOOLS FOR COASTAL Social Science Tools for Coastal Programs Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups About This Publication Some of the most challenging decisions in coastal management stem from the relationship between people and the environment. NOAA provides technical assistance to coastal management professionals addressing complex human- based problems. This publication, “Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups,” is the fifth in a series of guides developed to bring information to this audience about the use of social science tools in their field of work. For more information, or to obtain additional copies, contact our office [email protected]. NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management “Coastal management” is the term used by communities and organizations striving to keep the nation’s coasts safe from storms, rich in natural resources, and economically strong. The national lead for these efforts is NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, an organization devoted to partnerships, science, and good policy. This agency, housed within the National Ocean Service, oversees major initiatives that include the National Coastal Zone Management Program, Coral Reef Conservation Program, Digital Coast, and National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Table of Contents Focus Groups: An Introduction ......................................................................................1 Focus Groups and Surveys: A Mixed Methods Approach ...........................................2 Focus
    [Show full text]
  • Using Focus Groups and Correspondence Analysis to Explore the Relationship Between Millennials’ Online Behavior and Their Opinions of Online Reviews
    Using Focus Groups and Correspondence Analysis to Explore the Relationship Between Millennials’ Online Behavior and Their Opinions of Online Reviews James E. Stoddard, [email protected] Michael J. Dotson, [email protected] Neel Das, [email protected] Introduction Consumer decision-making regarding a purchase is usually influenced by feedback received from other people in addition to prior experiences/beliefs/attitudes and marketer dominated information. Such diverse sources of influence are collectively referred to as the influence mix (Simonson and Rosen 2014). Of the different sources in the influence mix, word-of-mouth (i.e., feedback received from other people) is one of the most impactful sources of information (Duan, Gu, and Whinston 2008). With the advent of e-tailers on the Internet, the influence of word- of-mouth communication has grown significantly in the form of online consumer reviews (Schindler ad Bickart 2012). Research has shown that online reviews significantly influence consumer purchase decisions (see, for example, Chevalier and Mayzlin 2006; Senecal and Nantel 2004). Further, according to Zhu and Zhan (2010), 24% of Internet consumers avail themselves of online reviews before buying an offering offline; additionally, the authors note that an increasing number of firms persuade consumers to spread word of their offerings online. At the same time however, companies have also been noted to harass consumers when negative reviews have been posted online. Kleargear.com, for instance, charged an individual $3,500 for writing a negative review (http://disinfo.com/2013/11/kleargear-com-bills-woman-3500-writing-negative- review/). In another case, when a Virginia resident gave a negative review for a dog obedience school, the resident had a defamation lawsuit filed against her to the tune of $65,000 for providing the negative review (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/03/27/dog-trainer-says-bad-customer-sues-for- 65k-over-reviews/).
    [Show full text]
  • A Feasibility Study of an Innovative Focus Group Methodology
    The Qualitative Report Volume 23 Number 1 How To Article 7 1-6-2018 Friends or Strangers? A Feasibility Study of an Innovative Focus Group Methodology Chandria D. Jones Westat, [email protected] Jocelyn Newsome Westat, [email protected] Kerry Levin Westat, [email protected] Amanda Wilmot Westat, [email protected] Jennifer Anderson McNulty Westat, [email protected] See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr Part of the Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons This How To Article has supplementary content. View the full record on NSUWorks here: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss1/7 Recommended APA Citation Jones, C. D., Newsome, J., Levin, K., Wilmot, A., McNulty, J. A., & Kline, T. (2018). Friends or Strangers? A Feasibility Study of an Innovative Focus Group Methodology. The Qualitative Report, 23(1), 98-112. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.2940 This How To Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Qualitative Report at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Qualitative Report by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Friends or Strangers? A Feasibility Study of an Innovative Focus Group Methodology Abstract Focus groups are useful tools for examining perceptions, feelings, and suggestions about topics, products, or issues. Typically, focus groups are held in formal facilities with “strangers” or participants who do not know each other. Recent work suggests that “friendship groups” may provide an innovative alternative for collecting group-level qualitative data.
    [Show full text]
  • “Planning and Conducting Focus Group Discussions in Marketing Research”
    “Planning and conducting focus group discussions in marketing research” AUTHORS Linas Turauskas Živile Vaitkūnienė Linas Turauskas and Živile Vaitkūnienė (2004). Planning and conducting focus ARTICLE INFO group discussions in marketing research. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 2(2) RELEASED ON Thursday, 02 September 2004 JOURNAL "Problems and Perspectives in Management" FOUNDER LLC “Consulting Publishing Company “Business Perspectives” NUMBER OF REFERENCES NUMBER OF FIGURES NUMBER OF TABLES 0 0 0 © The author(s) 2021. This publication is an open access article. businessperspectives.org 304 Problems and Perspectives in Management, 2/2004 Planning and conducting focus group discussions in marketing research Linas Turauskas1, Živile Vaitknjnienơ2 Abstract This paper presents the investigation of focus group method, its advantages and applica- tion in various kinds of marketing research enabling to collect rich empirical data covering verbal and nonverbal information. The moderator conducts focus group discussions in a relaxed and in- formal manner with a small group of 6 to 12 respondents. The moderator leads and develops the discussion. The respondents in the focus groups can portray their feelings and behavior – using their language and logic. The value of the technique lies in the unexpected findings that emerge when respondents are allowed to say what they really feel. The theoretical investigation is backed up with an empirical example of marketing research, conducted by means of focus group method. Key words: qualitative research, focus groups, cyclic model, moderator, moderation. 1. Introduction Lithuania is currently involved in the process of completing transformation of its econ- omy into a competitive market economy, just like a few other Central and Eastern European coun- tries are.
    [Show full text]
  • Doing Social Research on Online Communities: the Benefits of Netnography
    Athens Journal of Social Sciences- Volume 7, Issue 1 – Pages 9-38 Doing Social Research on Online Communities: The Benefits of Netnography By Felice Addeo, Angela Delli Paoli†, Maria Esposito ‡ & Maria Ylenia Bolcato§ In social science research, Netnography has become a widely accepted research method. It has been used to tackle a wide variety of topics from culture to identity, social relationships and civic empowerment. Netnography can be broadly defined as a qualitative research approach that adapts the traditional ethnographic techniques to the study of the "net", which is the online communities, practices and cultures formed through computer-mediated communications. Both Ethnography and Netnography are naturalistic and unobtrusive approaches, interested in studying social practices in their everyday context (Kozinets 2010). They are both multi-method, methodologically flexible and adaptive, not confining themselves to following specific procedures, but rather remaining open to issues arising from the field (Varis 2016). However, Netnography differs from Ethnography under some crucial points. Entering the online culture diverges from face-to-face entrée in terms of accessibility and research design. From a data collection perspective, Netnography is far less time consuming; however, it requires a new set of skills due to the specificities of computer-mediated communication and its dramatically increased field site accessibility, which requires choices about field sites and decisions about types of data to gather and analyse. Moreover, it is far less intrusive than traditional Ethnography as it allows for researcher invisibility: the cyberspace makes it possible for researchers to be unseen from people observed. This allows documenting the explicit language of informants without the risk of obtrusiveness and disturbance.
    [Show full text]