Focus Groups

Benefits

Immediate benefits to your team, include:

• Confirming or challenging what was previously known about your users
• Confirming or challenging what is suspected about your users
• Discovering what users want from your site or application
• Understand why users would use your site or application
• Develop stronger context for users expectations of content and functions
• Insights into new facilities and content that can be considered by your team

Deliverables

We prepare a focus group research plan including all recruiting, facility and research instruments.

We provide a presentation of findings and recommendations during an onsite session at your offices. We will allow ample time for questions and discussion.

We prepare the presentation in PowerPoint and provide it to your team as bound colour copy and electronically on CD. It may include a detailed written report that summarizes the findings and recommendations from the research.

Activities

Major activities in the our process:

1. Project Kickoff and planning
2. Prepare Focus Group Plan
3. Focus Groups Participants and Facilities
4. Moderate Focus Groups
5. Qualitative Analysis and Report Preparation
6. Present Findings

1. Project Kickoff and planning

We collaborate with key members of your project team to refine the goals for the focus group sessions. We work with your team to plan a framework for the focus group sessions. Together both our teams develop a list of topics and questions to be discussed including the final systematic analysis implications and analysis strategy. This meeting usually takes place onsite and lasts a half or full day.

2. Prepare Focus Group Plan

• Session goals/metrics
• User criteria and recruiting screener
• Focus group facility plan
• Research-video consent form
• Sequence and Structure
• Topic - Intro - Familiarization - Opinions - Key Questions
• Post-test de-brief

We review and get your approval for the plan and target topic outline before we begin recruiting test participants.

3. Focus Groups Participants and Facilities

We recruit and schedule representative subjects based on your direction.

Note: We recommend that this process begin as soon as the screener is approved.

4. Moderate Focus Groups

We ask the participants to perform the tasks in accordance with the Focus group plan and record outcomes. Focus group sessions can last for approximately 1 to 3 hours, depending on the topic, number of participants in each group and the level of group interaction required.

Protocol for discussion

Ground Rules

• Speak for Easy Listening. Headline your point.
• Assume Value. Value diversity by always assuming positive intent. Credit others when they contribute to your thinking.
• Listen with an open mind. Listen to build on others' offers, not to evaluate. No heat-seeking missiles!
• Stay loose until rigour counts. Protect new ideas until they've had a chance to grow through the process. Evaluate constructively, by expressing concerns in 'How to' language.
• Act when the time is right. Be prepared to do your part to turn a new idea into an action plan.

5. Qualitative Analysis and Report Preparation

We review feedback gathered during the focus group session based on the analytic strategy defined and focus on recommendations of content and functional improvements. We develop a concise summary presentation and report including recommendations for enhancements.

We prepare a presentation in PowerPoint that will summarize the session's discussions and findings and recommend areas of future action.

6. Present Findings

We present the findings and recommendations for this focus Group to you rteam. This session usually last part of a day. We provide this in a PowerPoint presentation. We will allow time for discussion, plus planning for next steps as appropriate.

>>> The use of focus groups is an important element in Interpix's complete suite of tools in user experience design.

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