Focus group interview

Why?

Students invite users to participate in a focus group interview in order to gain insights as to answer question like, ‘Why do users behave in a certain way?’, ‘What motivates them?’, and ‘How does this make them feel?’ etc. The key benefit of this interview technique is that it enables a social interaction between participants as to make them stimulate and inspire each other.

How?

Students invite users or other stakeholders, connected to the problem space, to participate in a focus group interview (i.e. an interview conducted by a moderator in a non-structured manner with a small group of participants [1]). This form of interview requires a moderator that is able to motivate participants, make them feel comfortable, and keep them on the topic. The moderator should therefore possess knowledge about the topic and the nature of group dynamics in order to structure and control the process. Prior to the interview, students make an interview guide that ensures that they get to explore the subjects that they need to cover.

Tips…

The method can also work as an evaluation tool whereas students make users evaluate on their ideas. Students should create a prototype for this purpose since a visualization allow users to better understand and test the idea.

References

4 Malhotra et al (2007) Marketing Research – an applied approach. 3th European ed.