Focus Group Recruitment & Moderation

We use qualitative research to learn how people feel about products, services or issues. We have our own team of qualitative research consultants who are also the moderators of focus groups. We have in-house facilities including closed-circuit video recording, one-way mirror for group viewing, and the ability to web-cast a focus group for remote viewing.

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Focus group moderators are trained and qualified, and are all members of the Market Research Society of Australia as well as Qualified Practicing Market Researchers. Moderators are assigned to projects according to their appropriateness for the group – both in terms of blending in with the participants, and their understanding of the discussion subject matter. McNair Ingenuity Research has experience conducting focus groups amongst business people, consumers, parents and children.

Our philosophy of qualitative market research is that the moderator should be able to stimulate a natural (but relevant) conversation between the participants. The moderator will steer the conversation and bring in issues or questions, but otherwise encourage the participants to speak to one another – not just to the moderator.

McNair Ingenuity also offer in-depth one-on-one interviewing for both quantitative and qualitative purposes, particularly for research with people employed in specialist professions such as doctors.

Recruitment for discussion groups or in-depth interviews is conducted by our field team with a recruitment script devised to screen participants who meet select criteria for participation.  This may include demographic, attitudinal or experiential criteria as well as their attendance at focus groups in the last 6 months.  We have a respondent database from which we can recruit participants or we can select respondents from either a database provided by the client or a random sample survey.  Participants are provided with an incentive to reimburse them for travel and their participation.  This can vary depending on the type of respondent and complexity of the group.

We have in-house facilities including the ability to web-cast a focus group for remote viewing. All focus groups and interviews are recorded with participant approval and the tapes are transcribed for detailed analysis.

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Focus Groups

McNair Ingenuity Research has its own team of qualitative research consultants who are also the moderators of focus groups. Focus group moderators are trained and qualified, and are all members of the Market Research Society of Australia as well as Qualified Practicing Market Researchers.

Moderators are assigned to projects according to their appropriateness for the group – both in terms of blending in with the participants, and their understanding of the discussion subject matter. McNair Ingenuity Research has experience conducting focus groups amongst business people, consumers, parents and children.

The consultant for a project spends considerable time understanding the requirements of the project and devising a discussion guide in conjunction with the client.  These are generally topic guides rather than prescriptive questions as we find this less formalised approach makes for a more natural discussion among participants as opposed to a series of questions and answers between the participants and the facilitator.

Facilitators are well versed in a variety of techniques to encourage participation and probe respondents beyond just a superficial response to an issue.  Common approaches include the use of sort cards, projective techniques and choice modelling.  Where appropriate, we often include a semi-quantitative component into focus groups.  We find this assists with gathering individual responses to issues and helps respondents consider their responses during discussions.  These are reported within the findings from the groups however they are used as indicative findings or verbatim quotes as usually sample sizes for qualitative projects are limited.

Our philosophy of qualitative market research is that the moderator should be able to stimulate a natural (but relevant) conversation between the participants. The moderator will steer the conversation and bring in issues or questions, but otherwise encourage the participants to speak to one another – not just to the moderator.

Once a finalised version of the recruitment questionnaire has been approved, our qualitative recruiters are briefed on the project and the required mix of respondents for each session.  The recruitment questionnaire screens participants on a range of demographic, buyer-graphic or attitudinal statements to assess their appropriateness for each group.  They are then sent a letter of confirmation, including details of where the group will be held (and information about parking facilities etc.).  Depending on the requirements, the letter may also explain the purpose of the discussion group, advise participants of any recordings that will be made of the groups and re-assure them of their privacy.  A reminder telephone call is made one or two days prior to the group to confirm their attendance and answer any queries they may have. We also send an SMS reminder a few hours prior to the group.  Participants are given a 1800 freecall number to contact us in the event of a problem getting to the group, or for any inquiries.

Our approach to qualitative analysis formalises the process in the following way:

  • Data is collected and fully transcribed;
  • Nearly all comments are then categorised by topic – in duplicate where appropriate;
  • Paragraphs are summarised by using an open ‘descriptive’ code;
  • Continual comparison between open codes is maintained;
  • Similarities and differences are identified;
  • The differentiated codes become categories with detailed ‘properties’;
  • Coding then moves towards a selective phase where conceptual constructs are refined; and
  • The final stage involves theoretical coding where hypotheses are developed by specifying causal and/or correlation connections between the constructs.

Because qualitative research is a flexible discipline and seeks to confirm findings through a process of triangulation, not all of the data sourced from the personal interviews will be strictly coded through the grounded theory method.

Results are usually presented to the client in-person with a hard-copy report of the key findings provided after the presentation.  The presentation and report are prepared based on the key issues that were being addressed through the study.  In this way they tend not to be a question/answer format so much as a discussion of the major issues or themes that emerged from the groups with comments and recommendations.  Verbatim quotes are used throughout both the report and presentation to illustrate points as well as highlight variations between different groups.