The Healthcare Intelligence Hub E-Newsletter
Data / Empowering High Performance
Seven Tips for Success with Online Bulletin Board Focus Groups
Laurie Gee, Vice President, ResearchNovember 9, 2010
In a nutshell, online bulletin board focus groups are extended focus groups that take place in cyberspace. Driven by a skilled moderator, research questions are posted online on two or three different days typically during a five- to seven-day period. Participants typically have two to three business days to respond to each set of questions on the bulletin board's secure website. This is at once an online "depth" interview, given that the moderator can probe back and forth privately with a single respondent, and an open group that enables peer-to-peer interaction.
Online bulletin board focus groups may seem simplistic at first glance, but there are several secrets to success that can be used to maximize the outcome of projects using this deceptively simple tool - and, more importantly, the value provided to the end client.
1. First, be as casual and conversational as possible, and try to make it fun!
2. Let participants know the moderator is present - from the beginning. They will often engage in a more meaningful way when they know their insights are being read, probed and appreciated. Follow up in a timely manner on any questions participants pose. Thank the participants often as a group, and also be sure to praise any individual who offers particularly insightful posts.
3. Set realistic expectations with participants. This begins upfront in the recruiting process by accurately estimating the total extent of involvement required by each participant - often 60 minutes or more over the course of the study. Any individual's share can be increased, however, if the moderator desires more information on a particular topic, or needs to request clarification or additional information.
When additional probes are necessary, Porter Research makes it easy by sending a customized email to each respondent offline indicating, by question number, which items he/she needs to revisit and respond to. On occasion, the research team may also slightly extend the total number of days the board is open to accommodate late-breaking client needs, or participants who have not finished by the initial deadline. In general, Porter Research has not found this bothersome to participants, who tend to have meaningfully engaged by this point in the process. Just the opposite-they often thank us for the opportunity to participate!
4. Monitor the responses multiple times a day, every single day. Despite best efforts to craft meaningful research questions, on occasion participants don't respond in the context or depth intended. Constant monitoring of responses as they are being collected enables a prompt reach back to the participant to request fill-in of the missing information.
5. Encourage peer interaction. Most boards are set up to solicit "uninfluenced" responses, whereby each participant must answer a given question before gaining access to peer responses. Once an individual's response to a question is submitted, any peer responses to the same question will appear. Participants may at first be reluctant to engage with anonymous strangers, but often initiate meaningful dialogue once one participant takes that first step. Because participants work at different speeds, the moderator should also encourage participants to go back and review new posts from their peers - and guide them specifically to the question(s) of particular interest. This peer interaction should be encouraged by the moderator - both in part of the initial written instructions, and with reminders on a daily basis or as appropriate during the study. Praise this behavior when it happens! As one participant put it recently in closing comments, "Thanks for an interesting survey.... I was somewhat relieved to interact with others and know that we weren't too far behind where other people are in this journey!"
6. Hold client review sessions every single day as the board is fielding. Set the expectation that the supplier research team will have reviewed all new responses since the last call, but that client stakeholders will have done so as well. This enhances the quality of the study by ensuring the right data is being collected, and enables early indication that new issues have emerged that may require additional, unexpected probes. (Daily conversations have positive client-relationship building impacts as well!)
7. Offer proper incentives according to respondent level or role, and the effort and time required to participate. Communicate that honorariums can only be paid upon completion of the entire study, and pay them promptly upon conclusion of the research.
Want to learn more? Check out " Research can be Fun and Easy with Bulletin Board Focus Groups."
Tweet
