Focus Group Guide

The distinctive value of a focus group is interaction: participants respond to one another, surfacing shared norms, disagreements and vocabulary that individual interviews would never produce. Design the guide to provoke discussion between participants rather than a sequence of individual answers directed at you.

Aim for six to ten participants per group, homogeneous enough that people feel comfortable speaking freely, and run several groups rather than one — continuing until no new themes emerge. Allow ninety minutes, and use a co-moderator to take notes and track who is speaking, which makes transcription far easier later.

Moderation is the skill that determines data quality. Open with ground rules that there are no wrong answers and that disagreement is welcome, actively bring in quieter participants, and manage dominant voices without shutting them down. Avoid focus groups entirely for sensitive or highly personal topics, where confidentiality cannot be guaranteed among participants and individual interviews are the appropriate method.