[Sigia-l] Alternative Focus Group Methods

[Vanessa Wolfe-Coote]

I have found it most successful to use a combined approach. 

Commonly, the reasons I need to give pre-defined tasks to users are to
enable comparisons between different types of users, to test particular
features of a product/prototype, and to assess how effectively users are
able to achieve business-critical goals. 

Hovever, I also have found it crucial to understand the user's
subjective needs and goals, and this can be achieved through a more
open-ended questioning described in the Listening Labs article. Doing so
allows you to test your 'hypotheses' of how relevant/important the tasks
you have set are. Even in products designed through a user-centred
process, user goals and priorities can change over time (this obviously
depends on the nature of the product).

Vanessa