Editor's note: Leslie Harris is chairman, and Paul Bolden is managing partner, of Focus on Boston, a focus group and strategic research center in downtown Boston.

This report is based on a mail survey of 100 moderators conducted during September and October 1993. Forty moderators responded to the survey, which consisted of a single-page questionnaire covering the following topics related to focus groups: trends in focus group use; whether the moderator was doing more or fewer groups; categories researched most frequently; and which cities were used most frequently.

Today focus groups are being conducted all over the country and for every possible product and service category.

The industries reported to be researched most frequently include health care, financial services and telecommunications. Other growth areas include direct marketing, retailing organizations, and professional and business groups, with more focus on small-business decision makers and international projects.

Although the number of groups is increasing, the number of groups conducted by each client is decreasing. Clients who used to schedule eight to 10 groups have cut the number to four or six, for budgetary reasons.

Mini-groups, consisting of six to eight persons, and one-on-one interviews are being substituted for the traditional 10-person group. Historically, the quantitative survey has been the traditional approach of consumer research. Research is now viewed by many companies as a more holistic framework, combining the insight of the focus group and the hard facts of the quantitative study. More groups are conducted as a complement to the structured interview of the quantitative survey.

Although some companies are doing more qualitative research than before, they are using it quantitatively. They want to know what percent of the group said this, and they want it included in the report. In addition, companies are now recognizing the need to better understand what the customer wants, what the issues of concern are, and what the real values are that the consumer or buyer perceives.

According to Mary Rubin, manager of qualitative research at Maritz Marketing Research in St. Louis, customer satisfaction studies now represent 70% of the qualitative work conducted by her group. Irv Merson, president of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA), also reported growth in this area.

Other trends, reported by Daryl Gilbert of the Survey Center in Chicago, were: an increase in the number of business and professional groups; a move to keep groups to an hour-and-a-half (versus the usual two-hour group); starting the groups earlier; or using two consecutive evenings because of fatigue (of all concerned: respondents, viewers and moderators).

More exploratory

Linda Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick Research in West Nyack, N.Y., says she is being asked to conduct more exploratory groups that generate new ideas and provide insights, as opposed to measurements. These groups require more planning and time up-front. Moderators view this kind of research as more beneficial to their clients because their clients benefit from the moderator's broad category experience. The moderators, in turn, benefit from more follow-up work.

Jim Shur of Pathfinder Research Group, Acton, Mass., reports more videotaping and acceptance of stationary video. Tom McGee of Doyle Market Research in Chicago mentions the presence of more technology in the groups, items such as wireless earpieces and interactive monitors that are connected to the client viewing area.

Siri Lynn of Sun Research in Norwalk, Conn., reports increased interest in: Generation Xers (20- to 30-year-olds), and changes in their social and living situations; and in the female head of household, who feels pulled in many directions and views her life as too hectic and short of time for many of the things she wants to do.

Tim Bender of Honda R&D in Torrance, Calif., speaks of the depressed economy and its effect on a saturated automotive market, which has forced manufacturers to gear their products toward distinct target audiences. This has resulted in increased research to understand buyer motivation.

Scott Taylor of the Greenwich, Conn.-based Taylor Group does both quantitative and qualitative research. He now sees a real trend among client companies to gain insight into what the consumer really wants, which translates into a growing interest in qualitative research.

John Lloyd of Pagano, Schenck and Kay in Providence, R.I., reports that his agency uses more projective techniques, including laddering. Although many clients seem to be calling for these techniques, several moderators believe that few companies know how to analyze the findings and translate the information into concepts or advertising strategy.

Jim Bryson of 20/20 Research in Nashville notes a number of trends, including: more Friday and Saturday groups, tighter respondent specifications and more serious client viewing of the research (less partying).

Jim Hartrich, research director of the Mullen Advertising Agency in Wenham, Mass., notes that management is more willing to act on judgments based on qualitative insights. There is a realization that quantitative research "measures" things and qualitative research builds understanding of specific issues.

Joan Feldon of the Answer Group in Cincinnati speaks of the growing use of creative techniques - ideation, projective techniques, dyads and triads - and generally smaller groups overall. She also notes more concept development evolving into product placement and positioning.

Smaller groups

Rosemary Driscoll, research director of Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson, a Boston advertising agency, has seen a trend in her agency to smaller groups of six to eight respondents instead of 10 to 12; more use of one-on-one depth interviewing; and an increase in innovative in-person, in-home interviewing.

Steve Akerson of Minneapolis-based advertising agency Colle & McVoy believes the trend is toward reliance on quick, relatively inexpensive qualitative research, which takes the place of quantitative techniques. He also sees greater acceptance of the researcher's judgment.

Betsy Bernstein of the Bernstein Research Group in Harrison, N.Y., reports the need for faster information turnaround. She sees opportunities for live transmission of focus groups, like the Focus Link system and the FocusVision Network. Facilities are becoming more and more "plush," evolving into business centers and catering halls in addition to research centers.

Lenora Butler of Butler Research in Toronto says that more projects involve repositioning of brands and of corporations, line extension research, product tests, packaging and customer needs, while fewer groups involve creative pretesting.

Jack Paxton of Jack Paxton & Associates in Princeton, N.J., has had more work in the service area than in product research.

Other important trends include the increased use of qualitative research by service companies (banks, insurance companies, health care), retail companies and high tech, a development consistent with a comeback in the U.S. economy.

Lori Sheehan of the Loran Marketing Group in Chicago reports that larger clients are starting to use video-conference focus group services by FocusVision. She sees more interest in ethnography and more interest in "spur of the moment" research.

Reva Dolobowsky of Dolobowsky Associates in Waltham, Mass., has seen an increase in idea generation groups and telephone focus groups.

Myron Gilbert of Saul Cohen & Associates, Stamford, Conn., says that senior marketers seem to be more interested in qualitative research because "they need to break out of the box" to find new ideas and new ways to make existing brands appealing.

Robert Kilzer of Shadetree Research in New York City reports that focus groups are being used much more in business-to-business products and services. Business marketers are beginning to realize that they, like consumer companies, can benefit from qualitative research. Business professionals used to be unwilling to participate in groups, but it is now much more accepted and businesses are reaching out to recruit them.

Elise Jamison of In-Focus Market Research in St. Paul, Minn., believes companies are relying more on qualitative research. Qualitative research is now often the decision maker rather than quantitative. Often there is no quantitative follow-up.

Bill Fonvielle of the Forum Corp. in Boston reports that his clients are showing increased interest in "expectation analysis" - helping clients understand their customers' expectations by creating what this firm calls "expectation maps."

Marie Greener of Merson/Greener Associates in Tarrytown, N.Y., speaks of growing reliance on research as investment in new products becomes larger and more companies become risk averse.

Anne Flanz of Custom Market Research in Glen Ellyn, Ill., is concerned with the "scary" development of using focus groups in place of quantitative studies (taking polls at the tables).
Steve Werby of Werby Marketing in New Hempstead, N. Y., sees the qualitative researcher becoming a more integral part of the marketing process. He is being asked to help determine solutions, instead of just collecting data.

Bret Jacobowitz of New Direction Consulting in White Plains, N.Y., notes the change in the relationship of the qualitative consultant. Companies are going to them because they have many areas of expertise and because firms are cutting back on their internal research staffs.

Chris Efken of Teenage Research Unlimited in Northbrook, Ill., reports that there is a lot more idea generation and brainstorming research, and a lot of in-home interviewing with consumers to see how they use the product.

Terri Gacek of Strategic Marketing in Chicago is conducting a lot more qualitative than quantitative research, instead of the qualitative-quantitative research before refining the product. Now clients are doing the qualitative, refining and then using the quantitative to prove or disprove.

Bob Romano of KRC Research, New York City, sees more and more longer groups (2 1/2 and 3 hours) and very specific groups. People meters, to measure the number and percentage of people who made "X" statement, are becoming more popular.

Vivienne Segal of Gerstman/Meyers in New York also said that her clients tend to be doing more qualitative than before. However, they are using it in a quantitative sense.

Jack Reynolds of First Market Research in Boston sees a lot more specialization, such as health care or high tech areas.

Mary Ann Ree of the Glendale Group in Brooklyn, N.Y., believes a lot of qualitative work is being done because it is less expensive. The turnaround is very fast, so clients can often obtain the results quicker than they can with quantitative research.

Carol Mather of Boston-based Telesector Resources Group speaks about how companies are becoming more customer-focused. Companies and departments within companies that did not do research in the past are now becoming research clients as they become more aware of the importance of learning about their customers.

Cities

Most of the research is being conducted in major markets. Those mentioned most frequently were Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas. Some moderators and their clients seemed reluctant to conduct groups in New York because they view the city as an atypical population mix. Second-tier cities include Boston, San Francisco and Philadelphia. A number of moderators choose secondary markets because they can provide more of an average American shopper's view.

Other reasons for choice of city were: market areas where companies are strongest; convenience of air routes; and/or cities close to the moderator's home base. Chicago, Atlanta and Boston were some of the most easily accessible by air. Phoenix, Kansas City, Charlotte and Nashville were mentioned less frequently.

Summary

Qualitative research is today at an important crossroads in consumer research. Focus groups are being used differently and the facilities in which they are conducted are different. Some of the ways people use are qualitative make sense from a cost standpoint but they run the risk of obtaining incorrect measurements. Companies and researchers need to look carefully at the true function of qualitative and quantitative research to most effectively serve the marketing and advertising communities.