Market Research 101: Focus Groups vs. One-On-Ones, or, the bar vs. the couch

I spent a few days last week in Manhattan on business (this is still a funny idea to me considering I prefer to spell “business” as “bznz”), meeting some wonderful new people at different ad and marketing firms, talking about effective qualitative research and eating a lot of bagels and cupcakes.

I also got to spend time with some old friends from college — sharing Bánh mì (Denver, get me some Vietnamese Sandwiches to nosh on!) and talking about our career and life goals. Since I went to school in upstate New York (ITHACA IS GORGES!), dozens of my friends are in the city and surrounding boroughs, so I was able to meet up with a large group of people even though I was only in the area for a short amount of time.

The thing about meeting people in groups, though, is that there isn’t really that opportunity to talk about what you’ve been doing, your serious goals, your relationships, or all you’ve learned in the years since you’ve seen them. You end up all talking on the surface of topics, bringing up shared group jokes, smiling a lot, and then splitting into twos and threes for the real talk — the talk about anxiety, fear, what is truly making you happy, and your ideas for the future.

After spending an hour on my friend Kate’s couch, talking about our days, our careers, and what we find fulfilling, I realized that this dynamic is exactly the difference between conducting one-on-one qualitative research and focus groups. Focus groups or bulletin boards allow for that initial get together and catch up — everyone gets to talk if they want, everyone gets to add something to the conversation, and you leave feeling as though you got in some great experience with your audience.

One-on-ones, however, allow you to kind of sit across from one person in your audience, asking them things you might not bring up in a crowd, and, as would be expected, getting the kind of candid real talk you might not get around a larger group.

Edward Hopper, “Chop Suey” 1929.

There’s a saying that politics, religion, and money do not make good dinner conversation. Either that’s “a saying” or it’s something someone said to me once, I actually don’t know. But the same can happen in focus groups — sometimes people do not want to speak candidly about sensitive issues, or polarizing philosophies, around a big group of people. People end up dominating the space, they demean viewpoints, and not everyone’s voice is heard. In those cases, one-on-ones can be better suited for learning about individual beliefs and the WHYS behind them. Some other places where one-on-ones can be a better method for your project than a focus group?

1. With topics not suitable for a group, or where a respondent values anonymity

2. To avoid groupthink

3. To follow-up on quantitative results

4. When a topic needs personal rapport

5. For a pilot study to test questions/wording before a survey or larger focus group

When people ask me if GutCheck is a replacement for focus groups or bulletin boards, I honestly say no. There are plenty of awesome tools available out there for online focus groups or bulletin boards (we love the people at Crowdtap, for example). But there’s a time and place for meeting your friends at a weird ping pong bar, laughing and taking photos, and there’s also a time and place to sit on the couch and talk about feeling neurotic, lifestyle changes, and personal philosophies. A good researcher (and a good friend) knows when to make time for the right method, and ends up with the best results (and the longest lasting friendships).

101 is an on-going series on how to effectively use qualitative methods in market research. Up next: Who is a moderator?