March 24, 2008

Tips for recruiting focus group participants

One of the biggest challenges of conducting employee focus groups is recruiting the right set of participants. While the easiest way to select participants may be to invite people you know, doing so won’t give you an accurate representation of opinions.

Follow these five tips for a more scientific approach and your next focus groups will produce the quality data you need:

1. Set the target. Each focus group should include 10 to 12 employees. More than that and there won’t be enough opportunity for everyone’s voice to be heard. Less than that and the “conversation” will be constrained, since participants tend to agree when the group is not diverse.


2. Over invite. In order to get 10 to 12 participants, you need to double the invitation list (20 to 24) to account for schedule conflicts and no-shows.


3. Mix it up. Assuming your topic touches the entire organization, be sure to invite randomly selected employees from a variety of levels, business areas and locations. Ideally, your sample should be representative of the organization.


4. Consider demographics. In some cases, it may be appropriate to conduct focus groups with specific segments of your company. For example, if you’re exploring HR initiatives and planning targeted messages, it could be beneficial to separate generations (separate Baby Boomer and Gen X groups, for instance).


5. Time it just right. An invitation to participate should be sent three weeks before the focus group. If the timing is shorter, calendars tend to be booked. If it’s sent four weeks in advance (or more), employees are hesitant to commit since “something else may come up.”