I wondered whether you could help me. Posted a question few months ago regarding recording in focus groups. MichelleV advised high quality Omnidirectional Microphone (which costs about 130 pounds).

I bought a mic (on the box it said Quality and Omnidirectional, and it was only 40 euros)and have done the first focusgroup but, as with a cheap mic was to be expected, the quality of the sound was not brilliant.

I wondered whether MichelleV or others who have experience in this field (?Tsipat, Shani) could quote a specific name / brand /subtype) of a good microphone for a focus group? MicheleV would you share which mic you used? That would be very helpful.

Thank you

Rick

sorry rick, my interviews are yet in the future. i'm interested in any response as well!

hope your work is going well and you could use the recording although the quality was not perfect.

Hi Shani

yes I think I can still use the information.

I had it videoed with an external mic, then connect the video with the television for analysis. The picture helps in knowing who is talking. Unfortunately some people just do not talk very loud or murmur something. Also sometimes more then one person talks. This makes it difficult to understand. May be I should ask each participant to indicate when they want to speak ,then hand them the microphone, then speak. Obviously one would loose spontaneous reactions. What do do think?

am so sorry Rick for the troubles that you are going through.Focus groups are generally difficult to record. when i did mine i didnt use a mic. i had them in a smallish room and people sat close together and I had to remind them from time to time to speak up. Passing around the mic will compromise the quality of your data, it makes it somehow formal and takes away those extra synergies, imagine hearing your own voice on a mic and you are just talking to 7 other people!!! You could actually do without it to be honest. the idea of people talking at the same time makes it hard to type out the stuff, though it somehow indicates the interest aroused by a question which may be desirable but thing is you what to keep it under control. always remember that you are the facilitator and you have to ask people to talk one person at a time. it takes getting used to, that is the reason why you can't have too large a group because its too hard to "control".

So i would say 1.try having the discussion in a compact like room if possible and position the recorder right in the middle of the group 2. before you start explain to them why it is important for them to speak up and one person at a time 3. don't be weary to remind them to speak up during the discussion 2. if they are all talking at the same time, remind them to speak one person at a time! am afraid there is no magic bullet, but this worked for me! good luck and hope it gets better.

Hi Tsipat,

thanks for your advice.This is useful and down to earth.

So you managed with a recorder only? So no picture and sound OK? I am impressed.

I did two focus groups using a £35 Olympus digital voice recorder.

The sound wasn't the best and parts are hard to make our but to be honest that's more a practical thing than with the qualityof the recorder. Like next time I'll just put it in a better place, make sure there's no stupid stuff going on in the background and if someone's mumbling, tell 'em to speak up!

Hi Rick

Sorry i took so long to get back to you, been up and about, yes i only used the recorder, no video, yes sound was ok. thing is you get better at it with time after a few frustrations! hope you it works for you too. wishing you.

Thanks xConnorx and tsipat

Rick