College Student Focus Groups | Higher Education Qualitative Recruiting

As a higher education market research company, Drive Research has a lot of project experience with students at colleges and universities. Whether it is targeting college students for focus groups or a quantitative survey, our higher education market research firm can assist.

Read more about a recently completed project for college student focus groups in Syracuse, NY.


Qualitative Research Objectives

A multicultural market research company in New York City hired Drive Research for a college student focus group project in Syracuse, NY. The market research firm in New York City utilized our team for both a focus group facility rental and qualitative recruiting services to find and qualify college students. A total of 4 focus groups took place on Tuesday, July 16 and Wednesday, July 17.


Focus Group Approach

Drive Research recruited a total of 48 college students for the focus group sessions. This included 12 per session in order to seat 8 to 10. All college student focus groups obtained more than 10 participants who showed for the market research.

The focus groups lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes and will be held on two consecutive evenings at 5:00 and 6:45 p.m. Participants will receive a $125 stipend as a thank you for the feedback and time to attend the focus groups.

The 4 focus groups were broken down as follows: (a) two female group of juniors and seniors, (b) one male group of juniors and seniors and (c) one male group of freshman and sophomores (rising sophomores). Additional screening criteria included: (1) students have to have lived at least 1 year in a college dorm, (2) the groups included a mix of schools across New York State including small, large, private, public, urban, and rural, etc. Drive Research also tracked respondents to recruit a mix of ethnicities.

The focus groups were hosted at the Drive Research focus group facility in Syracuse. The focus group facility offers convenient access to two major highways, nearby hotels and food accommodations, and ample free on-site parking just outside the entrance. The Drive Research focus group facility is only minutes from the airport, Syracuse University, several other colleges, and Destiny USA (the nation’s seventh-largest shopping mall).

Drive Research is centrally located just north of the city of Syracuse in Onondaga County. It is directly located off Route 81 and the NYS Thruway making for easy client and participant access. The focus group facility is just minutes away from several colleges and universities and is centrally located in New York State giving plenty of opportunities to acquire a mix of college students who attend New York State schools.


College Student Market Research Outcomes

The results of the college student focus groups and college student qualitative recruiting outcomes remain confidential with the client. Drive Research recruiting a near-perfect show rate across the 48 participants qualified for the focus group sessions. Although the topic of the focus groups also remains confidential, the moderators and market research firm in New York City were very pleased with the facility rental and qualitative recruitment offered by Drive Research.

The 4 focus group sessions were video recorded in HD as well as audio recorded as separate MP4 files. These files were transcribed into Word documents as part of the deliverables for the project. The findings were included as part of market research summary.


Contact Our Qualitative Market Research Company

Have a similar project where your organization, college, or university is looking to recruit college students for focus group sessions? Learn more about the offerings of our qualitative market research company located in Syracuse, NY. Our college student recruiting services span coast-to-coast. If you are looking to host a college student focus group in Upstate New York, our focus group facility has all of the bells and whistles.

Contact us for a proposal, estimate, or quote. Reach us at:

Message us on our website
Email us at [email protected]
Call us at 888-725-DATA
Text us at 315-303-2040

Market Research Case Studies