Implementing Online Focus Groups

Nov 15
08:35

2012

Ron Jacobsen

Ron Jacobsen

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Qualitative research methods can and will vary since the backgrounds of research participants can be very diverse. The many methods researchers use to gather the information may also vary depending on what the researcher believes they would need.

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Qualitative research methods can and will vary since the backgrounds of research participants can be very diverse. The many methods researchers use to gather the information may also vary depending on what the researcher believes they would need. 
One of the ways a particular research was conducted in the past was to gather a selected group of individuals from several ethnic and demographic backgrounds and to encourage them to talk about a certain service,Implementing Online Focus Groups  Articles an idea, a trend or a product in person. They would all have to meet at a certain place and time with their facilitator who would be guiding them throughout the entire discussion.
These days, this kind of meeting can be easily conducted through a variety of online portals through the internet. For example, by being online via webcam or chat applications such as Skype, Yahoo, Google Chat, etc , every single member of the selected focus group would simply turns on their computer or smartphone and enter a designated chat room designed for each of them. They can have several ways on how they can share their thoughts and opinions towards their facilitator. The one most likely method would be through a private message or through an online bulletin assigned to their group. It is similar to a group forum except that the topics are more controlled and the participants are limited. Someone would be assigned to be there to direct the flow of the conversation.
The online environment is much like the face to face gathering methods used in the past and most of the time the members are free to ask questions or present and discuss issues relative to the study being conducted right at the comfort of their own homes. Most of the discussions in groups like these are naturally extend to the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and more, which enables researcher to get more various reactions.
Social networking sites if used properly can easily become a public bulletin most especially since once a certain topic turns into a new fad, everybody would be enticed to talk about it; they would at times want to argue about it or simply demonstrate that they agree with it. The research would then automatically extend from the focus groups to the people that they would be connected to them. This would help the researcher to keep track of how the general public would affect the focus group’s behavior, decisions and opinions on certain given topics.