Forget the Margin of Error Debate – What about focus groups? Rick Hobbs, CMRP Vice-President Ottawa Toronto Montreal Quebec Ottawa Calgary Edmonton Philadelphia Denver Tampa

Research on the Internet?  There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things; for the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order; this lukewarmness arising partly from the incredulity of mankind who does not truly believe in anything new until they actually have experience of it  Machiavelli, Niccolo  Are you a tigger or an eeyore?  Randy Paulsch  40% of Canadians will complete the Census Questionnaire On-line in 2011

What are Virtual Groups?  Many different definitions/names  Vgroups  Egroups  Virtual focus groups  On-line focus groups  Not just chat or bulletin board  To be a virtual focus group requires both voice and visual components and real time  Can be very simple  Phone call and web conference pushing PPT  Can be very complex  Itracks with skype and webcam  Can do anything you can do in a physical group – but why replicate the bias of physical world in virtual groups?

Why Virtual Focus Groups?  Faster  Truly faster, especially with Web Recruit  Better respondents  Inexpensive  Can be equally expensive but,  No travel cost  More convenient for everyone  Better Results – when it is appropriate

Is it All Milk and Honey?  No body language  No eye contact  No avoiding eye contact  Periods of dead air seem longer  Harder to control technology and moderate

Ideal Audiences  Gen / pop  Not about technology  Do suggest speaker phone and high speed but not needed  B2B  Great with hard to reach professionals  Keep in mind they should be used to computer work  i.e. construction professionals are rarely near their computer  Remember qualitative research is not about the technology

WARNING!  Do not attempt to moderate a virtual focus group if you are not a moderator!

How to Set-up?  Budget important – can be very inexpensive  Recommend against low cost web conference software  Web-ex and GoTo Meeting - good solid products  Remember you need a voice component and while any conference provider allows you to record, it makes your life easier to have it linked to the moderators guide  Third party tech support is helpful  Many sophisticated products involving VoIP or web cameras

Hints Moderating VGroups  Screener – need to screen level of comfort of respondent (D’uh)  Need a good invitation / need more hand holding for participants  Mod Guide  Think about what exercises you want to run – do traditional mod guide  Always comes down to the objectives – not technology for technology’s sake  Mix chat and voice questions  Need to repeat names more often – not so much to get everyone to talk, but for the client  Remember dead air may sound bad, but participants don’t know any different

Things to Remember  Establish a personal connection with recruits and get them comfortable with the technology  Make sure recruiter and participants know what the process is - ie., test your browser, call in early, don’t sit  Give your self more time between sessions  Limit permissions  Use chat when you need a break to check something (questions from the client)  Use paypal or on-line payment for fast participant payment  Prepare for technology problems but don’t freak out about them when they happen

The Future is the Internet  Synchronous and Asynchronous  Bulletin Boards can have tremendous value if managed properly  Social Media  On-line communities  Recruiting  Data mining