Focus Group

Moderated group discussion (5-8 people) exploring shared attitudes, perceptions, and reasoning through interactive dialogue on a topic, product concept, or experience.

Process

Key Fields

Question it answers	What are shared attitudes about a topic? What language and metaphors resonate? How do people reason about choices?
Participants & timing	1-3 groups · 6-8 participants per group · 90-120 min each · 3-4 weeks total
AI compatibility	AI transcribes sessions and generates initial theme summaries; moderator interpretation requires a human.
Output	Moderated transcripts, theme/sentiment summary, perception landscape, language/metaphor library

Use when

Exploring language and positioning for a new product
Testing emotional resonance of concepts or brand messaging
Understanding social/cultural attitudes toward a topic
Generating idea seeds for broader research

Skip when

Individual honest feedback is needed (group dynamics bias responses)
Topic is sensitive or controversial
Participants are geographically distributed

Common Mistakes

Dominant voices drowning out quieter participants

One opinionated person steers the group. Manage with direct invitations ("Sarah, what's your thought?") and pair breakouts before group discussion.

Moderator influencing responses

Leading questions or visible reactions bias answers. Use open prompts ("What's your reaction?") and maintain neutral body language throughout.

Over-generalizing from a small group

One or two groups are anecdata, not findings. Run a minimum of three groups to see if themes repeat across different participant mixes.