Comparison of offline and online focus groups for pretesting sensitive survey questionnaires

Lozar Manfreda, Katja (author), Hlebec, Valentina (author), Kogovšek, Tina (author), Lobe, Bojana (author)

The study compares traditional synchronous offline focus groups with synchronous online focus groups using chat to pretest survey questions on a sensitive topic. Despite expecting higher data quality in the online focus groups due to their private setting, the comparison of 42 focus groups (21 of each type) revealed minimal differences in data quantity and quality. Moreover, the differences observed were attributed to transcript quality, the moderators’ experience, and social skills, participant homogeneity, and familiarity among participants, rather than the focus group setting. This suggests online focus groups can provide a viable alternative or complement to offline focus groups for pretesting sensitive survey questions, especially when faced with cost constraints, epidemic, large geographical distances, or other limits on face-to-face interactions.

• Language: English
• Keywords: offline focus group, online focus group, synchronous chat, data quality, pretesting survey questions
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 28.10.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: str. 681-700
• Numbering: Letn. 62, št. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175810
• UDC: 303.022
• ISSN on article: 0040-3598
• DOI: 10.51936/tip.62.3.681
• COBISS.SI-ID: 255480323
• Publication date in RUL: 08.11.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Teorija in praksa
• Shortened title: Teor. praksa
• Publisher: Fakulteta za sociologijo, politične vede in novinarstvo, Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 763652

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Primerjava med tradicionalnimi in spletnimi fokusnimi skupinami za testiranje občutljivih anketnih vprašalnikov

Abstract

Študija primerja tradicionalne sinhrone fokusne skupine s sinhronimi spletnimi fokusnimi skupinami (s pisnim klepetom) za testiranje občutljivih anketnih vprašanj. Kljub pričakovani višji kakovosti podatkov v spletnih fokusnih skupinah zaradi bolj zasebne situacije je primerjava 42 fokusnih skupin (po 21 za vsak tip) pokazala minimalne razlike v količini in kakovosti podatkov, zaznane razlike pa so bolj rezultat kakovosti prepisov, izkušenj in socialnih veščin moderatorjev, homogenosti in medsebojnega poznavanja udeležencev kot pa tipa fokusnih skupin. To nakazuje, da so spletne fokusne skupine lahko alternativa ali dopolnilo tradicionalnim fokusnim skupinam za testiranje občutljivih anketnih vprašanj, zlasti v primeru stroškovnih omejitev, epidemij, večjih geografskih razdalj ali drugih omejitev pri osebnih interakcijah.

• Keywords: tradicionalne fokusne skupine, spletne fokusne skupine, sinhroni klepet, kakovost podatkov, testiranje anketnih vprašanj