Avoiding advertising research disaster: Advertising and the uncertainty principle

Walvis, Tjaco

doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2540137

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Focus groups perform a function in informing participants about a particular product. Each question tells the participant that ‘this is relevant and important’ (Walvis 2003, 405). In this sense the moderator sets the agenda, defining the areas of significance.…”

Section: Focus Groups and The ‘New’ Labour Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focus Groups and Political Marketing: Science and Democracy as Axiomatic?

Savigny

2007

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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Focus groups are an established and influential way of generating public opinion data. They have been extensively used by the British Labour Party and are more broadly associated with marketing. Focus groups, as referred to within much of the political marketing literature and used in political practice, are underpinned by two central but largely implicit claims: first, that the use of focus groups is scientific; second, this claim to science is conflated with the normative assertion that focus groups enhance the democratic process. This article renders explicit and disentangles these underlying assumptions that inform the theory and practice of focus groups. These theoretical concerns are illustrated by reference to the Labour Party, in particular its modernisation process during the build-up to the 1997 election. By separating and interrogating these basic premises two salient issues subsequently emerge. First, it is contended that the use of focus groups, in the political marketing literature and in political practice violates 'scientific' principles. Second, it is argued that over-reliance on focus groups challenges normative claims to democracy, by confining the potential for democratic debate to the few, rather than the many.

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Section: Focus Groups and The ‘New’ Labour Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%