Does Your Focus Group Need a Professional Moderator or Facilitator?
After conducting an average of 80 focus groups every year for the past 20 years, here’s what we think . . .
Why Hire a Professional Focus Group Facilitator or Moderator?
1. For plain vanilla, run-of-the-mill, mundane focus groups, any moderator will do.
The problem is there are no plain vanilla, run-of-the-mill, mundane focus groups. There are always, even in the “simplest” of groups, complex issues of getting people in touch with their real thoughts and feelings.
Jeff Anderson creates an atmosphere which allows people to express themselves. He sorts out the relative importance of the overwhelming amount of information that arises, and deals with the multi-million-dollar ideas that may not appear on a discussion guide. Jeff Anderson knows that if a simple, straightforward or consistent answer emerges in a focus group study, that answer is often times incomplete, or it is the response to the wrong questions.
That’s because Jeff Anderson is a true professional focus group consultant – not just a moderator and facilitator. Jeff has conducted an average of 80 focus groups every year for the past 20 years. This level of experience coupled with his marketing and psychology background provide you with strategic solutions to your marketing questions.
2. As a qualitative research consultant, Jeff Anderson can recognize the implications of the findings.
He is better able to turn data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.
- He knows how to develop and test strategies and executions — how to design a study to meet your needs.
- Jeff Anderson can also help you identify and prioritize needs and provide direction for critical marketing decisions.
So, long before he enters the focus group room, he will increase the likelihood of success. Jeff Anderson has marketing savvy and context. He can report on trends in other categories and industries, giving broad perspectives without revealing proprietary information. And this ability to help you get the most from your focus group research is what makes him such a successful focus group moderator and facilitator.
3. As a pro, Jeff will create an atmosphere of psychological safety, encouraging respondents to express divergent or even embarrassing thoughts and feelings.
This is perhaps the most important thing that he does as a focus group facilitator and moderator, yet it is often invisible to participants and clients alike.
4. As a Pro, Jeff is simply better trained.
Anderson is able to draw on a breadth of experience and education (formal or informal) in psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, linguistics, group dynamics, marketing, finance, manufacturing, management and many other fields.
5. Jeff Anderson understands and has respect for the focus group process.
He knows how to handle fluid situations without losing sight of the objectives, even if he must take an approach completely different from what was planned. He expects the unexpected and knows how to take advantage of it. Much like an airline pilot, Jeff has a high level of skill to take advantage of any situation. Most of Jeff Anderson’s clients tell him that the main benefit derived from the focus groups conducted by him was the discovery of the unexpected.
Jeff Anderson is a Professional Focus Group Moderator and Facilitator
As a long time member of the QRCA (Qualitative Research Consultants Association), Jeff Anderson is a true professional focus group consultant – not just a moderator. Jeff has conducted between 120 and 160 groups every year for the past 20+ years. This level of experience coupled with his marketing and psychology background, provide you with solutions to your marketing questions.
