In early 2001, it appeared that the viewing of focus groups via videoconferencing and Webconferencing had reached new levels of acceptance and viability. But a failing economy and the events of September 11 pushed the remote viewing of qualitative research past technological marvel status to a near imperative for some firms. Today, with cost- and liability-conscious companies slashing travel budgets and canceling employee trips, even workers who want to travel aren’t able to.

Many of those who are unable to fly to view focus groups have started calling John Houlahan, founder and president of New York-based FocusVision Worldwide, a provider of videoconferencing services to the research industry. Following September 11, business increased 120 percent over-the previous year’s levels, Houlahan says. "We do business with 350 clients yearly and before September 11 we had done business with 315 clients in 2001. Immediately after September 11 we added 104 clients. We had companies that for a long time had been refusing to talk to us suddenly calling to do business," he says.

After the initial post-attack wave of cancellations of all focus groups came a re-booking of those groups into facilities with videoconferencing equipment, Houlahan says. As a result, several of the focus group facilities in the FocusVision network added a second videoconferencing system after having to turn away business because their first system was booked solid.

(The overall market for videoconferencing looks set for similar growth. According to Frost & Sullivan estimates, videoconferencing system sales will increase from $0.8 billion in 2000 to $1.8 billion by 2005; sales of videoconferencing services will triple, from $1.3 billion in 2000 to $4.1 billion in 2005.)

Taken a while

It has taken a while for videoconferencing of focus groups to take hold. Houlahan started the farm in 1990 with beta testing underwritten by General Motors and Ogilvy & Mather. Technology has improved as the prices of equipment and data transmission lines have fallen, making videoconferencing no longer solely a luxury for those in the boardroom. "When we started, we were transmitting at 128 kilobits per second," Houlahan says. "Today we transmit at 364 kilobits per second, which is near TV broadcast-quality, not only in the clarity and the pixel density and the refresh rate of the picture, which is what makes it clear and sharp, but the motion-handling. So instead of the moonwalk-like images we had 10 years ago, now a person can wave their arm and it will be a solid image."

It’s been a long journey full of ups and downs but it appears the firm’s tenacity is paying off. From a network of five focus group facilities in the U.S. with FocusVision installations in 1991, the company has ~own to 233 facilitie around the world. "You have to be willing to stay with it until the adoption level reaches the point where it becomes more than a fad and becomes something that is part of the fabric. I think we’ve reached that point," Houlahan says.

Using figures from ESOMAR as a basis, Houlahan estimates that there were 240,000 focus group sessions conducted in the U.S. last year and 482,000 worldwide He says 10 percent of U.S.-conducted groups were viewed on FocusVision equipment - a figure he would like to see at 30 percent. ("Preferably while I’m still alive," he jokes.)

Remote moderating

In addition to the remote viewing of focus groups, remote moderating is now becoming more frequent, Houlahan says. "More and more, moderators are saying, ’If the client doesn’t want to travel, why is he sending me on the road?’ Moderators like to be with their clients but no moderator likes to travel. And with clients dropping out of the travel equation, it’s made the moderating community more willing to look at alternatives."

One such moderator is Sharon Livingston, president of Executive Solutions, a Syosset, N.Y., research firm. Livingston has taught seminars on moderating and facilitating remote groups and in an article in the firm’s enewsletter in October she described the distance-moderating experience as "fleeing" for the moderator - no more travel hassles, for example - and also for the respondents, some of whom reported feeling more comfortable sharing thoughts with a person on a TV monitor than with a person in the room with them.

"The moderating community is falling all over themselves to do groups using online chat rooms, where they can’t see the respondents, and doing telephone interviews, where they also can’t see anybody," Houlahan says. "Videostreaming is one-way so you can’t do remote moderating, but you can do remote moderating by two-way videoconferencing."

Research more important than ever

With the economy in the throes of recession, it’s even more important for companies to persevere with research, whether it’s viewed in-person or on a TV monitor. "On the surface it would seem to be a dismal time for qualitative research," Houlahan says. "But there is now more reason than ever for companies to stay in touch with their customers, because everything is so fluid now - ad campaigns are being re-thought, new product programs are being reconsidered and modified...all of those things cry out for qualitative research. The good news is, clients who want to do an essential research project can do it, and they don’t have to jump on an airplane if the project involves viewing qualitative research."