It s a small set of people, fitting a particular profile, who ve been assembled by a market research company along with a moderator whose job is to make them talk. The idea is that as the group interaction develops, the moderator will steer them to talk about the product, ad or concept that s the reason for the group. Through the relaxed, extended dialogue that results, researchers hope to get insights into what people really feel about the product. Focus groups like these are a basic tool in qualitative research, which probes for in-depth insights from a few respondents, rather than administering a limited questionnaire to many people as traditional quantitative research does.
Qualitative research takes time and a focus group can last a couple of hours.
Now that some time has passed and a good group dynamic is established, the moderator thinks she can probe deeper. She introduces projective techniques. Respondents are asked to perform imaginative exercises which indirectly reveal the image they have of the brand. A standard one is to ask them to imagine the brand as a type of person. But before she can finish, one of the respondents replies confidently, Madhuri Dixit.