9 Jan 2012

Continuing 6a) and 6b) Pilot Focus group

l  Focus group:

After I conducted my pilot survey and interview, I decided to gather my information further by piloting the tool ‘focus group’. I arranged this group with 4 friends who I did the same makeup course with before, my current classmate from my styling course, my freelance colleague from the fashion design field and finally a friend of mine from the media&marketing background. The reason of choosing those people was that all were trained professionals and came from both same and different careers.  Two of them are university students and the other two are working professionals. We were focusing on the questions I asked in my survey and the interview and particularly discussing the transition from training to career…such as the differences between being a student and a professional and challenges before career starts; areas that potentially will work for later; consolidating techniques/skills and building up confidence when start working in the industry; networking and qualities to have and maintain to be successful in your career etc. During the discussion, we were exchanging and sharing thoughts and experiences altogether.

Merits:

Due to the number of people and the resonance we had between in the group made me able to gather a variety of opinions and ideas rather than the view of just one person like in the interview. Also, it was dynamic in the atmosphere and clear to follow up people’s thoughts and more convenient and efficient to ask questions and debate if resonances or divarication come up. 

Limits:

l  It was much harder to steer the discussion back to my questions with this number of people
l  The discussion moved too quickly so it was hard to take any detailed notes
l  The conversation tended to go round in circles rather than reaching any solid conclusions
l  It was time consuming process to organize everyone getting together at one time

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