Involve the ability to listen closely with full attention, separating the factual from the subjective interpretation. It involves being inclusive, taking in as much as possible, not leaving anything out and not letting an apparently irrelevant comment slide by. Our groups are semi directed, that is, we have a discussion outline but follow the spontaneous threads that respondents themselves introduce, always guiding the discussion back to the key points we need to cover. We use projective techniques extensively. Many hundreds of focus groups for fast moving consumer goods companies as well as service industries and government departments.
We have also conducted groups with indigenous respondents.