JOUR 651 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Ernest Dichter, Focus Group
11 Feb 2020
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Document Summary
This is the sort of question that advertisers have always asked, and there are no easy answers. However, there is a handy tool that helps companies explore this and similar questions called the focus group. Until the 1940s, market research was often quantitative, using things like sales figures and customer polls to track consumption. Sociologists robert merton and paul lazarsfield set out to learn how unprecedented exposure to wartime propaganda was affecting the public. Instead of polling large number of people with straightforward questions and quantifiable answers, the researchers conducted in-person interviews, sometimes with small groups, engaging them in more open discussions. Later, this method was picked up by the advertising industry. With the help of consultants, like austrian-born psychologist ernest dichter, who first coined the term-focus group. This new technique was a type of qualitative research focused on the nature of peoples preferences and thoughts.
