Virtual Focus Groups
Don’t you just love focus groups? Such a nice way to bring folks together to share ideas and experiences, with the added benefit of in-person connection. We laugh, we cry, we share important data.
But what if we can’t meet in person?
Introducing… the virtual focus group! Although in-person focus groups are still our ideal choice, Sharp Insight runs virtual focus groups for a variety of reasons. For some projects, geography may get in the way and virtual discussions are just more feasible than flying folks in for two hours of great data sharing. In other cases, funding, childcare constraints, and/or logistics make hosting an event in a physical space more challenging, so a virtual gathering is a better fit for the project.
For any number of reasons, many of us might be faced with the challenge of how to host a meaningful, data-rich focus group with our participants when we can’t physically be together. We’ve fine-tuned our system over the years, and want to share some of what we’ve learned.
Check out our tip sheet, Tips & Tricks for Virtual Focus Groups. Whether you’re exploring virtual focus groups for occasional use or thinking of adopting them as a longer term evaluation approach, we hope these tips are useful to you and your team. And of course, we’re always here to help if you need any support with your focus group endeavors.
