The Assorted Pleasures of Focus Groups and M&Ms

The key skill you must have in working with focus groups is being able to determine what information’s useful and what’s useless. Much of what focus-group participants say is contrary to the way they actually act. They often “do as they do” instead of “do as they say.”

Here’s an example: Two years ago, I was watching a focus group being conducted for one of my clients. It was composed of 10 people, none of whom knew the common factor they all shared: They were members of my client organization. Yet when asked if they were members of that organization, only six of the 10 admitted the fact.