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Why do we buy certain products[br]or choose certain brands?

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This is the sort of question advertisers[br]have always asked,

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and there are no easy answers.

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However, there is a handy tool[br]that helps companies explore this

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and similar questions,

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and it's called the focus group.

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Until the 1940s, market research[br]was often quantitative

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using things like sales figures[br]and customer polls to track consumption.

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But this changed during World War II.

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Sociologists Robert Merton[br]and Paul Lazarsfeld

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set out to learn how unprecedented[br]exposure to wartime propaganda

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was affecting the public.

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Instead of polling large numbers of people

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with straightforward questions[br]and quantifiable answers,

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the researchers conducted [br]in-person interviews,

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sometimes with small groups,

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engaging them in more open discussions.

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Later, this method was picked up[br]by the advertising industry

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with the help of consultants,

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like Austrian-born psychologist[br]Ernest Dichter,

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who first coined the term focus group.

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This new technique was a type[br]of qualitative research

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focused on the nature [br]of people's preferences and thoughts.

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It couldn't tell marketers what percentage[br]of people buy a certain product or brand,

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but it could tell them more about[br]the people who do,

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their reasoning for doing so,

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and even the unconscious motivations[br]behind those reasons.

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Rather than providing definite conclusions[br]for business and sales,

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focus groups would be used[br]for exploratory research,

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generating new ideas for products

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and marketing based on deeper[br]understanding of consumer habits.

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For example, early focus groups found that[br]contrary to popular opinion at the time,

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wives often had more influence than their[br]husbands when choosing which car to buy,

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so Chrysler shifted gears by marketing[br]cars directly to women.

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And Dr. Dichter himself conducted[br]focus groups for Mattel

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to learn what girls wanted in a doll.

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The result was the original Barbie doll.

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So how does a focus group work?

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First, companies recruit between[br]six and ten participants

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according to specific criteria[br]that meet their research objectives.

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They could be mothers of children[br]between five and seven,

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or teenagers planning to buy[br]a new phone in the next three months.

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This is often done through professional[br]recruiters who manage lists of people

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who've agreed to participate in[br]focus groups for payment or other rewards.

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During a session, participants are asked[br]to respond to various prompts

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from the group moderator,

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like sharing their opinions[br]on a certain product,

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or their emotional reactions[br]to an advertisement.

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They may even be asked to do[br]seemingly unrelated tasks,

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like imagining brands as animals in a zoo.

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The idea is that this can reveal [br]useful information

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about the participant's feelings

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that traditional questions [br]might not get to.

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Beyond these basics,[br]many variations are possible.

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A focus group may have two[br]or more moderators

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perhaps taking opposite sides[br]on a question,

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or a researcher might be hidden[br]in the focus group

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unknown to other participants to see[br]how their answers can be influenced.

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And the whole process may also[br]be observed by researchers

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through a one-way mirror.

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But although they can provide[br]valuable insight,

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focus groups do have their limitations,

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and one of the main ones is that[br]the simple act of observing something

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can change it.

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This principle is called [br]observer interference.

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The answers participants give

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are likely to be affected [br]by the presence of the researchers,

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social pressure [br]from the rest of the group,

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or simply knowing that they're taking[br]part in a focus group.

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And because researchers often use[br]a small sample size in a specific setting,

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it's hard to generalize their results.

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The findings that researchers do reach[br]from focus groups

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are often tested through experiments[br]and data gathering.

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Those put numbers on questions like[br]how many potential customers there are

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and what price they'd be willing to pay.

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This part of the process changes[br]as technology evolves.

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But focus groups have remained[br]largely the same for decades.

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Perhaps when it comes[br]to the big, important questions,

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there's no substitute for people[br]genuinely interacting with each other.