Corona Research conducts focus groups for our clients, offering a full range of services from recruiting to final reporting. We can also assist marketing and public relations professionals with their focus groups, providing the needed facilities and services. Please see our inquiry page if you are interested in learning more about how we can help you.
Key Features of Corona's Focus Group Facility
Location, location, location: We have a convenient, downtown Denver location that is easy to find, right off of the 16th Street Mall, and within just a few blocks of Denver’s new Convention Center. There are several hotels within walking distance.
Focus Group Room: The focus group room, which is equipped with a long oval-shaped table and chairs, comfortably holds the average size group of 8-10 individuals and has capacity for larger groups, as well. Additional space in the room allows for food and drink as well as any props that might be used during the group discussion. Additional lighting in the room allows for clear observation and clear video recording.
Technology: Two cameras and microphones in the focus group room capture all verbal and non-verbal responses by participants. A live feed from this audio and video is transferred to a large screen television in the observer room. Depending on observer preference, proceedings can be viewed via full screen from one camera or via split-screen or picture-in-picture from both cameras. Clients may also choose to operate the cameras for pan/tilt/zoom functionality. Video recording may be done from one or both cameras, and we have the capability to record on both DVD and VHS.
Overall, we have found that our clients prefer this set-up to the traditional one-way mirror approach.
Observer Room: Our observer room holds up to 15 guests comfortably and our capacity to accommodate additional observers can be easily expanded. The observer room can be accessed through a separate entrance from the focus group room.
Corona Staff: Corona staff ensure that the focus group process goes according to the client’s plan and, most importantly, that each client is provided with all of the necessary accessories and services for a comfortable and professional experience.
Key Features of Corona's Focus Group Recruiting
Customization: We recruit for every new study with a tailored approach based on the unique needs of the project and the audience to be recruited. Thus, our focus group participants are all originally recruited; we do not use any “professional” or opt-in research participants. We also do not keep a database of recycled participants, but rather, we are in the process of creating a database of potential participants, recruited through random means and signed up by invitation only.
Thorough Process: After Corona completes the initial recruiting and fills spots for a group, we make two additional contacts for reminder notification. Each participant receives a letter or email (depending on preference) with directions to and the location of our facility. Each participant will also receive a reminder phone call the day before the group session. This process helps to ensure maximum attendance at our groups.
Special Populations: Corona is adept at recruiting special subpopulations based on ethnicity or other characteristics. For example, in terms of ethnicity, we have successfully recruited African Americans, Asian subpopulations, and Hispanics (across varying levels of acculturation and language). We have successfully recruited primary and monolingual Spanish-speaking Hispanic participants for multiple projects.
Special populations recruited by our team range from human resource managers from local companies to pregnant women smokers, chewing tobacco users, and teenagers and parents.
Design, Analysis & Reporting
Since we are a full-service research firm, Corona is accustomed to conducting all aspects of focus group projects, from beginning to end.
Project Design: After fully understanding our client's goals, the Corona team sets out to develop the most appropriate scope of work and corresponding methodology. The number of groups to be conducted, their geographic scope, appropriate venue(s), discussion topics, moderator requirements, proper incentive amounts, and demographic and psychographic make-up of participants are just a few of the factors that are considered. Once an ideal scope of work is established, our firm’s experienced project managers lead the implementation effort to ensure that the research plan is successfully accomplished.
Moderator’s Guide Design: Corona designs each moderator guide based on the research objectives, our own experience, and additional background research performed by the project team. Corona works collaborately with the client as well, submitting drafts for review and working to pare down the guide to fit into an appropriate focus group length.
Analysis:
Once focus groups are completed, Corona's experienced and trained analysts carefully review all recordings and transcripts to cull out predominant themes and patterns in participants' statements, both within and across groups for every segment studied. Our team also takes care to accurately represent the pulse of the group(s), based on both verbal and non-verbal responses. We bolster all findings with verbatim quotes from participants, though we are careful to maintain research ethics by ensuring confidentiality. Our analysis process is also always completely objective and unbiased, as you would expect when hiring a neutral, third-party firm.
Reporting:
Our report will provide a concise, professional, reader-friendly description of the study’s methodology, findings, and conclusions, accompanied by supporting content. Our reports are comprehensive and thorough, with both key findings and detailed findings provided. Key findings are those that are determined to be most relevant and important to the client, given research objectives. Overall, our reports are a reflection of our attention to detail. To see examples of our reports, including focus group reports, please see the Corona on the Web page.
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