Focus group recruitment screener: template and key questions
A recruitment screener is the short questionnaire that decides who gets into a focus group. It confirms that each person fits the profile and quota of their group, screens out anyone who does not, and checks that they can put an opinion into words. A poor screener ruins the study before it starts.
What is a recruitment screener for?
A focus group is only as good as the people in the room. If someone who bought the brand last month ends up in the non-customer group, or someone who buys once a year joins the heavy-buyer group, the conclusions blur without anyone noticing. The screener prevents that: it is applied before inviting anyone and confirmed again on the day of the session.
Which quotas should you set before writing the questions?
Write the quotas for each group first, based on the decision behind the study. Then write the questions that fill them. An example for groups of 6 to 8 people:
| Criterion | Customer group | Non-customer group |
|---|---|---|
| Brand used today | The study brand | Another brand in the category |
| Category use | Buys at least once a month | Buys at least once a month |
| Age | A set mix, for example half 25 to 39 and half 40 to 55 | The same mix |
| Gender | A set mix | The same mix |
| Socioeconomic level | Bands defined by the study | The same bands |
Putting customers and non-customers in separate groups is almost always the right call: together, one side tends to go quiet or get defensive.
Which questions go in the screener, and in what order?
Order matters: questions that screen people out come first, so nobody's time is wasted, and questions that reveal the topic of the study come last, so nobody tailors their answers.
- Recent participation. "Have you taken part in a focus group or a research interview in the last six months?". A yes screens out: frequent participants learn to answer the way they think is expected.
- Age and area. To place the quota and confirm they can reach the venue.
- Category use. "How often do you buy or use [category]?", with closed options. Screens out anyone below the minimum.
- Who decides. "Who chooses which [product] your household buys?". You want the person who decides or shares the decision.
- Brand used today. "Which brand do you use today?", open or with a broad list that does not single out the study brand. What the person declares decides whether they join the customer or the non-customer group.
- Brands considered and rejected. Useful for building a non-customer group of people who know the brand but do not choose it.
- Socioeconomic level. Using the classification the study has defined, for example from the occupation and education of the main household earner.
- Articulation question. "In two or three sentences, tell me about the last time you bought [category]." What matters is not what they say but whether they can describe an experience in their own words.
- Availability and consent. Date and time, and notice that the session is recorded and that they will sign a consent form before going in.
Which mistakes should you avoid?
- Revealing the study brand in the first questions: people guess which answer keeps them in.
- Filling quotas overall instead of per group: the totals add up, but one group ends up with a single profile.
- Recruiting exactly the number of people you need: some never show up, so recruit with a margin.
- Not re-checking the screener on the day, with two or three key questions at reception.
How does WAV recruit?
At WAV, recruitment is part of the full study: we set the quotas for each group with you, invite, screen, confirm and report confirmed people against each group's target before fieldwork. The screener questions are checked against the discussion guide, so nobody is asked the same thing twice. In the sample report, built from a fictional study, you can see how every quote carries the profile the screener defined.