During Focus Groups, it’s all about hearing about what Respondents have to say, their thoughts, feelings and opinions. You might share these too when you have talks with your family, friends, peers; these conversations can go on and on depending on the topic. I definitely have hours and hours of conversations with my friends, I could talk to them all day, it’s one of the rare occasions where my social battery doesn’t run out as quickly. The same goes for Focus Groups: Respondents typically have so much to say but you only have a little window of time. How do you make sure you end the session on time?
I want to start off with a disclaimer that I am NOT a Moderator, BUT I did learn a lot from my experience with RIVA’s 201 Fundamentals of Moderating, as well as supporting each course.
It’s important to keep in mind that whether or not you start on time, you are bound to end on time. There are very rare times where you are having a stimulating conversation and can ask your Respondents to stay a little later, but you should always ask before assuming they can. You should always make this voluntary: “I know I promised to get you out at X time, but I have a few more questions. If you are able, can you stay for another fifteen minutes? If you can’t, please let me know and quietly exit when it’s time.” This allows for the people who need to go right at the end time to leave if they need to.
Use your guide as a timeline, from start to finish. Figure out how long each section should last, totaling up with the length of time of the session. Plan for about 3-5 minutes per question. If you have a deep-dive section that answers your gotta-gotta, make sure to put a reminder of when you definitely need to be in that section by.
We’ve also found it useful to ask our Client teams what sections are nice-to-knows but not critical in case we find a golden nugget that eats up some of our dedicated time. This makes it clear where you can cut items to make sure you answer your learning objectives.
When writing your guide, write out clear, concise instructions to avoid losing time on confusion. In the group, read them word-for-word.
Set your ground rules at the beginning of the session, let your Respondents know they should speak one at time, this allows everyone’s thoughts to be heard clearly and orderly. Also let them know that you may need to move the conversation a long. Respondents can become very passionate and go on a tangent, so know when to intervene and how to do so with grace. Setting that expectation at the front can help ease the sting when you need to stop someone.
Give Respondents time stamps paired with words that encourage quickness. An example: “Take roughly thirty seconds to quickly jot down your reactions to what you heard.”
When you come to the end of the session, with your final question, you can have Respondents give a short one sentence answer or even just a thumbs up or thumbs down to retrieve final thoughts timely.
Focus Groups can be unpredictable with the inevitable time thieves, but you are the Moderator, “The Person who asks the questions has all the power,” [RIVAism].
Written by: Rhea Baesa