nterviewees representing a specific public.Newsom goes on to state that the key to the session's success is the moderator, who must be a skillful interviewer, adept at keeping the conversation moving and tactful when acting as referee or devil's advocate. These sessions can last for several hours and are generally video taped while being monitored by a live viewer. This enables the live viewer to interject questions via the interviewer by passing a note or conversing during a break. Five steps generally followed in focus groups are: (1) Define the problem to be solved; (2) choose the part of the problem to be looked at by the participants; (3) decide how many focus groups are needed and choose the participants; (4) work out all the details of the session; and (5) prepare all material that the group will need. An example of focus groups being used by a company is a case involving FSI. FSI was experiencing a large turnover rate in the position of Branch Manager Trainee. According to Schoeppel, that rate ranged from 48% to 63% annually between 1981 and 1990. This was, however considered an industry standard, but it did create a strong financial burden and inhibited the growth of FSI. There were several measures taken to build a new program for training, management, and retention. One such element was the use of focus groups comprised of district sales managers to analyze the program. Schoeppel shows that these focus groups were held to enlist support for and ideas about the new program, and to identify and discuss in detain the characteristics they thought were needed to be a successful branch manager. The end result was a questionnaire that was given to branch managers to help assess what characteristics were needed for success in the position of Branch Manager Trainee.Test MarketingTest marketing is one phase of this process that is closer to the end of the research cycle. This is where an organization launches a program or...
