Focus groups can work without a moderator, shows research

Moving the moderator to a separate room yields interesting results for researchers Published on Wednesday 15 November 2023 Last updated on Wednesday 15 November 2023 - Focus groups that feed views, experiences and opinions into politics, business and research might yield more open interaction and discussion within groups by moving moderators to a separate room, shows new research. The study developed and tested a novel 'remotely-moderated' focus group method where questions are posed on a screen, and moved along by a moderator watching the group from a different room. Dr Annayah Prosser from the University of Bath's School of Management said: "Without the moderator, the participants seemed particularly willing to go beyond their usual role of answering questions and took over the question-asking role. Group members also extended the reach of questions in interesting ways in situations where discussion stalled. "We found that the groups talked about things we really didn't expect them to, and that we hadn't considered before as a research team. This methodology takes the potential biases of a moderatorquite literallyout of the room and helps us focus on what the group really thinks about an issue." The moderator has long been considered fundamental to the effectiveness of focus groups, probing answers and facilitating discussions, but, equally, researchers question whether they might hamper group interaction or inhibit group dialogue in some contexts. The researchers say a remotely-moderated focus group can help overcome some of the problems a physically present moderator might create, while still incorporating many of the benefits moderation brings.