They do not require special facilities so are ideal for interviewing people like high-level executives whose time is limited. It is beneficial to have an interviewer who is versatile and able to understand the issues, and therefore probe more deeply. Reports for the interviews are generated based on interviewer notes and an audio tape. Reports can be written for each interview, or as a high level overview with more strategic content. Online Focus Groups Like traditional focus groups, online focus groups are qualitative research.
Qualitative research allows for in-depth exploration into people s feelings and beliefs.
A trained moderator guides the focus group discussion by introducing new topics and questions to encourage maximum participation from each individual. The moderator also controls the group dynamics, preventing one individual from dominating the discussion. Because online focus groups are qualitative in nature, any numbers or percentages should not be projected to the population as a whole. Additionally, the normally small sample size of online focus groups and the fact that the questions asked vary from group to group make the results appropriate for general impressions rather than for statistically reliable results. Unlike traditional focus groups, online groups offer the advantage of bringing a group of participants together regardless of their geographic location.