Democratic pollster and Chairman of Hart Research Associates, Peter Hart, discusses the results of a recent focus group consisting of 12 independent voters conducted in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Discussion Questions

1. What is a focus group? According to Mr. Hart, how does the information gathered by a focus group differ from that gathered by a poll?
2. Mr. Hart says that a focus group is not intended to “be a cross section of an electorate, nor projectable to the entire electorate.” What does he mean by this? How is this research useful?
3. What type of questions did Mr. Hart ask the focus group participants? Why do you think he asks these questions? According to Mr. Hart, how did the voters in this focus group view Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama? Do you agree with their descriptions?
4. Mr. Hart describes focus groups as “qualitative research”. What does this mean? How do you think a candidate may use the information gathered by a focus group?
5. Click here to view footage of a similar focus group held by Hart Research Associates in May of 2007.