Focus Groups

A focus group is a small number of individuals who share common interests in specific issues or events and who are asked to take part in an interactive discussion. Focus group study began in the late 1930s and became more popular in the 1950s with marketing studies. Aside from using interactive discussion groups, researchers also use telephone focus groups, Internet focus groups, and media focus groups depending on the particular purpose of the study or for the sake of convenience.

The purpose of a focus group is to understand how people with common interests feel and think about an issue, product, service, or idea and gather their comments within a comfortable and permissive environment facilitated by a skilled moderator. The intent of the focus group is ...