TY - JOUR
T1 - Focus groups to support the industrial/product designer
T2 - a review based on current literature and designers' feedback
AU - Bruseberg, Anne
AU - McDonagh-Philp, Deana
N1 - ID number: ISI:000172960200004
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Focus groups are widely used within human factors, social sciences and market research. Whilst user-research methods may be familiar to other disciplines, conventional design training has not, until recently, incorporated such activities. With the increased awareness for the necessity to elicit user needs beyond the functional, design research is becoming more established. However, there is a significant gap in training material for design research. This paper will review the scope of application of focus group techniques, with particular emphasis on the suitability of focus groups for use by industrial/product designers, based on the current literature and designer feedback from two case studies.
AB - Focus groups are widely used within human factors, social sciences and market research. Whilst user-research methods may be familiar to other disciplines, conventional design training has not, until recently, incorporated such activities. With the increased awareness for the necessity to elicit user needs beyond the functional, design research is becoming more established. However, there is a significant gap in training material for design research. This paper will review the scope of application of focus group techniques, with particular emphasis on the suitability of focus groups for use by industrial/product designers, based on the current literature and designer feedback from two case studies.
KW - focus groups
KW - user-centred designing
KW - design research
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-6870(01)00053-9
U2 - 10.1016/S0003-6870(01)00053-9
DO - 10.1016/S0003-6870(01)00053-9
M3 - Article
VL - 33
SP - 27
EP - 38
JO - Applied Ergonomics
JF - Applied Ergonomics
SN - 0003-6870
IS - 1
ER -