Q. How do you get people for a Focus Group?

A. Everyone agrees that the participants are the key to a good group experience. But how do we get articulate people with an interest in sharing their views to come to the sessions?

• The easy part — they are called by professional recruiters who use a questionnaire I design to determine if respondents meet the group qualifications.

• The hard part — deciding whether or not they are “group material”.

We do not want to recruit anyone who has trouble understanding or coping with the questions they are asked in the screening interview. These are typically far less complicated questions than they will be asked in the actual Focus Group setting.

I often include an “articulation question” in the screening questionnaire. This is a simple, open-ended question. The content of the respondent’s answer is not critical. What we want to gauge is how much, how well and how passionately they reply. Those who respond best to these questions also typically respond well in the group situation.

Finally, I encourage the recruiters I work with to use their best instincts and experience here. They have recruited for many years and can often tell if someone will be combative or difficult to communicate with just by their responses to the screener. I ask them not to recruit anyone they have the slightest concern about.

And there is one last chance to weed out poor participants. Once the respondents arrive, I try to spend some time either talking with them or watching them interact as they wait. Sometimes one recruit will be silent and withdrawn in the corner, while all the rest exchange small talk. Sometimes one recruit will walk into the waiting area and do all the talking in a loud voice, preventing any kind of exchange. If it seems that this or other behavior could endanger the process, they will not be seated in the Focus Group.

Next time — Why do we have to pay people to come to Focus Groups?

Do you have a comment or research-related question? Send it to me for future FAQs!