As someone who used to supplement my meager grad student stipend with focus group money, I feel the need to clue in some people to why focus groups are totally useless for market research.
First, there are only two types of people who participate in focus groups. On one hand, you have people who need the money and on the other you have people with nothing better to do. In my experience, the people with nothing better to do are, more often than not, crazy. I've heard people say completely asinine things in these things.
There are also a lot of smart asses, like myself, who try to liven up otherwise boring focus groups. I used to do anything to get selected for a group. You're damn right I smoke Du Maurier, drink rye, have a student loan, drive a lexus, have a mortgage with scotiabank and routinely eat canned beans. What do I do for a living? Oh, I'm a mortician who enjoys firewalking in my spare time and I write poetry only using words starting with "t".
Focus groups are dumb but they pay in cash.
|