Focus Group Discussion

Members:
Kianna Reyes Dylan Merculio
Trisha Mariano Ivan Guevarra
Liberty Tumang
WHAT IS FOCUSED GROUP DISCUSSION?

A focus group discussion

involves gathering people from
similar backgrounds or
experiences together to discuss
a specific topic of interest.
It is a form of qualitative research
where questions are asked about
their perceptions attitudes, beliefs,
opinion or ideas. In focus group
discussion participants are free to
talk with other group members;
unlike other research methods it
encourages discussions with other
participants.
It generally involves group
interviewing in which a small
group of usually 8 to 12 people. It
is led by a moderator (interviewer)
in a loosely structured discussion
of various topics of interest.
The group's composition and the group
discussion should be carefully planned to
create a non-intimidating environment, so
that participants feel free to talk openly
and give honest opinions. Since
participants are actively encouraged to
not only express their own opinions, but
also respond to other members and
questions posed by the leader, focus
groups offer a depth, nuance, and variety
to the discussion that would not be
available through surveys.
Additionally, as FGDs are structured
and directed, but also expressive,
they can yield a lot of information in
a relatively short time. Therefore,
FGDs are a good way to gather in-
depth information about a
community’s thoughts and opinions
on a topic. The course of the
discussion is usually planned in
advance and most moderators rely on
an outline, or guide, to ensure that
all topics of interest are covered.
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION OR FGD

The Focus Group Discussion is

commonly used by market
researchers to capture qualitative
results from target costumers. It is a
process of mining costumer and
non-costumer experience and
insights about a specific product or
service.
Through an FDG, the researcher will able
to generate relevant concerns and issues
of costumers such us their views and
inclinations toward a product or service,
perceptions or impressions on new
product or service, models, innovations
of the older product or service, inventive
concepts on promotions, price , elasticity,
and initial feedback of costumers on
marketing tactics and advertisement.
 WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT FDG?
Unique about FDG is that led by a
moderator who keeps the discussion
spontaneous and on the right track.
The moderator’s task is not that of an
interviewer who is asking a set of
question, instead, his/her role is to
encourage a group of participants to
talk about the list of topics prepared
prior to the FGD.
The moderator will direct the
discussion in the right path, ensuring
all angles are covered and the
discussion doesn’t go to far from the
topic.
This is the reason that is called FDG,
because the discussion will be
specifically focus on finding relevant
answers. The moderator must also be
objective at all times, avoiding biases
and unnecessary reactions.
 TO THE PARTICIPANTS

the participants, on the other

hand, the selected based on the
objective of the entrepreneur and
should be homogenous as much
as possible.
 To the focus group session
The focus group session usually lasts
from one to two hours. It will be more
credible if the actual product or
potential product/service is
showcased in the FGD to elicit
realistic reactions from the
participants. The FGD session must
be recorded by either audio or video,
so that the researcher can digest the
session and pick the most relevant
insights from the participants
 CASE OF A STARTING
ENTREPRENEUR
They don’t have necessarily have to follow
a formal FGD session, but the ultimate
objective of getting raw and fresh
responses of the participants must be
elicited..
The FGD is also a preparatory individuals
step in crafting a quantitative survey
because this method generates
background information or hypotheses for
a new product or service.
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 The researcher can × It obtains only quantitative
get combined insights data.
from the participants. × Examination of the focus
group session is difficult and
 The participants are requires more time.
more spontaneous × There are potentially biased
and enthusiastic answers from the
because of the participants because they
interaction with will encounter peer pressure.
co-participants, They may also be instances
that one or two among the
thereby sharing more eight participants will
insights to the dominate the
researcher. discussion, resulting in
 It can be observed by biased responses,
various spectators.
 FGD ILLUSTRATION FOR A FOOD CART
BUSINESS

• Vicky Velasquez just retired from her job as a banker of

35 years. She is thinking of ways on how to preserve
the retirement benefit she received from the bank. One
day, she noticed that while communicating, a lot of
passengers are stopping by to eat or drinks in
convenience stores or in food carts. They are buying
pasalubongs for their love ones, be it with the form of
donuts, ensaymada, siomai, waffles, or siopao. She is
interested to put up a food cart business in that
terminal, but she is unsure what particular product or
combination of products will be liked sustainably by the
passengers. Vicky decides to employ Focus Group
Discussion in knowing the pulse of the target market –
the passengers.
FGD OBJECTIVES
 To determine the top products that passengers
buy for themselves or pasalubongs for their
families and loved ones.
 To understand the buying behavior of the
passengers.
 To know if the passengers want new or enhanced
mireinda or pasalubong product The focus group
session usually lasts from one to two hours. It will
be more credible if the actual product or potential
product/service is showcased in the FGD to elicit
realistic reactions from the participants. The FGD
session must be recorded by either audio or video,
so that the researcher can digest the session and
pick the most relevant insights from the
participants s.
PARTICIPANTS
Vicky will invite six passengers who are waiting in
line from the boss. All of these passengers have
been buying mirienda for themselves, or
pasalubongs for there loved ones.

VENUE AND LOGISTICS

 The FGD will held at Vicky’s residence in Sta.
Rosa City, Laguna, where most of the participants
live. She will set up her dinning area as a mini-
conference room . As a sign gratitude , Vicky will
provide the participants with free snack and
pasalubongs.
MODERATOR
Vicky will act as the moderator and use her
smartphone to record the session. As both the
moderator and the researcher, Vicky must be
able to elicit transparency, objectivity, and
kindness, but she should also be firm, flexible,
and sensitive.
MODERATOR’S DISCUSSION GUIDE
 INTRODUCTION (10-15 minutes) – Vicky should be able to
explain to the participants the purpose of the FGD and the
ground rules before starting. She should disclose to the
participants the she’ll be using her smartphone to record the
session and that all responses will be treated with confidentiality.
The participants can be freely voice their options regarding the
topics to be raise and must speak one at a time with a clear tone.
 PRODUCT USAGE, ATTITUDE AND IMAGE DISCUSSION
(30 minutes) – Vicky will be asking the following questions
during the discussion proper to validate the first two objectives:
a. What images are connected with pasalubong products?
b. How were these images derived? Was it through packaging,
price, location, signage, or the service personnel?
 c. What are the words that first come to mind when merienda or
pasalubong is mentioned?
d.What are the top 3 food cart businesses that you frequently
patronize? What products do you buy from them, and how of
these products do you buy ( i.e., quantity and amount)? How
many times do you buy in a week?
e. Why do you prefer to buy snacks and pasalubong from these
food carts?
 NEW OR ENHANCED PRODUCTS (15 minutes) – Vicky will be asking
the following questions to validate the third objectives:
a. What new products excite you to be part of the food cart
business? Why is this so?
b. What enhancement or improvements would you like to see in
the existing food cart products that you patronize? Price?
Location? Product features? Signage? Service personnel?
CONCLUSION (5 minutes)
ANALYSIS OF FGD RESULTS

Because the FGD is a qualitative

method of generating ideas, Vicky
should compare, contrast, and analyze
each point raised by the participants.
She should focus on the answers that
directly target her tree objectives. After
all relevant points are enumerated,
Vicky should summarize the findings
and from there she can decide if the
new venture is worth the try or not.
OBSERVATION

Observation is one of the

preferred and practical methods
of generating ideas because the
researcher documents the
behavioral patterns of people or
of objects or events without
necessarily requiring them to
participate in the research
process.
Observation is reliable because it allows
the researcher to see the real and actual
behavior of costumers rather than
hearing what they need to say (which
may sometimes be biased, incomplete,
sugarcoated, or exaggerated).

The key to observation is that the

researcher must be keen and accurate
on what he or she really wants to
observe—he or she must have a very
clear objective.
EXAMPLE OF HUMAN OBSERVATION
Costumer purchase patterns . The human
observation technique uses researcher to understand
the buying behavior of the costumers such us
determining their points, buying patterns (i.e., how
many times and how often do they buy or their
inclinations towards a product or service), location,
price, or promotion.
 Application to a printing business : the human
observer will count and rank the type of printing jobs
requested buy the costumers per month (e.g.,
calendars, posters, students publications, invitations).
The objective is to analyze the pattern of behavior of the
printing business costumers as to which months the
business should prepare for peak volumes.
Mystery Shopping. This is a common
practice of service business today where the
researcher pretends he or she is a costumer of
his or her own business or the competitors. This
is a test to determine the quality of the
costumer service or if the service provider is
doing the right job.
Application to a laundry business : the
human observer will bring his or her laundry
bag to a competitor and validate if the service
provider piece counts the cloths and if the same
will be delivered completely.
EXAMPLE OF MACHINE OBSERVATION
Video cameras or closed circuit television
(CCTV). This are positioned within the business
premises. They record the costumers in their organic
shopping or service behavior (e.g., how they examine
the products, how they interact with the service
personnel.
 Application to a gym business : The machine
observer (the video camera) will record the behavior of
the gym members as to which gym equipment is used
more often. The objective is to understand if there is
queuing for a specific kind of equipment and what
time does the queuing happen, this will help the gym
owner to decide t=if there is a need to add more gym
equipment or to remove the equipment not being used
often.
Traffic Counters. These are very common
machine observer used by researchers to
determined foot traffic or vehicular traffic in a
particular location.
• Application to a convenience store
business: The traffic counter needs to
determine how many people pass by the
areas determine if the entrepreneur can
meet sales target.
 Web Analytics . This is an online tool that track
the performance of a web site to the number of its
visitor’s, the contents they usually access, and
other information relevant to the web site owner
such us geographical location of the visitors and
statistics on how long they stayed in the web site.
• Application to online buy-and-sell business:
The researcher will use web analytics to
track how many visitors click on the features
of the web site, the content they usually
access and where they are geographically
located so that he or she can strategize on
what content to improve on, and analyze the
factors that lead them to buy the products.
Barcode scanners. These machines help
researchers understand the purchase
behavior or the costumers by reading the
product codes and generates relevant sales
information.
• Application to a supermarket
business: A barcode scanner is usually
being used by groceries or convenience
store and supermarkets to analyze the
costumers purchase behavior and
inclinations.
GPS Technology. This technology allows
tracking of vehicles and pedestrians exposed
to out-of-home advertisement.
• Application to fast food restaurant :
Owner of fast food restaurants will be able to
determine where to strategically position their
tall signage so that it will be seen by more
passing vehicles and pedestrians.
• Despite the advantages of observation, it only
provides the researcher a façade of what he or
she sees or watches and does not let the
researcher necessarily know the feeling of the
costumers.
OBSERVATION ONLY BECOMES A RELEVANT
RESEARCHER TOOL IF IT MEET THE FOLLOWING
CONDITIONS:
1. If the person, object or event is needed observable.
There are instances where observation is not
applicable or not practical to use. For example, a
cellphone load entrepreneur will not be able to observe
how many times in a day a costumer calls or send text
messages because that costumer for sure does not
want to be disturbed.
2. If the person does the activity regularly or the event
happens on a regular basis. Observation is useful for a
street food business if the entrepreneur notes that his
or her costumers buy his or her products every 4 PM
and in groups. From here, he or she can already start
cooking these street food items before 4 PM.
3. If doing an interview or FGD is becoming
intrusive of the privacy of the person. Instead of
asking costumers how many times in a day brush
their teeth, it may be better if the entrepreneur
just observes how many times in a week do they
buy toothpaste and in what variant.
4. If the subject of observation does not take too
long to produce relevant information. It would be
practical to observe how a costumer decides and
orders a beverage rather than a costumer buying a
car because the former requires little time because
he will drink anyway whereas the latter requires
purchased task such as researching on the
features and price looking for a bank to finance
the loan and so on.
THANK
YOU!!!