The Frank Luntz Method Description Frank Luntz is a market pollster/political advisor that has come up with his own unique way of persuading people into buying products or into ideas. Luntz will find out what words are more palatable to consumers and will then advise businesses or politicians to change the words in their lexicon to better attract the public. A slight change in vocabulary is Luntz’s remedy to marketing woes. Ingredients Room with two-way mirror and another smaller room to view bigger room Chairs People (focus group); about 20 people Television Video Sheet of words to be tested Intensity dial- electronically measures each respondent’s feelings of a topic by measuring the turn of a dial. “ Helpers”- people that help with monitoring focus group

Description

Frank Luntz is a market pollster/political advisor that has come up with his own unique way of persuading people into buying products or into ideas. Luntz will find out what words are more palatable to consumers and will then advise businesses or politicians to change the words in their lexicon to better attract the public. A slight change in vocabulary is Luntz’s remedy to marketing woes.

Ingredients

Room with two-way mirror and another smaller room to view bigger room

Chairs

People (focus group); about 20 people

Television

Video

Sheet of words to be tested

Intensity dial- electronically measures each respondent’s feelings of a topic by measuring the turn of a dial.

“ Helpers”- people that help with monitoring focus group

The Frank Luntz Method Procedure Step 1: Feelings Poll The first step of Frank Luntz’s research involves reading a sheet of words to the focus group. For each word, participants are supposed to raise their hand if they approve of a word. Luntz then counts the hands raised, though this is not necessarily what he is looking for. Luntz is mainly looking for a majority vote on the words that work with the participants. Helpers on the other side of the glass are simultaneously watching the poll to keep track of counts and to make sure no one is being influenced by others. The results are then taken back for analysis. Step 2: Approve/Disapprove Dial After the first step, focus group participants are then given a dial which records whether they approve or disapprove of statements in a speech. Turning the dial more towards one end will mean the participant approves or disapproves more ardently to statements being heard. The focus group then watches a video, or even a voice recording, of a speech. As the speech progresses, participants turn the dial accordingly as a reflection of the their feelings at a particular time during the speech. The entire process is being monitored in the adjacent looking glass room by Luntz and his helpers. They are getting real-time readouts of when the focus group participants are turning their dials, giving Luntz the means to perform an instant analysis of the speech. Luntz can then determine which words work and which do not. Findings are then taken back to clients with suggestions to altering wordings.

Procedure

Step 1: Feelings Poll

The first step of Frank Luntz’s research involves reading a sheet of words to the focus group. For each word, participants are supposed to raise their hand if they approve of a word. Luntz then counts the hands raised, though this is not necessarily what he is looking for. Luntz is mainly looking for a majority vote on the words that work with the participants. Helpers on the other side of the glass are simultaneously watching the poll to keep track of counts and to make sure no one is being influenced by others. The results are then taken back for analysis.

Step 2: Approve/Disapprove Dial

After the first step, focus group participants are then given a dial which records whether they approve or disapprove of statements in a speech. Turning the dial more towards one end will mean the participant approves or disapproves more ardently to statements being heard. The focus group then watches a video, or even a voice recording, of a speech. As the speech progresses, participants turn the dial accordingly as a reflection of the their feelings at a particular time during the speech. The entire process is being monitored in the adjacent looking glass room by Luntz and his helpers. They are getting real-time readouts of when the focus group participants are turning their dials, giving Luntz the means to perform an instant analysis of the speech. Luntz can then determine which words work and which do not. Findings are then taken back to clients with suggestions to altering wordings.