The main objective of the study is to identify the research problems and to delve deeper into the quantitative interviews conducted previously. We are also interested in knowing what consumers think of the product (its appearance, aesthetics, taste, etc.), as this can be of great help in the recommendation phase.
The most important advantage of the group interview is the possibility of exploiting effects related to the characteristics of the social group. These include:
security effect (a sense of security allows more genuine opinions and motives to be revealed),
Snowball effect (deepen the topic by responding to more participants, generate debate by responding to the comments of some participants),
effect of spontaneity (natural and spontaneous debate),
stimulating effect (releasing more motivation and enthusiasm for the activities performed),
synergistic effect (the group generates more ideas).
When to opt for a focused study?
A fundamental attribute of this method is group dynamics, understood as cooperation between the moderator - the interviewer - and the interview participants. Interaction between the interviewees favours the observation of interactions between the interview participants. When conducting an in-depth market study, it is important to keep in mind that the representativeness of the group is an issue, while in the "focus" the most important thing is the appropriate selection of respondents based on their knowledge (the group should consist of 7-12 people). This number of test subjects is based on the fact that the aim of the study is to observe consumer reactions to the analysed products or services. This will allow them to be adapted to the needs of customers in a pre-selected target group. But let's answer the question: when should we decide to conduct a focus group study? The answer is simple - as long as we want our product to meet customer expectations and be more competitive on the market.