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| Focus groups fulfil key democratic role | Focus groups fulfil key democratic role |
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| Letters | |
| Wed 7 Feb 2018 18.01 GMT | |
| Last modified on Wed 7 Feb 2018 22.00 GMT | |
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| As someone who has spent nearly 20 years observing, leading and analysing focus groups, I found Liza Featherstone’s crushing take on the traditional focus group (The long read, 6 February) to be completely at odds with the world I inhabit. She makes it clear she views the “culture of consultation”, or to put it another way, asking how people feel about things, to be a bad thing. But how can that be? Is it better not to ask? Of course, market research is concerned with increasing the bottom line, reshaping brands and launching new ones. But in my experience, clients are highly receptive to understanding flaws in the service or products that audiences alert them to – not resistant, as Featherstone asserts. | As someone who has spent nearly 20 years observing, leading and analysing focus groups, I found Liza Featherstone’s crushing take on the traditional focus group (The long read, 6 February) to be completely at odds with the world I inhabit. She makes it clear she views the “culture of consultation”, or to put it another way, asking how people feel about things, to be a bad thing. But how can that be? Is it better not to ask? Of course, market research is concerned with increasing the bottom line, reshaping brands and launching new ones. But in my experience, clients are highly receptive to understanding flaws in the service or products that audiences alert them to – not resistant, as Featherstone asserts. |
| There remains an important role for the traditional focus group in enabling companies, politicians or service providers to observe and listen to the attitudes of the very people they wish to understand better. But let’s not forget focus groups also sit alongside a wealth of other valuable techniques such as ethnography and passive metering which enable us to understand how people behave. | There remains an important role for the traditional focus group in enabling companies, politicians or service providers to observe and listen to the attitudes of the very people they wish to understand better. But let’s not forget focus groups also sit alongside a wealth of other valuable techniques such as ethnography and passive metering which enable us to understand how people behave. |
| Arguably, the research process is most often an enjoyable experience for all the different groups engaging in it – from the participant who is given a voice on a subject, to speak from experience and know that the stakeholder is listening and watching, to the client who sees their problem or challenge from a different vantage point to people like me, the researcher, who adds this learning, in whatever realm, to inform a broader understanding of the society in which we live. | Arguably, the research process is most often an enjoyable experience for all the different groups engaging in it – from the participant who is given a voice on a subject, to speak from experience and know that the stakeholder is listening and watching, to the client who sees their problem or challenge from a different vantage point to people like me, the researcher, who adds this learning, in whatever realm, to inform a broader understanding of the society in which we live. |
| Focus groups are only one way of understanding people – but they remain a very useful one. Featherstone suggests that focus groups crush people’s need to make their voices heard in other areas. This just doesn’t bear up – if people are being asked about how they use their mobile phones, are they then less likely to be engaged in the political process? | Focus groups are only one way of understanding people – but they remain a very useful one. Featherstone suggests that focus groups crush people’s need to make their voices heard in other areas. This just doesn’t bear up – if people are being asked about how they use their mobile phones, are they then less likely to be engaged in the political process? |
| In fact, in relation to political research, consultation is a vital part of encouraging a participative democracy and ensuring that government and agencies get closer to delivering the services that people need. Focus groups don’t suppress people’s political will – they are simply one very established way of getting to an understanding of human behaviour.Hanna ChalmersSenior director, Ipsos Mori | In fact, in relation to political research, consultation is a vital part of encouraging a participative democracy and ensuring that government and agencies get closer to delivering the services that people need. Focus groups don’t suppress people’s political will – they are simply one very established way of getting to an understanding of human behaviour.Hanna ChalmersSenior director, Ipsos Mori |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |
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