Domain 2 - Consumer Study

Consumer Study

In Domain 2, consumer study is carried out in order to understand  and explore consumer behavior, perceptions, experience and collect qualitative data from participants of focus groups on generated questions regarding symbolic study, eating pattern and purchasing behavior. Focus group were carried out in a group of 3 to 5 are were done in and out off campus. A qualitative researched were used in order to get participants to answer the question during focus group.

A) Symbolic studies : asking question regarding what and how does the food represent the panelist perspective (festival, region, memories, influences)

B) Consuming pattern : Eating pattern of a participant regarding a certain product

C) Purchasing behavior 

( questions regarding why, when, who, why, what, how and where regarding their consuming and purchasing behavior)

D) Focus group : Focus group is a research method where a group is focused on for a particular topic to be discussed in order to extract consumer perception during a casual discussion. Focus group are also carried out in an informal way, where the interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be guided or redirected by the researcher in real time. Besides that, as we are also interviewing face to face, the data obtained during focus group is powerful and sometimes more compelling than a quantitative data.

In order to collect the result for domain 2, the following steps were taken:

Step 1: Determining the objective of focus group (to set the objective of the discussion in order to not run away from the topic and also to achieve the answer need from the participants.)

Step 2: Planning and choosing the right tool ( use focus group to acquire qualitative answers from the participants)

Step 3: Designing the research tool questionnaires 

Step 4: Conduct focus group (recorded and written down)

The first focus group that was carried out by a group of 5 boys.

Step 5: Collect, compile and analyzing of data

Step 6: Conclude data collected

While the focus group was being conducted, the questions were asked according to how the participants answered. This is to make the participants feel comfortable while answering the questions and won't depend on other participants for answers. Thus, snacks and drinks were also provided to the participants for them to eat. The drinks provided were samples of probiotic drinks so that the participants know what kind of topic we were discussing about.

In this domain 2, I have improved more on my TGC 4,communication skills while carrying out the focus group. This is because I have to talk and create an atmosphere so that the participants will feel free and comfortable to answer what they really think which is the key to achieve the objective of the domain 2. Besides that, I have also improved my interpersonal skills in working together as a team while conducting the focus group. This is because we had to back up each other when we encounter problems or awkwardness during the discussion.

As conclusion, focus group are one of the best method to achieve the objective for domain 2. As it is a qualitative method, the data obtained would be more precise and more compelling to be analyze for domain 2. Thus, this will enable us to understand about consumers acceptability and preference towards the product that we are going to make.

to extract

consumer perception about a selected topic.