Whether to test ideas for new products or services, to uncover attitudes or understand the needs of the consumers, focus groups are a straightforward of achieving whichever objective. This research technique is proved to be a highly insightful for engaging a group of people with a question, product or idea. Bringing together a group to discuss a particular topic and share their stories is a method that can generate rich data in a less resource intensive manner.

The main advantages of focus groups derive from group dynamics that ensures generating more ideas due to mutual stimulation among the participants and more thorough argumentation. Additional benefits are:

• providing a broader range of information;
• in-depth insight into feelings, perceptions and opinions;
• offering the opportunity to seek clarification;
• saving time and money compared to one-on- one methods.