I am not a great fan of focus groups. I am a great fan of Tom Fishburne. His cartoon above and extract from his notes below more-or-less sums up my feeling about focus groups.
“Many businesses treat focus groups as prophetic. Whether looking for inspiration or validation, they give staggering authority to eight strangers gathered on the other side of a one-way mirror...
“Focus groups have their place in the field of consumer insights. Yet they are poorly equipped to answer many questions, particularly involving innovations that are dramatically different from what has been done before. It's rare that remarkable or unique business ideas originate in an eight-member focus group. Most consumers don't really know what they want, and if they do, they have a difficult time articulating it.”
I agree with the fact that research and data are extremely important in the design world, but new innovations and concepts seem to be always rejected by the majority when first introduced.
Posted by: woreman | October 14, 2010 at 05:13 PM