Focusing on your business: focus groups help businesses plan for the future.

• Author: Campbell, Melissa

Eight men and women sat around the table, sometimes griping, sometimes complimenting. They were aware that everything they did was being recorded through the microphones that sat on the table and by a camera they couldn't see. They were even told they were being watched by people sitting in a room on the other side of a big one-way mirror.

This was a very select group of people, all of whom agreed to subject themselves to this scrutiny and debate. By meeting a set of specific criteria, they became the select few chosen from hundreds of potential candidates. The pool of potentials was screened to weed out specific uncommonalities and extreme biases.

In the end, the chosen ones became part of a focus group.

This day, the group discussed their thoughts about and experiences with telecommunications service in Alaska. The discussion was lead by leading researcher Jean Craciun of Craciun Research Group Inc., and was paid for by Alaska Communications System.

Changes were expected in the Alaska telecommunications market, and in light of increasing competition from companies offering these services-which include Internet and wireless, longdistance and local phone services-ACS wanted to get an idea of how the public feels.

"A new competitor is coming to town, so we wanted a focus group to look at the market so we could evaluate what we are doing right and wrong, and how to convert some of those customers," said Ruth Sandstrom, vice president and general manager of ACS Wireless. "You tend to track along thinking you know what is going on, but sometimes it's nice to have a good look."

And there is little argument around the state that Craciun is the best in the field of qualitative research.

THE RESEARCHER

Craciun is the only full-service research company in Alaska, offering focus groups, surveys, in-depth analysis and recommendations. It is the only research group in the state that has everything in-house for such work: the hi-tech audio and video equipment, the observation and conference rooms, as well as teleconference equipment for longdistance research.

Craciun Research began operations in Anchorage in June 1989, and opened a new office this spring in Washington, D.C. Craciun is a member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, a national not-for-profit association of independent, qualitative researchers. She was involved over the last several months in helping the group design a set of ethical and competency guidelines for conducting such research.

Focus groups are used for...