Focus groups are the best-known qualitative research methodology – so much so that sometimes clients say they “want a few focus groups” as shorthand for qualitative research. Focus groups are often held among internal staff to discuss their working conditions, the company, or its products or services – generally called a workshop in this setting.

• • Target market is easy to group into relatively homogenous segments
• • Topic is interesting and lends itself to public discussion
• • Need to have live interaction to witness dynamics or spark new ideas
• • The stimulus needs to be touched or manipulated
• • When team/staff bonding or buy-in is desired

Interviews are held centrally or in a location convenient to the respondent, giving people room to share opinions or feelings in an environment less subject to groupthink and social pressures.

• • Target market is high end consumer, C-suite executives, or healthcare professionals
• • Topic is complex, requiring individual attention and more time than a focus group provides
• • Topic is sensitive, making public discussion in a group inappropriate
• • Respondent attributes such as age, gender, ethnicity likely to affect views and be counterproductive in a group

We don’t launch an open-ended survey and analyse whatever we get back – we engage with every respondent every time they participate. Boards fall into group-style (8–13 respondents) or depth-style (20–30 respondents).

• • Topic is sensitive or complex
• • Desire to deeply understand issues
• • Need to see how an idea will age, or modify and retest during the research
• • Target market is geographically spread or difficult to recruit to focus groups

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