Avoiding Groupthink in Focus Group Discussion

Desire for harmony and avoidance of conflict in group discussions often allow groups of people to reach consensus quickly. While conflict avoidance allows us to carry out civilized discussions, without offending others, often, members of the discussion group withhold their true opinions in favor of reaching a consensus because they feel that the existing group is superior, or perhaps because they feel loyalty towards the group and want to avoid conflict. This is costly because in the process of reaching consensus quickly, original thought may get stifled. Filtering of creative ideas due to the influence of the group we interact with is one form of the well-known phenomena called groupthink.
At face value, groupthink stands in a paradoxical opposition to the concept of crowdsourcing which allows groups to reach better decisions by tapping into the experiences and opinions of a large number of people. At the core of crowdsourcing stands the belief that a group actually benefits from more opinions.

How do we reconcile these concepts and what do they mean for market research?

The key to understanding how we can benefit from crowdsourcing without falling into the trap of groupthink lies in the understanding the underlying causes of this phenomenon. Larger numbers of independent thinkers in a group help create better solutions and opinions. Under the concept of groupthink, feelings of loyalty among the members can eventually take over. The members start caring more about what the group thinks rather than their own opinions, reducing the validity and quality of their output. This manifestation of withholding true opinions also exists in group discussions when members of the group crave social acceptance. By posing an idea that is not already accepted and agreed upon, members become concerned that they will end up ostracized from the group, simply for voicing a new idea.

How can this affect your research?

Let’s say for instance that you are conducting a focus group for your company. You are trying to figure out how to tailor your services to fit your customers’ needs. You’ve gathered 10 people who fit your target market in a room together to discuss your company. When you ask the group a question, one person gives you an answer right away. It sounds like a good answer. The rest of the group agrees without pitching in any of their own ideas. You try to push the conversation forward, but all topics keep echoing what that first person said. You never get to hear anything those other nine people have to say. They’re afraid the group will look down on them for voicing an unsupported opinion, so they don’t say anything. That’s groupthink. If you want to gain any insights from your focus group, groupthink is your enemy.

How is GroupSolver capable of avoiding groupthink?

GroupSolver has been specifically designed to benefit from crowdsourcing while avoiding groupthink in a unique and efficient way. The respondents using the GroupSolver platform come from various locations and backgrounds, which guarantees a large set of opinions to work with. Because the participants work individually of each other, they are unlikely to develop any sense of loyalty to the group. The concept of social acceptance is similarly inhibited. Respondents are anonymous in their answers and, as such, are never pressured to conform to preconceived group notions simply to feel welcome within the group. The ideas of the others are presented to respondents without any indication of overall support, which means that participants in our study have to judge each idea on its own merit. The outcome of our study is then a solution which has arisen solely from the wisdom of the group members and not from the false beliefs as to what the group as a whole should believe. We capitalize on the wisdom of the crowd while allowing for meritocracy of ideas effectively reducing the negative effects that groupthink has on building consensus.

To read more about groupthink and how to avoid or overcome it, check out these great articles:

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm
http://www.ryanhartwig.com/9-strategies-to-avoid-groupthink/
http://www.alnmag.com/articles/2013/04/avoiding-groupthink-and-other-bad-behaviors

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