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Environment Make it Welcoming – Take some time to think through the way the interface of your online environment (site) looks. Is it inviting? Is it user-friendly? Make sure you only have on the site what is necessary for conducting the focus group. Extra things make it confusing.
Personalize it – Allow your participants to make their presence personal. Even in an anonymous group you can have people pick fun avatars. Make an intro video. Encourage participants to make one as well, if appropriate. There are several simple video tools available such as, http://intervue.me
Layout and Design – Keep the layout of the site clean and simple. Don’t make it difficult to find things (good instructional design) or too cluttered (good graphic design) |
Lessons Learned Research Team: Mary Anne Casey, Sally Dinsmore, David Ernst, Jim Hatten, Richard Krueger, Michael Lee, Caryn Lindsay, Alison Link, Nance Longley, Mary Catherine O’Brien, Patrick O’Leary, Alfonso Sintjago
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Technology Keep the tools simple – Make sure you only have on the site what is necessary for conducting the focus group. Extra things make it confusing.
Stay behind the curve – Choose platforms and features that participants have the maximum amount of familiarity with. Remember: focus groups are about getting rich information–not about demonstrating the latest technology. If all goes well, the technology should be as transparent as possible!
Keep the technology support “quiet” – Technology should remain as invisible as possible. Let the participants speak. Don’t have the technology dominate the conversation. Don’t use technology for the sake of using technology, make sure it meets the purpose of what you are trying to accomplish. |
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A research team at the University of Minnesota came together under the direction of Dick Krueger to design and test online environments with the goal of better understanding how various technologies work with online focus groups.
Through a process of conducting several focus groups, the group came up with a list of lessons learned. These lessons are broken into four areas:
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Participants Keep the group small – Somewhere around 5 participants can be ideal. This reduces the amount of reading for asynchronous text-based focus groups, and reduces the bandwidth and troubleshooting issues for synchronous voice/video focus groups.
Know your audience – Make sure the platform you choose and the features you use will resonate with your participants. There are some generational and even gendered patterns in the ways people prefer to engage with technology that may be helpful to consider when selecting a platform.
Consider how you recruit – Recruiting for an online focus group can be very different than a face-to-face (F2F) group. You have to consider motivations and ability. Do the people you are recruiting like communicating online? Or is communicating online the only way to participate in the group? When are good times to get together? What is their level of technology sophistication and technology availability? These are all questions you need to consider.
Furnish the right incentives – Incentives keep participants involved, even if they are a bit tired and the initial excitement of the group has worn off. The incentive could be intangible (“You are helping the community.” or “This research project will help others in need.”) or tangible (a gift card from a popular store or a movie ticket). The incentive helps participants stay engaged throughout the online focus group. If the incentive is intangible, be sure to describe the benefit. Don’t assume that it is obvious.
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Moderator Establish rules of engagement – , Establishing rules for how the conversation will proceed can keep everyone involved and participating. It can be hard for some to keep up with a conversation in real-time online. Often people feel like they are always a question or two behind the crowd. Clear rules of who talks and when, and a strong moderator can help alleviate some of the frustration. Asynchronous environments can be improved by giving some guidelines for how you would like the participants to respond. One suggestion is to have the participants lead with a sentence, in bold type, that states their point and then follow with an explanation. This keeps people from rambling.
Be socially present – As a moderator, it is important to appear present in the conversations. Synchronous environments should be constantly monitored with redirection of questions by the moderator. Asynchronous environments can be enhanced by periodic encouragement, daily summaries and even “Chat Room” hours to answer questions or even socialize.
Have multiple moderators – Having two or more moderators is extremely helpful, if not essential. You may want to split up roles into “talk-moderator” (who guides the discussion) and “tech-moderator” (for helping with troubleshooting and tech questions).
Be prepared to manage interactions – As a moderator, staying on top of all interactions is key. Be prepared to interject, redirect and answer questions.
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For more information on our findings and to view copies of the presentation, go to:
http://z.umn.edu/onlinefocusgroups
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