Recruitment involves ensuring that appropriate respondents are identified, invited to participate and ultimately turn up prepared to take part in the group discussion. Recruitment is a very critical element of group discussions and has long been a major quality control issue in the UK marketing research industry. Group discussions are unlikely to achieve their research objectives if the wrong types of participant are recruited, all of the invited participants do not turn up, or they turn up with erroneous preconceptions or expectations.
The research proposal will set out the type of participants required for a group discussion and based upon this the research manager will produce a specification for the recruiting interviewers. For example, if Colgate is researching a new type of toothpaste for sensitive teeth, the specification may request adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who regularly purchase and use specific brands of toothpaste for sens- itive teeth. Care must be taken to ensure that the specification is not so tightly defined that it becomes a very difficult task to find appropriate participants within the short timescales that are frequently imposed. The participants would normally be recruited in street interviews or in doorstep interviews, although telephone interviews or inter- views in stores (or in this case, in dentists’ waiting rooms) could also be used. Members of the public will be screened for their appropriateness using a screening questionnairesimilar to the one set out in Figure 5.1.
In addition to assessing appropriateness to the topic, a screening questionnaire will be used to screen out those potential participants who work in or have some connection with toothpaste manufacturers or the marketing research industry. It will also aim to identify and screen out ‘the professional group discussion participant’. These are individuals, sometimes members of the recruiter’s family or friends who can often be co-opted by less than professional recruiters into groups on a regular
basis to make up the numbers and ease the scale of the recruiter’s task. However, by attending many group discussions, they become atypical and respond differently to stimuli and therefore do not accurately reflect the attitudes and behaviours of the market segment under investigation. The increase in respondent refusal rates can tempt recruiters to co-opt these tame participants. It is therefore important that screening questionnaires are used to ensure that appropriate standards of recruit- ment are maintained. However, it is also important that the researcher makes the recruiter’s job as straightforward as possible by keeping the screening questionnaire
Figure 5.1 Sample screening questionnaire to recruit group participants
Name: Date:
Address: Phone: Time: Interviewer: Good morning /afternoon,
I am ______________ from _____________ Marketing Research Services. We are planning a group discussion on the topic of toothpaste and sensitive teeth. Would you be interested in participating in such a session on ____________ at _____________ ( IF ‘NO’, TERMINATE AND TALLY)
1 Do you regularly purchase any of the following brands of toothpaste? (SHOW LIST OF TOOTHPASTE BRANDS)
YES……….. 1 CONTINUE
NO………... 2 TERMINATE AND TALLY 2 Are you between the ages of 25 and 64?
YES……….. 1 CONTINUE
NO………... 2 TERMINATE AND TALLY 3 Do you live in the Glasgow area?
YES……….. 1 CONTINUE
NO………... 2 TERMINATE AND TALLY
4 Do you or any member of your family work for an advertising agency, a marketing research firm or a company that makes, sells or distributes toothpaste?
YES……….. 1 TERMINATE AND TALLY NO………... 2 CONTINUE
5 When, if ever, did you last attend a marketing research group? _________ (IF LESS THAN 6 MONTHS AGO, TERMINATE AND TALLY)
Group discussions 113
short and simple rather than trying to use it to gather large amounts of additional material on each of the potential participants.
New ‘group discussion’ concerns
A significant number of group discussion participants are repeat attendees, according to a new study that raises questions over how some groups are recruited. The BMRB survey found that 1 in 10 people who had taken part in a group over the past 12 months had done so at least three times that year, while 1 in 100 had clocked up 16 or more visits. The findings suggest that almost one-third of an eight-person group will have attended at least 4 groups in the past year, with one person having attended at least 16. The figures may be overly high, BMRB said, as they suggest more groups are being run in Britain than current estimates. However, they still raise concerns over repeat attendance, the firm added.3
If a respondent meets the criteria on the screening questionnaire they will be invited to participate in the group discussion, which may take place anything up to a week after recruitment. If the recruit accepts the invitation they will often be given an invitation card setting out the venue, time, contact numbers, etc. However, this does not guarantee that the recruit will attend the group. One of the biggest problems in undertaking group discussions is the high incidence of ‘no-shows’. People say they will attend, but then fail to appear because they have something more interesting to do or experience ‘cold feet’ about attending the group. Why does this happen? In trying to understand people’s attitudes towards why they do or do not take part in a group discussion, it is useful to consider the typical negative attitudes that a potential participant may have:
• I am worried that it is all a con-trick. • I won’t have anything useful to say. • I am going to feel embarrassed.
• I am worried that they are going to try and sell me something.
• I don’t know anybody there and I don’t know what is going to happen. • Why should I spend my valuable time helping with research?
• It will probably be very boring.
• I did one before and I didn’t enjoy the experience. • I might be the only person there.
It is the role of the recruiter to reassure the potential participant that it is vitally important they attend as their input will be crucial to improving the particular prod- uct or service in question. Incentives of financial rewards or gifts and vouchers will frequently be offered to demonstrate the value put on the participant’s contribution in both input and time. This would be promised at the recruitment stage and given to the participant when they attend the group discussion. Recruiters should also explain what will happen, the typical number of people attending and the type of relaxed atmosphere that will exist. The legitimacy of the exercise can be communicated
through explaining the links of the recruiter to professional bodies such as the Market Research Society and through using a respectable or high profile venue.