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Why do we buy certain products
or choose certain brands?

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This is the sort of question advertisers
have always asked,

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and there are no easy answers.

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However, there is a handy tool
that helps companies explore this

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and similar questions,

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and it's called the focus group.

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Until the 1940s, market research
was often quantitative

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using things like sales figures
and customer polls to track consumption.

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But this changed during World War II.

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Sociologists Robert Merton
and Paul Lazarsfeld

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set out to learn how unprecedented
exposure to wartime propoganda

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was affecting the public.

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Instead of polling large numbers of people

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with straightforward questions
and quantifiable answers,

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the researchers conducted 
in-person interviews,

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sometimes with small groups,

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engaging them in more open discussions.

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Later, this method was picked up
by the advertising industry

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with the help of consultants,

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like Austrian-born psychologist
Ernest Dichter,

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who first coined the term "focus group."

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This new technique was a type
of qualitative research

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focused on the nature 
of people's preferences and thoughts.

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It couldn't tell marketers what percentage
of people buy a certain product or brand,

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but it could tell them more about
the people who do,

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their reasoning for doing so,

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and even the unconscious motivations
behind those reasons.

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Rather than providing definite conclusions
for business and sales,

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focus groups would be used
for exploratory research,

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generating new ideas for products

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and marketing based on deeper
understanding of consumer habits.

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For example, early focus groups found that
contrary to popular opinion at the time,

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wives often had more influence than their
husbands when choosing which car to buy,

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so Chrysler shifted gears by marketing
cars directly to women.

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And Dr. Dichter himself conducted
focus groups for Matel

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to learn what girls wanted in a doll.

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The result was the original Barbie doll.

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So how does a focus group work?

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First, companies recruit between
six and ten participants

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according to specific criteria
that meet their research objectives.

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They could be mothers of children
between five and seven,

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or teenagers planning to buy
a new phone in the next three months.

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This is often done through professional
recruiters who manage lists of people

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who've agreed to participate in
focus groups for payment or other rewards.

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During a session, participants are asked
to respond to various prompts

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from the group moderator,

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like sharing their opinions
on a certain product,

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or their emotional reactions
to an advertisement.

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They may even be asked to do
seemingly unrelated tasks,

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like imagining brands as animals in a zoo.

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The idea is that this can reveal 
useful information

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about the participant's feelings

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that traditional questions 
might not get to.

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Beyond these basics,
many variations are possible.

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A focus group may have two
or more moderators

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perhaps taking opposite sides
on a question,

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or a researcher might be hidden
in the focus group

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unknown to other participants to see
how their answers can be influenced.

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And the whole process may also
be observed by researchers

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through a one-way mirror.

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But although they can provide
valuable insight,

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focus groups do have their limitations,

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and one of the main ones is that
the simple act of observing something

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can change it.

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This principle is called 
observer interference.

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The answers participants give

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are likely to be affected 
by the presence of the researchers,

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social pressure 
from the rest of the group,

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or simply knowing that they're taking
part in a focus group.

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And because researchers often use
a small sample size in a specific setting,

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it's hard to generalize their results.

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The findings that researchers do reach
from focus groups

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are often tested through experiments
and data gathering.

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Those put numbers on questions like
how many potential customers there are

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and what price they'd be willing to pay.

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This part of the process changes
as technology evolves.

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But focus groups have remained
largely the same for decades.

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Perhaps when it comes
to the big, important questions,

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there's no substitute for people
genuinely interacting with each other.