Chapter 9. Focus Groups

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I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.

— George H. W. Bush

Opinions, they say, are like assholes; everyone has one, and everyone thinks everyone else’s stinks. Focus groups apparently bring a lot of stink together in a single room, with the sole purpose of gathering a bunch of opinions from carefully selected participants. It’s easy to look at focus groups with disdain and call their effectiveness into question, but when used and conducted correctly, that stink can be a nice scent that makes the room pleasant to be in.

The focus group

A focus group is a qualitative research method ...

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