Focus Group Discussion

Week 10, and in today’s lecture Lynn and Brian discussed a new method of collecting data; Focus group discussion. So for the class I played as the facilitator and governed a group of 5 girls, as we talked briefly about games (mainly, trying to pick a game they've all played to discuss it) and we settled on Pokemon.

I asked what they liked about Pokemon, and carefully listened into their conversation as they discussed various gameplay experiences. Used words: "All the same", game immersion, fun and challenging, everybody has a different connection/experience of game e.g. Judy talked about slot machine and gambling aspects, while others spoke of starter Pokemon and others about eggs/breeding. Everyone has a different story, Pokemon games allow this.

When asked what they liked about Pokemon games storyline, "meh" was an answer. It's not a focal point, and while objectives are there, it's not that clear, and the topic started to slide to jokes and the theme song. This shows me as the facilitator story is not an interesting talking point to them, and it's really hard to keep on topic with a group of friends! And not to get involved with discussion!

After generic questions were asked, I added my own, "How do you feel about original Pokemon, and how do you feel about all 649 them now?" And as always answers were varied.

Many pros and cons, a great learning experience, and I wonder if I'll use this method of info gathering in the future :)