Focus groups and survey questions

[John Kupersmith]

I agree with David King's comment that focus groups tell you what people 
like and what they want.  This is really a market research technique, best 
done at the beginning of a project to help establish broad goals.

UC Berkeley started its library website redesign with focus groups of 
students, faculty, and staff.  The report is posted here:
< http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/wag/focus_groups_report_spring2003.html >

Key findings: Participants wanted a site that is rich in content, that 
integrates multiple resources into a single search and/or menu system, and 
that adapts to the needs of users at different skill levels or in different 
disciplines. They also placed a high value on logical organization, 
consistent navigation, uncluttered design, and understandable terminology. 
Their heartfelt and oft-repeated advice to us was "simplify, simplify, 
simplify."  They also tended to conflate all Internet sources, often not 
making distinctions among the Library web site, catalogs, databases, etc.

We weren't able to deliver every feature these folks wanted, but the focus 
group results came up repeatedly as we went along, and influenced the 
design in substantial ways.

One piece of advice for anyone doing a focus group: It's very common for 
participants to ask for features that you already offer, or reveal 
misconceptions about the web site and the library.  To avoid embarrassing 
anyone, and to keep the discussion flowing, it's a good idea to allow time 
at the end to provide the group with information about any such points.

--jk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Reference Librarian                 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
   Doe/Moffitt Libraries
   University of California, Berkeley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


>Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:47:22 -0400
>From: "MacKenzie Stewart" <mstewart at wellesley.edu>
>To: web4lib at webjunction.org
>Subject: Focus groups and survey questions
>Message-ID: 
><fc.006640d80cd28332006640d80cd28332.cd28be1 at firstclass.wellesley.edu>
>
>Dear Web4Lib readers -
>
>We are about to begin an evaluation of our Library web site. This Fall ,
>we'll be working on ways to obtain useful information, including focus
>groups and surveys. We are looking for feedback in regard to usability,
>content and navigation specifically.
>
>Have others done anything similar ? Did you receive useful feedback ?
>
>Thanks,
>Mac
>______________________________________________________________
>MacKenzie Stewart, Digital Library Specialist, Digital Technologies Group,
>Library, Information Services, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA  02481
>email: mstewart at wellesley.edu   ph.  781-283-2906    fax  781-283-3690
>______________________________________________________________



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