How can you ensure your focus group report is unbiased?

it is important to use a diverse and representative sample, ask neutral and open-ended questions, maintain confidentiality and anonymity, use multiple researchers, triangulate data, consider alternative perspectives, and have the report peer-reviewed.

*Situación actual* *Interno (contar con recursos de información: Análisis de información Nielsen, Bimsa, Kantar, etc) *Externo (Noticia o información mundial que podría impactar de manera directa e indirecta , un ejemplo: los costos de maquinaria y equipo, materia prima importada, etc). *Conocer Mercado Meta* Es valioso salir al mercado, visitar clientes, escuchar consumidores, conocer el proceso de entrega de producto o servicio, tanto interno como externo. *Plan de Acción* En conjunto con las áreas involucradas en el Plan Estratégico y Táctico se debe implementar la técnica SMART. *Ejecución y Re planteamiento* Recuerda que la ejecución triunfa sobre el poder de la información, la información no es poder sin acción.

Make sure you recruit the right participants (your screener is critical) and you have an adequate number of groups to cover your client's market segments. Beware of "Group Think" which is where one participant says something and the rest agree. Be careful to have the moderator get to the participants emotional basis for their decisions. Don't accept what they say at face value. Careful how you mix groups. In some circumstances gender or age can affect your results. And last, the person who writes the report needs to back up their conclusions with examples. Focus groups are useless if they are not adequate in number and diversity. The guide needs to be proper and not leading. I have had to step in and replace moderators.

Why do you need to focus on objectives? Why not do research with segments who all have an interest in the product. Its just impossible, I hope you read, Camel is the new Unicorn.

When conducting sessions, it is always ebest to conduct a 'double blind' study. What this means is that both the interviewer as well as the interviewee do not know which company or product is being researched. The questions need to be framed in such a way that the identity of the researching company gets camouflaged through set of similar questions comprising of competition company names. This ensures that there is no bias at all in the sessions.

You can mitigate bias by systematically addressing the sources of variability via 3 steps: 1. Start with a credible research design. What are the right questions to ask? Who should facilitate the focus groups? How do you know the transcriptions and coding are accurate? How & from where are focus group participants recruited + selected? Will the discussion be best conducted in person or online and how many focus groups? 2. Triangulate your data. For example, write down your reflections, debrief with peer(s) who can provide an impartial assessment, and compare your independent findings. 3. Disclose in the report #1 & #2 from the above. The transparency helps the reader inspect/decide how likely the report is unbiased. Qual ≠ 'anything goes'!

Start with designing a balanced moderator guide that includes a balanced set of questions to cover different perspectives & aspects of the topic. Avoid leading or loaded questions that may steer participants towards a particular viewpoint. Aim for diversity in your focus group participants. Brief the moderator to be neutral & avoid expressing personal opinions. Be aware of group dynamics that may lead to groupthink. Encourage participants to express their individual thoughts and opinions, even if they differ from the majority. Triangulate data from multiple sources and methods to validate findings and reduce the impact of bias from a single source.

It is important to include minority opinions and outliers in your narrative. For example, "While most participants described product X as different from other products in the category, a few noted that a recent entry, product Y, shares many of the same features."

Ensuring your research study is inclusive at all stages is important to factor in diversity of thought and perspective. Be mindful of unconscious bias from hypothesis setting through to recruitment and project set up. Ensuring diverse moderator teams is important not purely just for the methodology stage but also during analysis. Adding cultural understanding and context is important to ensure relevance. Having a diverse team and inclusion of a range of perspectives at all stages will continually allow for objectivity with depth and relevance.

Ensure a diverse group, use neutral facilitation, ask unbiased questions, maintain participant anonymity, represent all perspectives, be transparent about the purpose, validate data, limit moderator influence, conduct thorough analysis, and seek peer review.