Focus Groups are small group discussions with typically 8 to 12 people who are led by a moderator. Other qualitative research designs include one-on-one executive interviewing and large group studies. All have the presence of a moderator or interviewer in common, whose role it is to follow a discussion guide designed to help elicit the information required by the client. Discussions or interviews usually last 90 to 180 minutes and participants are usually given an honorarium for their time. This technique is superior for gaining an in-depth understanding of how people feel about a particular issue or topic because it allows for exploration of why respondents gave the answer they did. Qualitative research also allows the client an opportunity to discover the arguments, statements, and messages that will persuade participants of another point of view.

Often, multiple discussions or interviews are completed for validation purposes and to provide enough information to quantify findings.

To gain an accurate understanding of how the population feels about a particular issue, it is essential that individual values and beliefs be measured without peer influences. This can be accomplished by having participants respond to questions about a topic in a written exercise before discussion about the topic. Besides providing more valid information for quantifying attitudes, the results establish a baseline against which changes in opinion during the discussions can be measured.