Traditional Focus Groups

Focus groups remain a tried and trusted tool of qualitative marketing research and offer a powerful “feedback loop” for bringing providers of products and services closer to their customers/target markets.

Led by a trained moderator, a traditional focus group is a structured discussion session lasting about 1 ½ - 2 hours and is generally comprised of eight to ten individuals who share a common characteristic or behavioral pattern (e.g., all use a certain brand of hairspray; subscribe to the same magazine; are recent home buyers, etc.)

The moderator, anchored by a discussion guide with a set of specific questions/issues, stimulates a lively group discussion in which respondents can share experiences, comfortably make positive and negative comments, and interact to create new ideas and insights about the topic(s) at hand.

Individual In-depth Interviews (IDIs)

Individual in-depth interviews (IDIs), like focus groups, are a qualitative marketing research methodology but provide an alternative when logistical factors make focus grouping impractical.

IDIs allow for confidentiality when exploring sensitive subjects, and provide a solution when respondents are too geographically far flung or otherwise unable to participate in a group setting.

In-depth interviews also enable the research to probe more into certain marketing questions or issues with an individual without potentially distracting group influences.

Other Qualitative Methods

Other qualitative methods that can be tailored to meet your specific strategic or tactical information needs include: