Focus groups have become part of the business and political landscape.

They have acquired what you might call ‘cultural validity’: since lots of people use them, and lots of people talk about them, and lots of people have even participated in them, they must be okay mustn’t they?

Sometimes clients ask me whether or not they should use a focus group and what sort of consumer research this approach is best suited to.

I give one of two answers: the short answer, that it is safest never to use them, and the longer answer which I will share with you here.

There are six fundamental problems with focus groups:

1. The Nature of Thought
It would be one thing to explore consumers’ thoughts within the dynamic of a group if one believed that our thoughts are plucked from some preordained mental pot.

When prompted, someone would go to their pot, pick out their thoughts on the subject, and express them.

On the other hand if our thoughts are a by-product of what’s going on around us at the time, then putting a group around that consumer would shape the response they gave.

So, in your experience, do you find people are ruthlessly consistent on any given topic, or have you seen that people’s responses can ebb and flow, depending on the situation?

It is interesting to note, I think, that groups are used in psychotherapy precisely because they can change what people think.

2. Groups Influence
In 1935 the social psychologist Mazava Sheriff invited people to take part in an experiment where people were asked to look at a point of light and state whether it was static or moving (the autokinetic effect).

When asked individually opinions varied as to the state of the light, but when people put into groups they tended to agree with whatever the prevailing view of the group was.

They would agree with this even when it contradicted what they had said earlier.

3. Groups Polarize (or Amplify) Opinion
We humans are complicated and interesting creatures. Studies show that we tend to believe that we are slightly more attractive and more accomplished than the average (even though we don’t have a clue what that average is): we usually carry around a healthy psychological illusion that we are a bit better.

On the other hand, we are social creatures and keen to fit in with the flock. As a result when we are put together with other people we will tell ourselves that our superior perspective should be softened for the group’s benefit (and to ensure that the group accepts us).

When the discussion of the group turns out to support our position on the topic, we feel we have license to make our view more extreme.

This amplification of our initial position is increased by the mental rehearsal required in order to express our opinion to other people.

You can see how, in no time at all, a group of people can reach an extreme position on the topic that goes way beyond what each of them felt initially on their own

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Next time I’ll talk about how laziness, groupthink and leaders can bias focus groups.

I’ll also reveal the only times that I do believe focus groups can contribute legitimately to consumer understanding.

Image courtesy: Johnnie Walker