Discussion guide
The document that orders the session into blocks, each with its goal, its questions and its minutes.
Why does it matter for a brand?
The guide is where the brand's decision turns into questions. If it is poorly built, the session can be lively and still fail to answer what had to be decided. It is also what makes groups comparable: if every group goes through the same blocks in the same order, the differences between groups come from the people and not from how each conversation was led.
How does WAV handle it?
We build the guide from the decision, in blocks with a goal, questions and minutes, for sessions of 90 to 120 minutes. It sets when each stimulus is shown and when each person writes before talking. There is a neutral version to use in the focus group discussion guide template.
What should you ask before a study?
- Does each block of the guide answer part of my decision?
- How many minutes does each block get, and what gets cut if the conversation runs long?
- Will every group go through the same blocks in the same order?
This term is part of the qualitative research glossary, which defines the fifteen terms that come up in any study; it is most closely related to moderator, stimulus and nominal group technique. To see it applied, browse the sample report, built from a fictional study: it is the same format a client receives.