Don’t waste your time on qualitative research that falls wide of the mark without obtaining focus group questions education and training tools. Focus groups bring together two constituencies on either side of the glass that need to hear and be heard. Make sure you hone in on the right focus group questions for business to exhaustively explore the topic under study.

All the painstaking recruiting, meticulous management of surroundings and mountains of free sandwiches will count for naught if you haven’t developed the right questions for focus groups. Get started in the right direction by covering the basics for marketing focus group questions.

1. Learn how to choose focus group questions by category to build a solid discussion outline.

2. Understand how to get participants to open up.

3. Allow for flexibility to change the flow of the discussion when developing focus group questions.

Action Steps
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Simplify your focus group questions list

Whether you're attempting to talk to customers about developing a new product or asking general consumers some advertising focus group questions, keep your discussion outline short. Some experts recommend as few as six broad topic questions to allow the maximum amount of time to spend exploring each question.

I recommend: Free Management Library hosts articles on focus group basics, including question design. United Nations University has an online focus group training manual, including a section on developing the question line–the moderator’s guide.

Work with participants to gather the most from focus group questions information

Sometimes the group dynamic calls for an apparent paradox of more assertive moderation, especially when eliciting conversation from a reluctant wallflower. Include some special probing queries in your focus group questions lists to bring out the best in an unwilling participant.

I recommend: George Silverman has a series of “non-directive probes” to use in getting people to open up. Download a complete manual published by Sage Publications from the University of Melbourne on how to use activity-based questions either for sensitive topics or participants less willing to open up.

Develop your own toolkit of focus group questions from masters of the craft

Whether you work in marketing communications or new product development, conduct more effective qualitative research for your business either by building a resource library or by taking comprehensive training on focus group question design.

I recommend: SAGE Publications has issued a focus group kit that includes sample focus group questions. RIVA Training Institute offers a comprehensive training program for qualitative research, including a seminar on the “Qualitative Toolbox” to train you in how to phrase questions the right way.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Even if you don't moderate the focus groups yourself, understand the process of designing focus group questions to successfully partner with the focus group questions provider as you design the study that fully answers your research questions, rather than handing the project over to the provider and blindly trusting they will understand your business well enough to interpret your needs and design the right guide for the project.

Developing focus group questions for business or marketing purposes can be easy if you keep your desired results in mind. The type of focus group you're going to have influences how you'll ask your questions.

Regardless of your focus group type, frame your focus group questions lists to keep respondents from giving you the answers they think you want to hear. Focus group participants are media savvy and likely have a good idea of what you're trying to accomplish. Consciously or otherwise, participants might be compelled to give what they think are the "right" answers, compromising the integrity of your focus group.

Have a clear idea of what you want to learn from your focus group before you begin to craft your questions. To get the most out of your focus group, determine which kind of information you're trying to gather:

1. Will yours be an advertising focus group to evaluate a specific ad or ad campaign?

2. Will you conduct a more general marketing campaign to sample thoughts about your products?

3. Do you have a business, industry, litigation or other type of focus group in mind?

Action Steps
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Craft direct questions for advertising focus groups

When asking respondents to evaluate ad campaigns, you must design specific questions for focus groups that address the advertisements you're vetting. Advertising focus group questions should have a narrow focus in order to get the information you're looking for.

I recommend: Authenticity Consulting's free database of management articles offers tips for conducting an effective focus group. Planning and Evaluation Service has information about designing questions to get honest and easy-to-understand answers from your focus group.

Come up with enlightening marketing focus group questions

Questions for marketing focus groups can help you judge the public's overall feeling for your product or service. These focus groups aren't limited to a specific ad campaign, although you can use the results to determine a path for future advertisements.

I recommend: At the Microsoft Small Business Center, you can learn about the dos and don'ts of conducting a marketing focus group. Precision Intermedia's focus group FAQ gives useful information about when and how to conduct focus groups.

Develop questions that shed light on the issues in other types of focus groups

Other types of focus groups can include litigation focus groups, which attempt to assess how a jury will decide a trial. Business and industry focus groups can tackle specific programs and services.

I recommend: Richard A. Krueger, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, offers a comprehensive guide to writing and evaluating a focus group questions list. Usability.gov has information on focus group questions that helps you evaluate website usability.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  You can find a multitude of experienced firms that will consult with you to create an effective focus group questions directory, or even run the focus group for you. The American Marketing Association or other industry groups can recommend a qualified research company.

Focus groups are a commonly used tool for eliciting consumer response to products and services or gathering other qualitative, or personal and subjective, data. Designing the right focus group questions is key to the effectiveness of this form of information gathering. Your results will be only as effective as your questions. Focus groups can be an expensive and time-consuming effort, so become familiar with these focus group question key terms to make sure you are getting your money's worth.

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Open-ended vs. dichotomous

The best focus-group questions are open-ended, meaning they invite an unlimited range of responses and comments. Dichotomous questions, by contrast, are those that allow only a limited scope of response, such as Yes/No or Agree/Disagree/No Opinion. Dichotomous questions, while useful in written surveys or to gather quantitative data, tend to stifle the kind of free-flowing, qualitative response that focus groups are designed to elicit.

I recommend: JustSell.com offers a primer on open-ended questions, complete with examples.

Neutral vs. leading

Focus group questions should be neutral, or devoid of any language or implication that would lead participants toward a particular response. Maintaining neutrality in question design can be a real challenge. It's not only a matter of avoiding obviously leading questions, such as 'Just how terrible would you say our competitor's product is?' Even subtly leading prompts can result in focus groups that waste time and money by producing only the information you want to hear or already know.

I recommend: Read examples of leading questions at Changing Minds, so you can avoid unduly influencing focus group participants.

Intensity, frequency

When evaluating focus group responses, two key things to look for are the intensity of the response, or how strongly participants expressed a particular opinion or preference, and the frequency of the response, or how many times the same point was repeated in different ways by different participants. Focus group question design should include ample opportunities for measuring intensity and frequency.

I recommend: The U.S. Department of Education's Planning and Evaluation Service offers a FAQs on focus groups. Scroll down to read more about intensity and frequency.

Script

The script is the preplanned list of specific questions, presented in a carefully designed sequence, that a trained facilitator works from when running a focus group. The script is vital for eliciting effective focus group response, but a good facilitator will be flexible enough to reorder, deviate from or add to the script when the group dynamic demands it.

I recommend: Usability.gov, the U.S. Government's guide to designing usable websites, contains useful information on the interaction between the script and the facilitator in asking focus group questions.

Sequence

Sequence is the intentional ordering of focus group questions. Certain kinds of questions are best asked as openers, transitions or summary questions.

I recommend: Richard A. Krueger of the University of Minnesota offers more information on the sequencing of focus group questions, including specific examples of ending (or summary) questions.

Group dynamic

The group dynamic is the synergistic effect that participants have on one another when responding to questions as a group. That effect elicits a more complex and nuanced body of data than an individual survey or interview would, and it is one of the key reasons for choosing focus groups to test response to products or services. The group dynamic is fluid and unique to each focus group, and a good facilitator knows how to stimulate and adjust to it.

I recommend: Learn more at the Microsoft Small Business Center about how the group dynamic functions when asking focus group questions.

Stay abreast of focus group questions news and trends for business. Start by becoming knowledgeable about focus groups and questions for focus groups. A focus group refers to a carefully selected group of individuals who reflect a specific targeted audience. The group includes approximately ten people who discuss research questions or an agenda prepared in advance by the client and researcher. Such groups provide insight about why individuals believe and behave in certain ways. Sometimes a researcher or client audio records or video records a focus group to review and analyze the discussion during a later time.

Developing focus group questions includes a myriad of tasks such as determining the objectives, developing the actual questions, choosing an appropriate methodology, administering the questions accurately and providing a statistical analysis and interpretation of the results. Resources showing how to choose focus group questions include industry articles and journals, forums and networking groups, and marketing companies and associations. Tap such sources for focus groups questions help.

1. Connect with companies with expertise in developing focus group questions.

2. Join associations that offer intelligence on focus group questions.

3. Read publications about general and advertising focus group questions.

Action Steps
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Work with businesses that provide focus group questions information

Invest in companies that do market research including information about focus group questions news and trends. You can gain insight on the number of focus groups needed to get results and how much focus groups cost. In addition, you can gain knowledge about how many surveys are required to get useful results and when to conduct a focus group versus conducting a research survey. You can even learn about the pros and cons of doing research online.

I recommend: Contact Market Trends Research to receive understandable, accurate research and personal service. Get in touch with the Free Management Library, an organization that offers a focus group questions list of basic things to do when developing questions.

Team up with organizations that offer marketing focus group questions assistance

Join associations designed for researchers and others in the focus group industry. Take advantage of membership benefits such as globally based conferences, local chapter meetings, sharing best practices and other gains. Additionally, associations provide industry networking opportunities.

I recommend: Contact Qualitative Research Consultants Association, a nonprofit organization that serves individuals who conduct focus groups, in-depth interviews and other types of research. Join the Market Research Association, a self-managed nonprofit organization that serves all areas of the research profession.

Read articles and other literature for focus groups questions help

Study publications related to focus group questions. Investing in information you can refer to regularly is a good way to stay on top on news and trends affecting the industry. Consider books, brochures, pamphlets, journals, magazines, handbooks and other tools for focus groups questions and resources.

I recommend: Get in touch with the Academy for Educational Development. Peruse their Handbook for Excellence in Focus Groups Research. Contact Groups Plus to read articles from a comprehensive list of information about focus groups and market research.