Best practices and group activities so your focus groups yields the richest feedback to inform design and business decisions.

1. A Focus Group by Any Other Name:
How to Moderate Dynamic Group Activities
Jessica Sustaita & Tanya Feinstein
March 6, 2018

2. Jessica Sustaita
WHO ARE WE?
Sr. UX Researcher & Partner
Sentier Strategic Resources
PhD, Experimental Linguistics
Tanya Feinstein
NPS UX Research Lead
Express Scripts
PhD, Cognitive Psychology

3. A BAD RAP
“It's really hard to design
products by focus groups.
A lot of times, people don't
know what they want until
you show it to them.”
—Steve Jobs
“If I had asked people what
they wanted, they would
have said faster horses.”
—Henry Ford

4. APPLIED RESEARCH
UX Research
Customer
Experience
Research
Patient Experience
Research
Market
Research
“The process of
assessing the viability of
a new good or service
through research
conducted directly with
the consumer which
allows a company to
discover the target
market and record
opinions and other input
from consumers
regarding interest in the
product.”
“The main goal of [UX]
design research is to
inform the design
process from the
perspective of the end
user…and it tells us who
that person is, in what
context they’ll use this
product or service, and
what they need from us.”
Market Research
UX Research

5. SIMILAR METHODS…DIFFERENT
CULTURES
Market Research UX Research

6. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Qualitative methods, rather
than quantitative methods,
are best to:
• Learn new information/exploratory
• Delve deeper into issues revealed
in a survey
• Discover the language that
users/consumers/patients use
when talking about object of
investigation
FOCUS
GROUPAFFINITY
DIAGRAMMING
DEPTH
INTERVIEWDIARY
STUDY
CONTEXTUAL
INQUIRY
KANO
ANALYSIS
USABILITY
STUDY
CARD
SORTING
MIND
MAPPING

7. WHEN TO USE FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups are best used in UX and
market research to access a specific
group’s:
Example Research Questions:
• How do consumers of high-end make-up
respond to a product?
• What goes into the decisions that IT managers
make concerning on-prem IT solutions, cloud
hosting, etc.?
• What are the major pain points that parents of
children with AD(H)D deal, with and what do
they need from providers?
DELIGHTERS
FEARS/CONCERNS
ATTITUDES
EXPECTATIONS
PAIN POINTS
EXPERIENCES
VALUES
PERCEPTIONS
WORKAROUNDS

8. WHEN NOT TO USE FOCUS GROUPS
Do not use a focus group if you want:
• To see user behavior in action
• To access unconscious user behaviors*
• Statistical precision representative of a
population
Example:
You want to know how users reacts
to features on a new platform, what
pain points users experience, and
how to improve the platform.
A FOCUS GROUP THAT
SHOULD HAVE BEEN A
USABILITY STUDY
*Focus groups can be great for accessing unconscious user/patient/customer attitudes, feelings, ideas, just not so hot for accessing unconscious behaviors.

9. REMOTE FOCUS GROUPS
Structures:
• Real-time groups
• Chat
• Video
• Bulletin boards/diary
studies
Tools:
• Focus Vision
• Facebook
• Google Hangouts
• Recollective
• Dub
• Usertesting.com
Advantages:
• Regional variation
• Participants don’t
need to travel to
facility
• Cheaper

10. TRADITIONAL FOCUS GROUP
SETTING
Participants:
• Moderator
• Participants
• Stakeholders
Facility:
• Room
• Observation room
• Audio and video
• Snacks
Props:
• Sticky notes
• Product
• Dry erase board
• Tape

11. MODERATOR
Moderators must:
• Set the tone
• Foster a collaborative group dynamic
• Elicit relevant feedback
• Know when to be quiet vs. when to
probe or redirect
• Make participants feel comfortable
opening up (and potentially being
vulnerable)
Moderators need:
• A discussion guide
• Notepad for notes
• Name cards for participants and
possibly
• Sharpies and post-its
• Clock
• Poster paper for collaborative notes
• A camera to take pictures of any non-
durable participant creations
• Anything visual or written that
participants need to react to or mark-up
• Recording set up

12. DISCUSSION
Tools:
• Write a discussion guide
• Make a timing estimate
• Rescreen
• Revise
• Transcripts
• Note/Quote sort
Technique:
• Set the expectations
• Disclosure
• Keep it discussion, not response
• Ensure participation
• Shut down
• Move on
• Report patterns, and one-offs

13. LADDERING
What is it good for?
• Getting to emotional drivers and
core benefits
• Understanding how people connect
concrete things with abstract
values
Benefits
• More engaging than asking
“Why?” over and over
• Developing empathy
Why is that
important?
What does that do
for you?
What makes that
important?
What does that let
you do?
What do you like?
What do you think
about this?
Features EmotionsBenefits
WHAT TO WHY
I like the list of appointments
by date…
Users like ______________ because they can___________ , which makes them feel______.
Because I can compare the
list to my calendar and
make sure I actually went to
all these appointments…
That makes me feel in
control since I can know that
I’m not paying for services I
did not get.

14. ASKING WHY WITHOUT ASKING WHY
Tell me more about
that.
Please say more.
Can you elaborate?
How did you come to
feel that way?

15. HOMEWORK
What is it good for?
• Complex topics
• Things users might need to research
or reflect.
Benefits
• Participants come prepared to have
an informed conversation.
• Homework provides more depth and
detail for later analysis.
Collages
Time Diaries
Photographs/
Video
Product
Review

16. GROUP ACTIVITIES
“Once a proposition has been confirmed by two or
more independent measurement processes, the
uncertainty of its interpretation is greatly reduced. The
most persuasive evidence comes through a
triangulation of measurement processes.”

17. MIND MAPPING
What is it good for?
• Focusing on a specific topic
• Revealing relationships and hierarchies
within participants minds
• Identifying importance of components
Benefits
• It combines pictures and words to elicit
richer feedback (especially from more visual
types)
• It doesn’t favor extroverts vs. introverts
• It reveals relationships and hierarchies
within participants minds
http://www.tonybuzan.com/gallery/mind-maps/
mind-mapping overview

18. LOVE LETTER & BREAKUP LETTER
What is it good for?
• Accessing pain points and/or delighters in a
product or service
• Eliciting emotions
• Getting candid conversations started
Benefits
• It’s a fun way to break the ice
• It gets people thinking deeply about a topic
before they start discussing
• Video of participants reading aloud is a
great way to share findings with
stakeholders (words + facial expressions +
other participants’ reactions)
Dear Gander Mountain,
I am afraid our long term relationship must come to an end. Over
the years I have loved the great deals and personal service you
have given me, always putting me first. Your thoughtfulness has
always been very dear to me; the free shipping, the competitive
pricing, the wonderful selection, and the one-on-one care that is so
important to me in my relationships. Lately, however, you haven’t
been the same company I had grown to love. The communication
that we had nurtured together is not present any longer. Now I must
spend a lot more money to receive the gifts you had previously
given me – free shipping on every order, no matter the price of the
items. The rebate requirements are very hard to comprehend and I
just can’t seem to fulfill your wishes in order to receive them. I have
received items in error and you just brush me aside instead of
showing the care you used to have for me and in satisfying my
needs. I’m afraid this is the end. I don’t love you any more and I will
be looking to start all over with a company that I feel will treat me
with the care and respect that I deserve. Goodbye.
www.anthropologizing.com

19. MARK-UP
What is it good for?
• Feedback to visual presentation (e.g.,
colors, fonts, layout)
• Teasing apart visual elements and verbal
content
Benefits
• It combines pictures and words to elicit
richer feedback (especially from more visual
types)
• It doesn’t favor extroverts vs. introverts
• It reveals relationships and hierarchies
within participants minds

20. OPEN CARD SORT
Step 1: Randomly present on a mix of
cards.
Step 2: Participants sort cards into
groups that make sense to them.
Step 3: Participants label all groups.
Products I’ve
viewed
Hair masks
1
Search and browse
for make-up
Products I’ve
viewed
Lipsticks
Eye shadows
Order status
My shipping
address
Eye shadows
Hair masks
View products I’ve
bought previouslyView products
recommended to
me
GROUP 1
GROUP 2
GROUP 3
GROUP 4
2
Search and browse
for make-up
Products I’ve
viewed
Lipsticks
Eye shadows
Order status
My shipping
address
Eye shadows
Hair masks
View products I’ve
bought previouslyView products
recommended to
me
HISTORY SHOP
ACCOUNT
PROFILE
3

21. Step 2: Participants sort all cards into
the categories.
CLOSED CARD SORT
Products I’ve
viewed
Hair masks
1
Search and browse
for make-up
Products I’ve
viewed
Lipsticks
Eye shadows
Order status
My shipping
address
Eye shadows
Hair masks
View products I’ve
bought previouslyView products
recommended to
me
HISTORY SHOP
ACCOUNT
PROFILE
2
Step 1: Participants get stack of cards and a list of pre-defined categories.
PROFILEACCOUNT
SHOPHISTORY

22. AFFINITY DIAGRAMMING
What is it good for?
• Brainstorming in a group
• Identifying trends and themes
• Organizing data into categories of common
elements
• Uncovering hierarchies
Benefits
• It combines individual brainstorming with
group wisdom
• It gives equal space to loud and quiet team
members
affinity mapping

23. Thank you, Magento!
/white-sustaita
Tanya Feinstein
tfeinstein@express-scripts.com
/tanya-feinstein
Jessica Sustaita
jessica.sustaita@sentier.com