by Philip Lee
If you would compare a Focus Group in America, in Singapore and in Japan, you will find it very different.
Difference between focus groups in various countries
America: Participants prefer to offer opposing strong opinions if they hate or love a subject, arguments may arise, and there may be more than 1 participant speaking at the same time. Participants may listen and participate to a topic of interest, then be distracted later.
Singapore: Participation is more orderly, with each taking turns to speak and may require prompting from facilitator if certain participants are shy. Certain participants whose views are objected may sometimes feel offended until facilitator assures participants that this is part of a focus group where all opinions and ideas are valid. If the agreed time is up, participants will start to be restless.
Japan: Participants are more reserved, very polite, moderate in their answers, not overly expressive, listen attentively to others and would not offend another participant. The participants are less spontaneous and may tend to voice similar opinions or give slight variations in opinions. Full concentration in the discussion is expected.
Advantages of Focus Group in Japan
There are various research methods to understand the customer better.
So why select a Focus Group method especially when it is more challenging in Japan?
If you would compare a Focus Group in America, in Singapore and in Japan, you will find it very different.
Difference between focus groups in various countries
America: Participants prefer to offer opposing strong opinions if they hate or love a subject, arguments may arise, and there may be more than 1 participant speaking at the same time. Participants may listen and participate to a topic of interest, then be distracted later.
Singapore: Participation is more orderly, with each taking turns to speak and may require prompting from facilitator if certain participants are shy. Certain participants whose views are objected may sometimes feel offended until facilitator assures participants that this is part of a focus group where all opinions and ideas are valid. If the agreed time is up, participants will start to be restless.
Japan: Participants are more reserved, very polite, moderate in their answers, not overly expressive, listen attentively to others and would not offend another participant. The participants are less spontaneous and may tend to voice similar opinions or give slight variations in opinions. Full concentration in the discussion is expected.
Advantages of Focus Group in Japan
There are various research methods to understand the customer better.
So why select a Focus Group method especially when it is more challenging in Japan?
- Interact with the participants, pose follow-up questions or ask questions that probe more deeply to understand customer perspective rather than read survey data.
- Allow customers time to understand the questions with interaction with other participants so they have time to warm up to share their opinions.
- Group dynamics can generate new thinking about a topic.
- Get information from non-verbal responses, such as facial expressions or body language.
- Information is provided more quickly than if people were interviewed separately.
- Allow the client to watch behind a one-way mirror to probe the discussion further.
- As the quality of discussion is important, a clear set of selection criteria of participants ensures the client profiles each client type well.
Key Success Factors for Focus Groups in Japan
For best results, focus groups need dedicated preparation and experience, definitely much more in Japan.
- Local Japanese moderators if the participants are native Japanese to give a comfort level that the moderator will understand their opinions and to ensure they share their opinions based on the Japanese market and not generalize.
- Limit of 2 hours to avoid fatigue since focus group may start at 7pm due to commute time
- Participant group need to be selected well within similar age groups, backgrounds to ensure trust can be built and participants can share openly.
- Emphasize at the beginning that variety of opinions are appreciated and participants need not worry to offend another.
- Moderator to ensure all participants take turns to speak in a circle especially in first 30 minutes with fairly easy questions yet pertinent to the topic.
- Ask the participants to do an assignment before the focus group with list of questions related to the topic to obtain original opinions from the participants before they listen to others' opinions during the focus group
- Depending on the topic, have a scap book assignment with lots of photos and pictures selected by the participant where the participants create a power point slide before the focus group and the best scrap book wins a prize or additional cash incentive. Give the participants time to speak about their scap book during the focus group to improve commitment to contribute as each participant will see the tangible contibution of each participant.
- Phrase questions carefully and intelligently so it is not too open ended, develops in depth and allow for gradual probing to better understand opinions of each participant. If questions are too open ended and less specific without clear instructions, the participants may be unsure of the question and not speak up.
- Use many media aids, pictures, concept boards, advertisement charts with clear Japanese labels so participants understand the context and have a good understanding of definition of concepts introduced to them.
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