Using focus group methods to improve students’ design project research in schools: Drawing parallels from action research at undergraduate level

Focus groups are increasingly used in industry to elicit data on product users' less tangibleneeds and associated product symbolism . This can have a considerable impact on a product'ssubsequent sales and hence is commercially extremely valuable design research.This paper provides an overview of an action research project which placed both a designerand an undergraduate designer, rather than a market researcher in direct contact with users infocus groups. The aim of the work was two-fold: firstly to develop a protocol for a designerto manage focus groups effectively, and secondly to see if this experience could improve thedesigner’s ability to empathise with a range of users (socio-economic, culture, gender, age orabilities). In reporting the above, the paper also attempts to extrapolate the findings to aschools context; could focus group methods be used be used by students at a school levelboth as a vehicle for design research and as a learning tool?This paper provides a background to focus group methods, together with their advantages andlimitations. The action research project is described and three case studies within it areoutlined. The protocols developed are described. The final section of the paper looks at thedegree to which this work could be extrapolated to schools level design work both in theUnited Kingdom and internationally.