One of my favorite scenes in The Princess Bride is the wrestling match between the Man in Black and Fezzik. The much larger Fezzik realizes that fighting one person calls for different moves than taking on a group.
That scene recalls the shift qualitative research experienced at the onset of the COVID pandemic. Before then, in-person focus groups were a mainstay. Moderators were practiced at leading discussions among half a dozen people, maintaining the group’s energy, managing dominant personalities, and drawing out quieter participants.
The pandemic moved much of that work online, and in-depth interviews became far more common.
Researchers adapted by strengthening their one-on-one interviewing skills. The words of Fezzik could have been spoken by a seasoned practitioner: “You use different moves when you’re [interviewing] half a dozen people than when you only have to be worried about one.”
In-person groups, home visits, and retail research have since returned alongside online methods. Researchers moving between formats need to remember that a good interview and a good group discussion require different moves.
I call attention to this because some focus groups now feel like concurrent IDIs. Each participant gets a turn, but there is little interaction between them. All the ingredients for a group discussion are present, yet the conversation never develops.