Framework
The 5 biases that wreck focus groups
Five biases that compromise focus group findings: groupthink, dominance by one assertive participant, social desirability, moderator influence and recruitment bias. Each comes with a one-line description of how it distorts what you hear. Use it to plan safeguards before a session or to read a focus group report with the right amount of doubt. Koji runs private one-to-one AI-moderated interviews, which removes the group pressure behind the first two.
Where this appears
What's in this framework
- Groupthink: Participants conform to the dominant view, the biggest single threat to a group.
- Dominance bias: One assertive person drowns out the quieter ones, more so once the moderator tires.
- Social desirability bias: People say what makes them look smart or kind. Pricing questions suffer most.
- Moderator influence: Leading questions, nodding and body language shape what people say.
- Recruitment bias: Cheap recruiting fills the room with people who do not match your audience.
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Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/five-biases-that-wreck-focus-groups"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/five-biases-that-wreck-focus-groups/five-biases-that-wreck-focus-groups.png" alt="Framework of five focus group biases: groupthink, dominance bias, social desirability bias, moderator influence and recruitment bias, with what each does." width="1200" height="749" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/five-biases-that-wreck-focus-groups">The 5 biases that wreck focus groups</a>, Koji</p>
