Electronic focus groups: A framework for exploration

As computers and computer communication networks become an increasingly common fixture of public and private lives, they open up new possibilities for changing the nature of interpersonal communication. This paper is concerned with a particular type of group meeting: a focused group interview or focus group. While a review of the literature suggests that focus group practitioners and researchers are aware of and beginning to use technology to enhance their meetings, there has been very little research exploring electronic focus groups. Here we review the existing literature, suggest important dimensions in understanding the impact of technology, and then apply some of the insights gained from Group Support Systems and computer-mediated communication research to this specific type of meeting. Finally, we present a tool called Computer Mediated Dialogue (CMD) which was developed to enable exploration of electronic focus groups.