e-consultation

the benefits of the focus group approach for rich response

Focus groups, now in regular use in both public and private sector, can overcome many of the disadvantages associated with more traditional methods of consultation. This definition of a focus group (Krueger 1994) outlines the benefits.

"A focus group is a carefully planned discussion designed to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment. It is conducted with approximately 7 to 10 people by a skilled interviewer. The discussion is comfortable and often enjoyable for participants as they share their ideas and perceptions. Group members influence each other by responding to ideas and comments in the discussion."

Ideas generation, where participants discuss a specified problem with a view to identifying how it could be solved, is a particularly strong benefit of the focus group approach to consultation. Participants are usually paid for their time or at least receive their expenses. This moves some way to making them feel their contributions are valued.

Both public and private sector continue to press for more and more consultation exercises. If the citizen/consumer is to be persuaded of the validity of their participation in the consultation process dynamically new consultation procedures will be needed to produce the qualitative data most usually associated with costly processes such as focus groups and one to one interviews.