Focus Group

What is a Focus Group?
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.

Benefits of a Focus Group
Group discussion produces data and insights that would be less accessible without interaction found in a group setting—listening to others’ verbalized experiences stimulates memories, ideas, and experiences in participants. This is also known as the group effect where group members engage in “a kind of ‘chaining’ or ‘cascading’ effect; talk links to, or tumbles out of, the topics and expressions preceding it”


Before the Discussion Group 
When preparing for the focus groups the information and techniques that i had learnt from the previous units about intervieiwing people would come in hand. For example these are students that I have never talked to before, so to make them feel comfortable during the discussion session I will encourage them. in this instance because the recording of the discussion group is not being used for a specific purpose (i.e a promotional video, like before) it doesn't matter if myself or any of the other students asking the questions are heard at the being end, or during.

Planning
We plan to use the zoom H4N microphone to record the discussion group, so that later on we can refer back to it with ease, if we want to quote what somebody said in during the discussion in our essay, we will be able to use the exact quote.

Questions I Had Prepared

• What were your initial thoughts about the music videos?

• Have you ever thought about how music videos portray men, women and sexuality?

• How do you think music videos define and portray "femininity"?

• How do you think music videos define and portray "masculinity"?

• Why do you think graphic images of female sexuality are so common in popular culture?

These were the main question i had prepared to ask the focus group. however if i thought of some along the way, from what they had had been discussed I will right them down and ask them.

Recordings

                    Destiny's Child - Survivor                                  Aphex Twin - Windowlicker 

                            

                            Nelly - Tip Drill                                                   N.E.R.D - Lapdance 

                            

After the Discussion Group
I feel that I obtained a lot of good information, views and opinions from the members of the discussion group; many of them were the same ideas and opinions that i had when viewing the videos. From the discussion group i not have primarcy sources to include in my essay and have a lot of great thoughts from other people that will back up ideas and opinions i have and will include in my essay.