These are almost never tapped by focus groups, or any other kind of marketing research. Focus groups have more chance than any other method of hitting core values, but most moderators are unequipped to reach them, and most product managers have no patience for the kind of probing that is required to get to them. Yet most great marketing campaigns have tapped core values, often ones that have accidently come out of focus groups. Unfortunately, most focus groups are conducted on the level of superficial, game-playing or defensive verbalization. The more clear, sequential and logical they sound, the more the probability that the client and the moderator are being bamboozled.
Surveys tend to be the most superficial and misleading of all research.
Virtually no rapport is established, answers tend to be forced into categories, depth probes are not possible, and there is little opportunity for reflective thought and deep feeling. People say the first thing that comes into their minds, often what they want the interviewer to hear. Individual Depth Interviews are also not the answer. Contrary to the popular belief that individual depth interviews are necessary for sensitive subjects, it is the group support in focus groups that enables most people to say what they may be uncomfortable expressing. Running more groups is not the answer, because you may only be getting consistent sets of rationalizations.