Professors’ instructions—Talk about external and internal validity, the threats and three ways of dealing with them. (Experimental Control, Pre Test Post Test, Randomization matching & combinations of them.

What are the shortcomings in doing a focus group? What are the problems?

Give ideas for improving focus groups.

Briefly write your claim – how you will support/defend it?

Conclusion—Paragraph –Tell if claim has been carried or not and why.

You should have a support section which identifies support of your claim.

Tell what is good and bad about focus groups (from book or experience doing the Goodwill Survey)

Claim-- The rhetoric of experimentation can be used to improve the practice of focus groups.

The threats to internal and external validity provide distinct problems in the focus group setting. By utilizing the rhetoric of experimentation the practice of focus groups can be improved.

· Ability to produce concentrated amounts of data on precisely the topic of interest.

· Allows respondents to express detailed feelings

· Participants give immediate reactions.

· Time requirement: Actual focus groups usually last 1 to 2 hours, selection and screening of participants varies.

· Systematic and verifiable analysis.

· Reliance on isolated comments - Confirming decisions based on isolated comments by individuals is a common practice. The common tone or theme should be taken away from the group interview, not singular remarks.

Data gleaned from focus groups should not be a substitute for quantitative research. Focus group data offers insights from a select group of people. This data should not be projected to be the attitude of the population as a whole. In other words, it is important to keep in mind that even if a focus group feels positive about a product concept, it may not do well in the market. The proper way to use focus group data is in conjunction with other types of market research data. It can be used to confirm quantitative research numbers or suggest that the quantitative data is not picking up a crucial element that may block a product's success.

· They can begin to influence one another

Some topics in this essay:
Stewart Shamdasani, Wednesday-- Claim--, Interview Content, Wide Web, Effective Moderator, Applications Focus, Facilitator Moderator, Berhardt Goldstrucker, Cappella Palmer, Bauman Adair, focus ·, et al, · focus, market research, on-line focus, inc ·, conducting focus, focus focus, stewart shamdasani 1990, conduct focus, average cost, et al 1988, focus companies conduct, experimentation improve practice, · relative cost,