conducting focus groups for a website redesign
DESCRIPTION
Focus groups are a valuable tool for gaining qualitative insight and feedback from your website audiences. They can be conducted throughout a redesign project as needed, whether at the beginning to identify major issues and gain a better understanding of user needs or later in the process to refine language and gauge reaction to visual designs, imagery and messages.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Whitepaper 2007 Focus groups are a valuable tool for gaining qualitative insight and
feedback from your website audiences. They can be conducted
throughout a redesign project as needed, whether at the beginning
to identify major issues and gain a better understanding of user
needs or later in the process to refine language and gauge
reaction to visual designs, imagery and messages.
CONDUCTING
FOCUS GROUPS
FOR A WEBSITE
REDESIGN
![Page 2: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Copyright 2007 J. Todd Bennett
1 Whitepaper: Conducting Focus Groups
hy focus groups?
We believe in designing user-centric websites. A key to the success of any
website redesign project is to understand why people visit your website and
what they’re trying to do once they get there.
In short, a focus group is a group interview with 10-12
members of a target audience (students, faculty, alumni,
etc.), conducted by a moderator. Its advantages are
relatively low cost, the opportunity to probe deeper into
important issues that arise, and results that are almost
immediate. However, you should remember that what
you hear in a focus group may only apply to the people in
that group and should not be generalized to the greater
population. Such generalizations should be made
following a survey of a representative sample of the
population you are trying to measure.
Selecting your groups
When recruiting people to join your focus groups, there are a few helpful tips to follow:
Participants should represent your target audience and the group should be as
homogenous as possible. Remember, you are looking to speak with the “typical”
visitor to your website—not the person who has the most expertise in building it.
Try to avoid recruiting participants with expertise in market research or marketing,
unless these people are representative of your target audience.
Turnout for focus groups, particularly with students, can be very low. You may
need to invite 20-25 people per group to get your desired size of 8-12
participants.
W
A great way to
explore the minds of
your website users is
to conduct focus
groups.
![Page 3: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Copyright 2007 J. Todd Bennett
2 Whitepaper: Conducting Focus Groups
Provide an incentive to attend. For many of your stakeholders, simply having
input into the design of the new website is incentive enough. For students, an
evening session with free food may result in better attendance.
While it’s not preferred, existing campus groups such as committees, department
staff meetings, and student organizations could also serve as focus groups.
Location
Many people think that to conduct a focus group, they need a special facility. This is not true.
While special observation rooms with sound and video recording equipment are nice, what
you’re after is quick and dirty feedback to move forward on a project. In choosing a location,
consider the following:
Choose a room that can comfortably seat 10-12 people, a moderator and a
note-taker/ observer.
The room should be free from distractions and private. Participants should feel
that they can speak freely, so public spaces should be avoided.
The room should not be so large or noisy that you are not able to make a clear
audio recording of the session. Be certain to test you audio equipment in the
room before the session to ensure there are no distracting sounds, such as a loud
fan.
Participants should be seated in a circle or around a conference table.
Remember, this is a conversation, not a lecture.
Be sure the room has good lighting and the temperature is comfortable. Rooms
that are too hot or too cold can be a distraction.
![Page 4: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Copyright 2007 J. Todd Bennett
3 Whitepaper: Conducting Focus Groups
Getting started
Your group will be facilitated by a moderator. It’s important your moderator have excellent
communication skills (speaking and listening) and should not be too close to the project at
hand. Your institution’s webmaster or marketing director is not likely to get the same honest
responses as an objective third party moderator.
It is helpful to make an audio or video recording of
each session. If you do, be sure to get the consent
of the participants and excuse anyone who is not
comfortable with being recorded. Note that video
is perceived as much more intrusive and may
inhibit responses. Assure everyone that what they
say is confidential and their names will never be
linked to their comments. The benefit of an audio
recording is that it can be transcribed and later
used in the content analysis of the sessions.
Additionally, whether you record the session or not, you should have another observer in the
room to take notes. The observer can make note of non-verbal cues as well as the feelings and
emotions surrounding an issue. These notes can also serve as a back-up in the event the audio
recording equipment malfunctions.
Before the formal focus group begins, it’s a good idea to plan for 10-15 minutes of informal
conversation with refreshments. This will allow the participants a chance to become more
comfortable in the environment and with the other group members. It will also give the
moderator an opportunity to look for any participants who might try to monopolize the
conversation or not speak at all during the focus group.
Once you are ready to begin, have everyone take a seat around the table. You may choose to
have each person introduce themselves by first name before you begin. After the introductions,
it is important that you lay the ground rules for the discussion and ensure participants that their
“It’s important your
moderator have excellent
communication skills,
both speaking and
listening”
![Page 5: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Copyright 2007 J. Todd Bennett
4 Whitepaper: Conducting Focus Groups
responses are confidential. If you are recording the session, you should obtain consent from
everyone in the room to do so and excuse those who prefer not to be recorded.
Moderating the group
As a moderator, it is your role to promote open discussion and to draw out people’s differences.
You may need to probe for details or move things forward when the conversation is drifting. You
must keep the session focused, which sometimes requires steering the conversation back on
course. Moderators also have to ensure everyone participates and gets a chance to speak. You
should avoid favoring particular participants and should try to control those who attempt to
monopolize the discussion. If someone is not participating, you may choose to ask him/her a
question directly.
Sample Introduction Script
Welcome to our session on [PROJECT]. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us and to discuss
[PROJECT]. My name is [NAME] from PLACE that has been chosen by [CLIENT] to [PROJECT].
Assisting me is [NAME].
You were selected because you [AUDIENCE]. We are particularly interested in your views because
[REASON]. I’ll start by asking some questions and would like you to respond to them. There are no right
or wrong answers. Please feel free to share your point of view even if it differs from what others have
said. We do ask that you are all respectful of others’ opinions and give everyone a chance to share their
views. We also ask that only one person speak at a time. Because we have a number of issues to discuss, I
may have to cut you short and ask to move on. Please don’t be offended. We just need to keep things
moving so we can finish on-time.
We want you to be as open and honest as possible, so we guarantee that everything you say will be kept
confidential in the sense that your name will never be linked to your comments shared with [CLIENT].
However, we would like to record our conversation because it is difficult to write and follow the
discussion at the same time and it’s important we don’t miss any of your comments. Do I have everyone’s
consent to record the session? If so, let’s begin with the first question.
Our session will last about [TIME]. Are there any questions before we begin?
![Page 6: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Copyright 2007 J. Todd Bennett
5 Whitepaper: Conducting Focus Groups
It is also very important that the moderator and observer do not take over the conversation
themselves. Your personal opinions can influence participants towards a particular position or
opinion. You are there to LISTEN to what the participants have to say.
Asking Questions
What questions do you ask? The answer depends on what you want to know. If the redesign of
your website includes the reorganization of your navigation and content, understanding what
people are looking for at your website (including the
words they use to describe it) is important and questions
should attempt to discover this. You should have about
8-12 broad questions prepared ahead of time. For each
of these, you may choose to prepare a series of
“prompts” or more probing questions that can be used
to get more detailed responses.
When asking questions, start with the broadest questions
first. To elicit responses, it may be necessary to call on
individuals. You may experience several seconds of
silence before someone speaks up to answer your
question. This is okay and eventually the silence will draw
people out. In this case, you should avoid the temptation to answer the question for the group
or give examples that may influence their responses.
You may also use your prompts to get to deeper responses. These, however are optional. If
you’re getting responses that meet your objectives, don’t feel obligated to ask every probing
question you have prepared. These are designed simply to stimulate a deeper conversation. If
participants respond with short answers, ask them to elaborate. You may encounter
unanticipated responses that are valuable to pursue, but be certain doing so does not disrupt
the timeline and keep you from getting to other questions that might be central to your project.
As the moderator,
your role is to ask
questions and
LISTEN…
Avoid the temptation
to answer the question
or provide examples.
![Page 7: Conducting focus groups for a website redesign](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022081809/5487f70bb4af9fa00d8b55a5/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Copyright 2007 J. Todd Bennett
6 Whitepaper: Conducting Focus Groups
Reporting the results
How you choose to report your results will depend on several factors, including the amount of
time you have and what you plan to do with the results. In most cases, a summary of your notes
or transcripts of the audio sessions will suffice. If you’re very ambitious and have plenty of time,
you could conduct a content analysis of transcripts of each session. This would allow you to
identify key themes that emerged and quantify your results. Whichever method you choose,
remember that you cannot make generalizations about the entire population (“all students
feel…”).
If your focus groups are a precursor to the kick-off of a project, be alert to any “hot-button”
issues that may emerge. You can prevent having your project derailed by internal politics later
on by paying attention to issues raised at the start. You may also find that topics are discussed
that warrant further investigation. Oftentimes, focus groups identify questions that need to be
asked of a sample of the larger population on a survey.
Conclusion
Focus groups are a valuable tool for gaining qualitative insight and feedback from your website
audiences. They can be conducted throughout a redesign project as needed, whether at the
beginning to identify major issues and gain a better understanding of user needs or later in the
process to refine language and gauge reaction to visual designs, imagery and messages. Focus
groups should not be used to generalize to all users and are not a substitute for usability testing.
However, when paired with other research methods, well moderated focus groups can help
ensure the success of any project.