How to make money from focus groups

Focus groups are under the qualitative research department within the market research industry. Qualitative research focuses on the feelings and opinions of people. Unlike online surveys and quantitative research, qualitative research is less quantifiable and more difficult to quantify into hard data.

A focus group primarily consists of up to 12 individual respondents gathered into a focus group room. Respondents are normally found through recruiting firms in each local market.

Original article: http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-make-money-from-focus-groups

Focus Groups typically begin at 6pm and 8pm. Groups normally last 2 hours. Focus groups are lead by a moderator who asks questions and tries to open up people to give their thoughts about the subject. The answers to most questions are primarily open ended so quantifying these into rigid groups is more difficult for researchers. There is more reliance on observation and getting the respondents to open up with their opinions within a fluid group of people interacting with each other in a small conference type room.

Local market research recruiting firms are always looking for new people to join their database. If you are interested in joining a database, see if the company’s website has a section where you are able to join. The more information you give them about yourself, the better chance of being called to answer a questionnaire.

If a recruiter firm asks for any kind of money to join, asks for your Social Security number or any kind of financial accounts, just leave. A legitimate recruiting firm does not ask these questions, nor do they expect people to pay to join their database. Just remember that the bigger and more diverse their database becomes, their chances of satisfying their client is improved.

Below is a list of some focus group recruiting firms in local markets.

San Francisco Bay area

Nichols Research - https://secure.nicholsresearch.com/participate/register/

Miami

Ask Miami - http://www.askmiami.com/FocusGroupParticipant.html

Dallas

Market Research Dallas - http://www.marketresearchdallas.com/particpants.shtml

Washington, DC

Shugoll Research - http://www.shugollresearch.com/participate/index.html

Original article: http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-make-money-from-focus-groups

Multiple City Focus Group Research Recruiters

The other market research recruiters have offices all over the country so check out their sites if they have an on office in your city. I’ve found the registration pages for some of the market research recruiters.

AIM Research – http://www.aimresearchnetwork.com/contact_aim.aspx

Murray Hill - http://www.murrayhillcenter.com/index.html

Schlesinger Associates - http://www.schlesingerassociates.com/joindatabase.html

Plaza Research - http://www.plazaresearch.com/

fieldwork - http://www.fieldwork.com/Participants.aspx

Savitz Field and Focus - http://www.savitzfieldandfocus.com

Once a local recruiting firm wins a project, the client sends the recruiter a list of questions that need to be asked to potential respondents. The recruiter calls the people in the database and asks each person these questions to fill their quota. Normally, clients ask for 12 people for each focus group.

The questionnaire commonly contains basic questions – age, gender, ethnicity, and income. Other questions will be dependent on the project. These questions can range from what kind of car do you own, what beer did you purchase within the last 7 days to what was the last movie you watched.

There is a chance of being disqualified from the study by any of these questions, so you might as well tell the truth. People do lie, but remember that the people who work at the focus groups might remember your face from a few days ago and drop you from their database. If the client or moderator remembers you from a previous similar study from a few weeks ago with a different name, you will be nicely removed from the group.

In most cases, recruiting firms try not to use the same people on a recurring basis. There are a few weeks to months of leaving that person alone. Clients don’t like to see the same faces every week.

Well, most focus groups are 2 hours long. They start at 6 and 8pm after work. When you arrive there should be some kind of snacks or sometimes sandwiches are given for the late group.

Original article: http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-make-money-from-focus-groups

You all go into a small conference room with a table in the center. The moderator who will be leading the discussion will come in and sit at one end of the table. Behind her will be a big one-way mirror. Behind the one-way mirror are a couple of clients observing the discussion of the focus group. Most often they’re eating their food and talking about the project. Focus groups are always videotaped so they can watch it later if needed.

For 2 hours the moderator will methodically ask prepared questions to everyone in the group. This is when you the respondent should tell your honest opinion. There is no right or wrong answer to these questions. You get paid whether the client likes your question or loves it.

Once the focus group is over, that’s when you get paid your incentive by the focus group facility.

When you are called to take a questionnaire, you will be told how much the incentive will be if you are accepted to join the focus group. Incentives are between $50 to $300+ dollars.

The hundred dollar plus incentives are mainly for doctors, other people in the medical field, business owners or people who have health issues and other difficult to find respondents. A normal incentive for focus groups would be from $50 to $75, which is still pretty good for 2 hours of expressing your thoughts!