First, locate the following articles through EBSCOhost:
1. Mcquarrie, E. F. (1989). The practical handbook and guide to focus group research/focus groups: A guide for marketing and advertising professionals. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 26(1), 121-125.
2. Herich, D. (2015). 7 reasons to add focus groups to your marketing mix. Global Cosmetic Industry, 183(4), 50-51.
Second, document the steps you will take to organize a “focus group” for the product you are developing for this course.
Write 2-3 pages that include a discussion on:
• Who you would invite (if this were a “real” focus group)
• What questions you would ask (provide 5 sample questions) – Please use information from previous papers attached on EchoSense as MKG530_RyalsW1-6
• What information you hope to gain
• How you would compensate the participants for their time (if this were a “real” focus group)
• The logistics of conducting the focus group (refer to the assigned articles for ideas)
• How you plan to record the proceedings of the focus group
• Third, conduct the focus group with family or friends to obtain some sample data for analysis. Upon completing the focus group, discuss the process of conducting the focus group along with your findings in approximately 2-3 pages.
• What issues arose during your sample focus group with family/friends
• How did the focus group participants interact with each other?
• What challenges did you face regarding data collection and analysis?
• What insights did you gain upon analyzing the results of the focus group?
• The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:
• Include cover page and reference page.
• At least 80% of your paper must be original content/writing.
• No more than 20% of your content/information may come from references.
• Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) in the paper and list on a reference page in APA style.
References must come from sources such as, scholarly journals found in EBSCOhost, CNN, online newspapers such as, The Wall Street Journal, government websites, etc. Sources such as, Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, blogs, etc. are not acceptable for academic writing.