pink-book

• Stage 2—to determine whether your
materials communicate the intended
messages effectively and persuasively
• Stage 3—to understand why the program
is or isn’t working as expected
• Stage 4—to learn more about what
worked and what didn’t, and why certain
outcomes occurred
Focus groups and in-depth interviews are
the most common methods used in
qualitative communication research.
However, there are many innovative
methods, some described here, that can
help you learn about an audience. Because
the methodologies for each are very similar,
they are discussed together here, using
instructions for focus groups as a guide.
About Focus Groups
Working from a discussion guide, a skilled
moderator facilitates a 1- to 2-hour
discussion among 6 to 10 participants,
which can be conducted either in person or
by telephone (ideally in person). The
moderator keeps the session on track while
participants talk freely and spontaneously.
As new topics related to the material
emerge, the moderator asks additional
questions to learn more.
Common Uses
• Developing a communication strategy:
—Learning about feelings, motivators,
and past experiences related to a
health topic
—Exploring the feasibility of various
potential actions (from the intended
audience’s viewpoint)
—Identifying barriers to those actions
—Exploring what benefits the intendedaudience
members find compelling and
what results they expect from taking a
particular action
—Learning about the intended-audience’s
use of settings, channels, and activities
—Capturing the language used by the
intended audience to discuss issues
• Exploring reactions to message concepts
(concept testing):
—Identifying concepts that do or do not
resonate and understanding why
—Triggering the creative thinking of
communication professionals
—Illustrating to others how the intended
audience thinks and talks about a
health issue
• Developing hypotheses (or broad issues)
for quantitative studies and identifying the
range of responses that should be
included in closed-ended questionnaires
WORKING WITH MARKET RESEARCH PROFESSIONALS
You may need to hire or contract with two kinds of market research professionals as you
design, conduct, and analyze your concept and materials testing:
1. Someone to design the research and data instruments (e.g., questionnaires, discussion
guides, screeners), to analyze the results, and to prepare a report
2. A vendor to handle the fieldwork (i.e., recruiting and hosting focus groups;
administering telephone, mail, or in-person surveys)
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