On December 15, 2016, Dr. Natalia Velikova, Associate Professor at Texas Tech University (TTU), held a lecture on Focus Group Discussions for the researchers of ISET-PI. Natalia is an Associate Director of the Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute. Currently, she is a Fulbright scholar in Tbilisi and works on the Development of Wine Marketing and Wine Tourism Strategies for Georgia.

Natalia started her presentation by outlining the main differences between quantitative and qualitative research and suggested some criteria for choosing between these two approaches. Afterwards, she introduced Focus Group Discussions (FGD) as one of the methods used in qualitative research and listed research goals and questions to be addressed with FGDs.

Afterwards, Natalia talked about how to develop a discussion guide for FGDs, and made some suggestions on designing good opening, transition, key and concluding questions.

Following this, she gave some tips on the planning of the FGD, including recruiting the participants, often thought to be the most difficult stage.

Finally, Natalia talked about the importance of having a skilled moderator for FGDs and presented do’s and don’ts when moderating the discussions.

The lecture concluded with a question and answer session. Natalia and ISET-PI researchers shared their experience on previously conducted FGDs. ISET is grateful to Natalia for her lecture, which was very useful for ISET-PI researchers.