Voevodins' Library _ "Focus Groups" 3rd edition / Richard A. Krueger & Mary Anne Casey ... Interview, People, Discussion, Decision Making, Development, Single-Category Design, Multiple-Category Design, Double-Layer Design, Broad-Involvement Design, Audience, Written Plan, Questioning Route, Categories of Questions, Opening Questions, Introductory Questions, Transition Questions, Key Questions, Ending Questions, Campaign, Strategies for Selecting Participants, Sampling Procedures for Focus Groups, Moderating Skills, Moderator, Discussion, Head Nodding, Question, Analysis Strategies, Long-Table Approach, Using the Computer to Help Manage the Data, Rapid Approach, Sound Approach, Principles of Reporting, Written Reports, Narrative Report, Top-Line Report, Bulleted Report, Report Letter to Participants, Oral Reports, Styles of Focus Group Research, Telephone Focus Groups, Internet Focus Groups, Media Focus Groups Voevodin's Library: Interview, People, Discussion, Decision Making, Development, Single-Category Design, Multiple-Category Design, Double-Layer Design, Broad-Involvement Design, Audience, Written Plan, Questioning Route, Categories of Questions, Opening Questions, Introductory Questions, Transition Questions, Key Questions, Ending Questions, Campaign, Strategies for Selecting Participants, Sampling Procedures for Focus Groups, Moderating Skills, Moderator, Discussion, Head Nodding, Question, Analysis Strategies, Long-Table Approach, Using the Computer to Help Manage the Data, Rapid Approach, Sound Approach, Principles of Reporting, Written Reports, Narrative Report, Top-Line Report, Bulleted Report, Report Letter to Participants, Oral Reports, Styles of Focus Group Research, Telephone Focus Groups, Internet Focus Groups, Media Focus Groups



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Telephone Focus Groups
Focus group discussions can be conducted on the telephone. With a conference call hookup, the moderator can carry on a focus group discussion with people scattered around the country. The telephone focus group offers the advantage of allowing participants to interact over distances at a fraction of the cost of transporting the same people to a central location.
The principal disadvantage of telephone focus groups is in the lack of nonverbal communication. Much is gained in focus groups by having people together and watching the participants-head nodding, signs of boredom, smiles, frowns, alertness, interest in the topic-all of which are unavailable on the telephone. A telephone focus group will lack the richness of in-person focus groups.
Telephone focus groups can be conducted with varying levels of sophistication. At one extreme, it can be conducted with limited resources and resemble a conference phone call. With more sophisticated telephone equipment, it is possible to have a console with lights and names to identify speakers, special switching devices that allow only one person to speak at a time, and lights that indicate when others are attempting to talk.
When we do telephone focus groups, we decrease the time, number of participants, and number of questions. Two hours is too long to be on the phone. We recommend one-hour telephone focus groups. Because we have less time, we recruit only four to six people for a phone focus group, and we limit the number of questions we ask. There is something else that we do for phone groups that we don't usually do for in-person groups-we send out the questions ahead of time. This seems to make the short time we have more productive. People know where we are going and know what they want to say and will stick with us mentally, even when we aren't together physically.
Again, we use telephone focus groups only when people would be difficult or impossible to physically get together.

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