Saturday, August 27, 2011

Exploratory Research Methodology Example

To understand Hong Kong consumers better, a Singaporean food company plans to do preliminary exploratory research through focus groups. This provides details for a proposal to describe how focus groups can be conducted for the company (e.g. selection criteria for respondents, number of sessions, participants’ profiles, location of study, etc).

The proposed methodology is to combine literature review and a focus group (in-depth) interview process. The purpose of the focus group would be to gather and explore perceptions, thoughts, opinions and preference (i.e. whether Hong Kong consumers would eat Singaporean food, their frequency of eating Singaporean food and its popularity). This would able the company to assess the Hong Kong food and beverage industry with minimum cost and time possible, providing in-depth knowledge about their potential customers and determine if there is a market (opportunity) for the company.

As it is difficult to predict the number of participants that will turn up for the group session, 12 people will be invited. The size of the focus group will consist of 8-12 people, 8 being the minimum and 12 the maximum (i.e. 12 people agree but only 8 people show up). This is to generate the right type of group dynamics/energy necessary for a beneficial group session.

The proposed number of focus group sessions is 4. However, the number of sessions may be continued until the different groups of participants offer no more new ideas, thoughts or feelings. Each session will comprise of 90 minutes, but may be extended to 2 hours. Hence, to encourage participants to attend the scheduled session on time and remind them that their commitment to participate is worth the effort, a $50 incentive will be given to participants... Read more>>

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