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Focus Groups

Focus Groups. Alfred Kobsa Alfred Kobsa University of California, Irvine. Pros and cons of focus groups. Good for G auging user opinions, experiences Generating ideas (☛use brainstorming techniques) Collect multiple points of view in a short period of time Cons

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Focus Groups

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  1. Focus Groups Alfred Kobsa Alfred Kobsa University of California, Irvine

  2. Pros and cons of focus groups Good for • Gauging user opinions, experiences • Generating ideas (☛use brainstorming techniques) • Collect multiple points of view in a short period of time Cons • People may be influenced by the opinions of others • People may feel intimidated in group situation • Individual participants may dominate ☛ Use a skilled [outside?] moderator

  3. Elements of a focus group • 6-10 participants (typically pre-interviewed!) • Good participant mix (demographic, job profile, …) Avoid including supervisors • Use preferably more than one focus group (say, 3-4)Make the group size smaller if needed • Non-everyday location (away from the company, something special) • Actors: • Moderator • Note-taker (“Scribe”): collects and posts ideas; later helps analyzing data • [Videographer] • [Observers] • Activity materials • White board, flip chart, Post-it notes (or electronic whiteboard, projected computer screen) • [Powerpoint slides, videos, objects for demonstration]

  4. Rules for Brainstorming Process During the session • Build rapport, warm-up exercises (icebreaker) • Tell participants to imagine an ideal world / ideal product (“nothing is impossible”) • Tell participants that no comment is “wrong” • Disallow designing • Comments get written down (preferably by a trained scribe) • Comments are posted to be seen by all • (Probe answers to find the “real” need/opinion) During or after the session (and after several different sessions) • Duplicates become eliminated • Answers become grouped / hierarchically structured / ranked Statistics are made across different sessions

  5. Rules for Moderator • Be personable • Ask questions • Have sufficient domain knowledge (what is important, what not?) • Stay focused • Avoid behaving like a participant • Keep the activity moving • Keep the participants motivated/encouraged • No critiquing • Everyone should participate (☛ use“round robin”) • No one should dominate • Do polls “secretly” (e.g. on paper), not by show of hands

  6. Special types of focus groups • Assignment of tasks to groups (construction, testing,…) Requires time, several facilitators and usually artifacts • Iterative focus groups • “Focus troupe”, “Day-in-the-life” • Computer-supported focus groups Electronic whiteboard, (anonymous) chat-based conference system • Tele-groups (usually phone conference) Problems with loafing; non-verbal communication lacking

  7. Wants and Needs Analysis A wants and needs analysis is a special kind of focus group in which participants brainstorm about product features and services they would like to see. Participants should imagine “ideal system”; no designing Storming questions: • What activities would you like to perform with this product? • What information would you like to get from this site? • How would you like to accomplish a particular task? Problems: • People don’t always know what they really would like/need. • People often cannot predict how much they would like/use a specific feature. • What people say they do or will do is often different from what they actually do or will do.

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