Focus groups
Focus groups are a powerful tool for gaining new insight into a prospective audience, but where do you start? For many in the arts and culture sector, understanding visitor motivations, lifestyle habits and consumer responses to everything from brand campaigns to new programming ideas is crucial. Yet, the prospect of organising and running a focus group can feel daunting. This guide removes the guesswork.
We’ll walk you through the essential steps, from planning and recruitment to facilitation and analysis. Whether you're a gallery in Bournemouth, a borough council in London or a theatre company in Dundee, this toolkit will provide the practical advice you need to unlock meaningful conversations and gather the qualitative data needed to shape effective strategy and genuine connection. This is your manual for turning audience opinion into actionable intelligence.
What is a focus group and why are they useful?
A focus group is a facilitated discussion with a small group of people, designed to gather in-depth opinions and perceptions on a specific topic. Unlike surveys, they allow for dynamic conversation, uncovering the 'why' behind audience opinions. For arts and culture organisations, they are invaluable for:
Insight and evaluation: Gaining qualitative feedback on programming or visitor experience
Strategy and branding: Testing new concepts, names, or visual identities before a public launch
Marketing and communication: Understanding lifestyle factors, barriers and motivations to engage with culture, exploring how your messages are received and what language resonates
Stakeholder engagement: Creating a forum for community members to share their perspectives (potentially on development plans), which is often vital for successful placemaking projects.
Planning your focus group: a step-by-step guide
A successful focus group is built on a foundation of meticulous planning. Rushing this stage is a common pitfall that can lead to less compelling insights.
1. Define your objectives
Before you do anything else, you must be crystal clear on what you want to achieve. What is the single most important question you need to answer? Your objectives will dictate every subsequent decision. Start by asking:
What is the core problem or question that needs to be addressed?
How will we use the findings from this research?
Which stakeholder requires this insight - how will it be used, what format is most helpful for them, what is it evidencing?
2. Identify and recruit your participants
The quality of your insight depends entirely on having the right people in the room. Avoid the temptation to simply invite the contacts who are most likely to attend and often have a voice in this discussion. For robust findings, you need a representative sample of your target audience and, in certain instances, need to prioritise the opinions from certain groups in order to better balance the insights that have already been generated.
Potential recruitment approaches:
Community partners: Work with local organisations to connect with specific communities and groups. Build a compelling case why a certain group needs to be heard in this discussion.
Professional recruitment agency: For very specific or hard-to-reach audiences, or if focusing on a geographical area that you do not know very well, an agency can be worth the investment.
Relevant fora and websites: Research into whether the group that you’re looking to engage with already visits a website, discussion group, Substack or destination for advice, information or networking
In certain instances it may be appropriate to use your database or engage in social media outreach but this will only be fruitful in contexts where it is appropriate to survey contacts who already have an existing interest in a specific brand.
Where appropriate, don’t forget to offer a fair incentive for participation. This is particularly relevant in instances where you are talking to residents or community groups who do not have a vested interest in sharing their opinions. This acknowledges the value of the participant’s time and can range from a gift voucher to complimentary tickets or a cash payment.
3. Design your focus group
A focus group can take many forms. It can include semi-structured discussion, it could incorporate creative exercises, it may include discussion in groups or pairs. You could ask your participants to sketch, map, write or build (using Lego blocks, pipecleaners or straws). Whatever exercises you choose to incorporate into the session to surface the insight you are interested in, make sure that you have a dynamic structure and design to the session that you will host. This may involve creating a discussion guide. This is not a rigid script, but a structured list of open-ended questions to guide the conversation. A typical discussion guide flows from broad topics to more specific ones.
Example structure for a 90 minute session:
Welcome and icebreaker (10 mins): Introduce yourself, explain the purpose of the focus group, and ask a simple opening question (e.g., "Tell us about the last cultural event you attended."). This activity should help stimulate the flow of conversation, it will also allow you to be mindful of any group dynamics which could inform how you run the session (who is less likely to contribute, who is very confident and wants to talk frequently).
General topic exploration (20 mins): Discuss broader attitudes towards your chosen topic, allow participants to shape the flow and direction of discussion as much as possible.
Concentrated focus (40 mins): Introduce the core material for discussion (e.g., new branding concepts, programme ideas, marketing materials). Use prompts like "What are your first impressions?", "What words come to mind when you see this?”, “How does this make you feel?” or “Has anything surprised you?”. Ensure that the participants are more focused on the subject at hand during this section. This section may best run in pairs or small group, with each then feeding back their thoughts, reflections and comments to the wider group after an allotted time.
Creative exercise (10 mins): Incorporate an exercise into the session that allows for more freeing creative thinking. Could participants write a postcard from the future about the topic at hand? Could focus group attendees write poems in groups about what you’re discussing.
Wrap-up and summary (10 mins): Summarise the key points you've heard and ask if the summary feels accurate. Thank participants for their time.
Running the session: facilitation best practices
As the facilitator, your role is to guide, not to lead. Your goal is to create a comfortable, transparent and open environment where everyone feels able to contribute honestly.
However there may be times during the focus group where you need to intervene if someone is being too dominant or if the group is focusing on an area out of the scope of your discussion guide. It is a delicate balance! In these instances it is useful to remember employing some key facilitation skills.
Key facilitation skills
Active Listening: Pay close attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues.
Inclusivity: Draw out quieter participants ("Maryam, we haven't heard from you yet, what are your thoughts on this?") and manage dominant voices ("Thank you, John, that's a clear point. I'd like to hear what others think now.").
Neutrality: Never show preference for one opinion over another. Use neutral probes like "Can you tell me more about that?" or "That's an interesting point, does anyone else have a different perspective?".
Time management: Gently keep the conversation on track and ensure you cover all your key questions.
Managing flow/pace: There may be time during the session where something is said that requires deeper consideration and is not given appropriate reflection time. In this case, loop back to it, signpost and give participants adequate space and time (“I’d like to briefly go back to Sam’s point, does anyone have any reflections they would like to share?”)
From conversation to action: analysing and interpreting the results
After the session, the real work begins. You'll have pages of notes or hours of recordings to turn into a coherent story. The goal is not just to report what was said, but to interpret what it means and how it relates to the objectives of the session and your project more broadly.
Start by looking for recurring themes, areas of strong consensus, and points of significant disagreement. Pull out powerful, illustrative quotes to bring the findings to life. Your final report should be a concise summary of the key insights, tied directly back to your initial objectives, with clear recommendations for the next steps. This analysis is a critical part of change management, providing the evidence base needed to move forward with confidence.
Conclusion: unlocking deeper connection
Running a focus group requires careful planning and skilled execution, but the rewards are immense. By listening directly to your audience, you move beyond assumptions and gather the rich, nuanced insight needed to make smarter decisions. This process can generate compelling qualitative data that can support, amplify or bring to life quantitative research findings.
From refining your branding to enhancing your stakeholder engagement, these conversations are fundamental to building a resilient and relevant cultural organisation. They foster a deeper connection with your community and provide the clarity needed for effective leadership.