The Benefits and Drawbacks of the Focus Groups and Surveys - Term Paper Example

Research Methods Submitted by: XXXXXXX XXXXXX Number: XXXXXXXX of XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX Date of Submission: XX – XX – 2009 Introduction: A good marketer is one who uses the insights from others to help improve and interpret the past performance and improve the future performance. Cultural studies and communicational studies is a subject with high need for research and studies, and the secret of any successful study in this field is the type of research method being used. Developing any study or researching into any area need strong research methods to be used. Since market research plays such an important role in the success of any study, this paper aims at discussing two major research methods that are adopted by most companies, i.e. Focus Groups and Surveys. The following sections will deal with the benefits and drawbacks of the two methods. Focus Groups: Focus groups classify under the primary research methods. The focus groups is referred to a panel of respondents that are chosen by the researcher to gain opinions for specific issues from time to time (Sekaran, 2000, p. 221). Jobber (2004), describes focus groups to involve, ‘unstructured or semi structured discussions between a moderator or group leader who is often a psychologist, and a group of consumers’. A focus group research involves inviting a group of six to ten people who can spend a few hours to discuss a product, service, company or any other type of marketing entity (Kotler, 2009). These groups generally have the moderator who starts the discussion with a broad question which forms the basis of the discussion. The moderator helps the people discuss the topic and also encourage a free and open discussion. The main reason for the moderator’s presence is to allow the discussion to remain ‘focused’ and not move away from the topic. This allows the people to bring out their deep thoughts and any feeling in the group dynamics. The main purpose of these groups is to enable the companies to gain complete and focused knowledge about the customers. The focus groups allow companies to gain information like the beliefs, cultures, attitudes, motivation, behaviour and also the preferences of the customers and thereby let companies design and develop their products and services based on this. In the case of cultural studies using this method has a number of benefits as it allows people to provide their views and opinions on the subject matter and provide the researcher with a chance to gain complete understanding of the cultural and communication studies. The ideas that are got from such groups act as a food for thought to the marketers as they would not have arisen in normal one to one communication. It is essential to understand that the ideas that arise from the focus groups is due to the groups dynamics and the ideas tend to feed off each other and bring on new and innovative ideas and technique. The following sub sections provide the benefits and drawbacks of focus groups. However before moving on to the benefits and drawbacks, it is essential to also touch upon an excellent example for the use of focus groups. Tesco while launching in the US, had conducted focus groups in all of the cities before opening the stores in the particular city. The company also pays a lot of attention to the comments made in the focus groups as it allows them to continuously improve and reach out to customers in ways that they prefer. Tim Manson the US Business head for Tesco commented: “In a key moment at a focus group, one man told them that he had stopped shopping at Fresh & Easy because they no longer sent him a flier promoting the latest special offers.” “We came out of that meeting and said we had better make sure we hit everyone in the area with fliers” (Reuters, 2009). Benefits: As has been discussed, the group dynamics tends to be one of the major reasons for the ideas that are being generated (Kotler, 2009). This is very beneficial as the findings of the focus groups themselves can provide the researchers with a deep insight to factors that affect the customer needs and motivation. Also the behaviour of customers can be well defined and understood based on these groups and the researcher can gain ideas from very different perspectives. This is a very strong mode of research as these allow the researcher to gain various ideas. There is a belief that more brains rather than one can bring up better and more innovative ideas. This is very similar to brain storming however the difference is that the focus groups have a focused topic of discussion and the aim is for the marketers to gain from the same (Kotler, 2009). These groups tend to also be very beneficial as it allows for the use of two way mirrors. This is beneficial as the researcher and the client organisations can be seated on the other side of the mirror and be a part of the conversation without actually having to participate in the conversations. Also this allows to be an observatory room for the clients and to make note of the various factors that might affect the choice and motivation of customers. Also these groups can be recorded and video taped to allow for later interpretation (Jobber, 2004). This allows for a number of people to be through the conversation and to interpret the data as well. Drawbacks: This method however also has a number of drawbacks as well. The quality of the findings is directly affected by a number of factors of the focus groups. Firstly thee skills of the moderator play a very important role especially in the focus groups as they need to be very clear with the conversation and have the ability to rightly ensure that the group is moving in the right direction (Kotler, 2009). Another very essential factor that forms the drawback of the focus groups is the fact that the people chosen for the discussion is generally very small and the groups cannot be generalised to be the entire public. There are higher chances of the results obtained from these groups to be biased. Also there are high chances for a number of ‘research groupies’ to be present for many of the focus groups, this makes the results inaccurate and cannot be generalised to be apt for the wider population as well. Another very big drawback of this is that the results are contained only to the area where the focus groups take place (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). This leaves the researcher confident about one particular area however unsure of other areas from where customers might come. Also the researchers in terms of cultural researches need to have very diverse groups to be able to gain unbiased results. Surveys: The second type of research method that will be discussed here are surveys. There are four main options that researchers have when choosing the survey methods: a) face to face interviews, b) telephonic interviews, c) mail surveys or d) Internet surveys (Jobber, 2004). However for this paper we will focus on the mail surveys alone. A survey research is best suited for descriptive researches. The main purpose of this form of research is to gain as much information as possible of people’s knowledge, beliefs, preferences and satisfaction (Kotler, 2009). This form of research mainly requires a research instrument (in most cases questionnaire), which need to be filed up by the respondents. As discussed earlier the only focus here would be for the mail surveys. The benefits and drawback provided below relate to the same as well. It is also essential to note that almost every company uses the survey research at some point in time. It has been noted that there are a number of websites like ‘www.greasepalm.co.uk’, ‘www.survey4profit.com’, and many others which are used by companies to gain as many respondents as possible. These surveys are mostly online and people are ready to participate in them because the money earned is very good (Jobber, 2004). Benefits: The major benefit of utilising the mail surveys for a research is the fact that the research tends to be relatively very cheap. This form research is in most cases beneficial for companies and researchers who run on low budgets and aim at reaching out to a much wider group of people. Also the research conducted can be more diverse and wide spread (Kotler, 2009). For example companies that need the results from a wide range of people across a country can use this method of survey. It is relatively much cheaper than the other forms like face to face or telephonic surveys. Also it is one where the respondents have the time to fill out the questionnaire and send back the results at their own time and pace (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). Also these forms of research allow the company and researcher to gain a lot of information about the customers / respondents. Drawbacks: One major drawback of this form of research is the facts that although it is the cheapest and easiest mode of sending out the surveys, in most cases people do not tend to reply back. Also there is an issue of facing the trouble of unrepresented results (Kotler, 2009). There are high chances that people do not like to respond especially when the questions being asked are sensitive; here people tend to respond better if there is complete anonymity. These form the main drawbacks of this form of research (Waters, 2001). Conclusions: In conclusion it can be said that almost every research method that is available has its own positives and negatives. However it is for the researcher or company to choose which method is best suited for the type of problem. According to Denzin & Lincoln (cited in Silverman 2005), “qualitative investigators think they can get closer to the actor’s perspective through detailed interviewing and observation” (p. 10). With qualitative researchers, the emphasis is on the close relationship between the subject of research and the researcher where the value is in the social reality and the meaning of the social event or phenomenon. The qualitative approach relies on the quality and depth of data and does not focus on the “measured (if measured at all) in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, p. 8). In addition, as Waters (2001) explains, the quantitative approach is based on “simplified representations of reality where real features are depicted by symbols” (p. 8). Hence it would be essential for a researcher to consider all aspects of the product or issues that are being researched on and make a well educated decision based on that. After having understood the various forms of research, it is safe to say that for a cultural studies research it is best using a mixture of approaches and techniques has advantages, as all methods have pros and cons. This means using a triangulation approach, which as Denzin & Lincoln (2000) explain “has been generally considered a process of using multiple perceptions to clarify meaning, verifying the repeatability of an observation or interpretation” (p. 443). Using both methods will help ensure that the research outcome is accurate and this “will lead to greater confidence being placed in your conclusions” (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 99). It also reduces the “possibility of getting the answer wrong” (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 100). Bibliography Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (eds.), 2000, Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edn, London: Sage Publications, Inc. Jobber, D., 2004, Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4th Edition, McGraw – Hill, Berkshire Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G., 2009, Principles of Marketing, 13th edition, 7th January 2009, Prentice Hall Reuters, 2009, Tesco US Boss Says Launch Approach Was Wrong Paper, 22nd February 2009, Accessed on 6th August 2009, Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFoodDistribution%20&%20Convenience%20Stores/idUSLM10269920090222 Saunders, M. & Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A., 2000, Research Methods for Business Students, 2nd edn, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited Sekaran, U., 2000, Research Methods for Business, A Skill-Building Approach, 3rd edn, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc Silverman, D, 2005, Doing Qualitative Research, 2nd edn, London: Sage Publications Waters, D., 2001, 3rd edn, Quantitative Methods for Business, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited Read More