re generally open-ended. However, Newsom, Turk, and Kruckeberg state that this type of research required highly trained interviewers and skilled analysis. By asking open-ended questions, the interviewer has an opportunity to follow up each answer with a more probing question while not contributing bias to the answers. Newsom sites an example of an organization trying to determine where employer bias might play in the event of employment discrimination by asking a the following question: "If you had two applicants absolutely equal in terms of educational background and experience, and one was a woman or a member of a minority race, or both, which would you hire?" The answer is then interpreted and depending on the employers response, the interviewer is open to several lines of questioning.Adversely, personal interviews can also lead a company down the wrong path. Kotler states that intercept interviews have the drawback of being non-probability samples, and the interviews must be quite short. Such is the case with Coca-Cola in their initial introduction of the New Coke product. Under Project Kansas in 1982, Coke conducted around 2000 interviews in ten major markets. These interviews were conducted on a one-on-one basis to determine if people would be receptive to a new Coke. The results, according to Hartley, showed a willingness to try a new Coke, however other tests disclosed the opposite. Hartley goes on to demonstrate that small consumer panels or focus groups revealed strong favorable and unfavorable sentiments. Focus GroupsFocus groups are a panel of people selected and interviewed as a group. Each member of the group is selected because he or she may be representative of a particular group, market segment, or target. In this way, each individual is likely to have opinions and reactions representative of the group he or she was selected to represent. According to Newsom, generally, a focus group consists of 12 to 15 i...
