Focus group moderators work with market research companies to guide groups of participants in discussing their opinions and values about products and services. They require skills in interviewing, psychology, and human resources, and may benefit from training with a market research firm. Inexperienced moderators can learn from more experienced ones.
Market research is a growing industry offering exciting job opportunities for focus group moderators. Moderators work with qualitative research managers to engage focus group participants enough to start talking about their ideas and other pertinent information from the study. In order to become a focus group moderator, it is important to understand what the job entails, as well as the special skills and training required to be successful in this occupation.
Focus groups are effective tools for measuring consumers’ opinions and values about various products and services they use. Market research companies use qualified facilitators, called focus group moderators, to guide these groups in order to gain cooperation from the participants. In addition, focus group moderators work closely to ensure that the necessary data is obtained to better understand the minds of consumers, which leads to better development and services.
As a general rule, focus group moderators come from a background of wanting to understand people on a deeper level. To become a focus group moderator, an interest in market research, human resources, and interpersonal studies is essential. A focus moderator’s job requires being able to effectively interview group participants using a variety of techniques and get them excited about talking about their ideas in a group setting.
While a college or university degree is not required to work as a focus group moderator, it may help to have a background in psychology, research, or human resources to have more developed skills. Focus groups can be challenging; therefore, it takes an intuitive person to manage the whole process as a moderator between the market research company and the subjects. Also, being able to recruit quality participants can be a crucial aspect of being a focus group moderator.
To become a focus group moderator, a period of training with a market research firm is generally recommended. Learning sound skills, market research methodology, and effective techniques for facilitating groups of people are all important aspects of this training. Focus group moderators may also choose to work as a team during the first few groups in order to work together with other more experienced focus group moderators.
Some people become focus group moderators working in other forms of market research or the social sciences. These jobs may include roles as telephone surveyors, survey recruiters, data analysts, or online survey associates. Over time, as focus groups are conducted, inexperienced moderators can accompany more experienced moderators to develop skills to do this on an ongoing basis.
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