As our team preps for focus groups in Greensboro, North Carolina and St. Louis, Missouri this week, we are immediately thinking about next steps with the project. Sitting in and watching focus groups live can offer a lot of value for a client. Hearing respondents talk about about a brand, product, company, or topic of interest live is hard to replicate through a recording.
However, most if not all qualitative market research projects involve a next step. Sitting in on the focus group and taking notes as a client is often not enough. These follow-up deliverables are broken down into 4 simple value-added takeaways below.
Here are 4 end deliverables you can expect after your focus groups conclude.
Transcripts
Transcripts recap the entire focus group conversation word-for-word. Most transcriptions are either tracked by participant and moderator or individually tracked with each participant name. You can also have the transcript timestamped to understand how long each section took or to refer to a specific time. This makes it extremely easy post-focus group to search for comments. A simple CTRL-F with a comment or phrase will take you right to the correct place in the Word document or PDF. It's an excellent way to recap the conversation had in focus groups or to find a specific quote.
Audio Recordings
The audio recordings are also a nice value-added deliverable. Transcripts are great but you often lose context and emotion behind the words. By listening to the recordings you can pick up on sentiment, emotions, or feelings tied to a statement. It's easy to skip around the recording or play it back at a faster rate to move through the discussion faster. Using audio clips in your report or presentation to management helps add to the realness of the research participants which can often get lost in translation with just words.
Video Recordings
If you thought audio recordings were valuable, video recordings are even more insightful. Many clients who cannot attend the groups choose to have the groups recorded or live streamed. This also gives clients the opportunity to view the groups after the live date. Video recordings are a great way to read facial expressions or non-verbal cues in a focus group discussion. Again, transcripts carry value. Audio recordings add a little more value through listening to the discussion. While video offers the most value.
Report
Finally, even if you receive transcripts, audio recordings, and video recordings, you may still request a market research report from the focus group firm. The report is an objective review of the takeaways and key findings of the focus groups. Even if you are a client and you viewed all of the groups live, the focus group firm may provide you with non-biased or objective points of view on key topics. With all of the deliverables, the report might be the most digestible and easy to understand. It's highly recommended you ask your market research firm to create this for you.
Contact Our Market Research Firm
Drive Research is a focus group firm located in Syracuse, NY. Interested in conducting qualitative market research or focus groups? Contact us at [email protected], call us at 315-303-2040, or message us on our website here.