FC Live: Focus Groups

FC Live gives you the opportunity to host video in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus groups. IDIs and Focus Groups are foundations of qualitative research and are ideally suited for detailed discussions exploring a variety of topics such as new concepts and customer experiences. These interviews are often interactive, with a skilled interviewer responding to answers and probing for more detail (laddering). Detailed, rich data can be generated as a result, often with a deeper understanding of respondents' motivations, beliefs, and tendencies.

The Focus Group feature allows a moderator to talk to up to 9 members at once for research that can be handled in a group setting. This article will display both Moderator and Member views.

Create a Focus Group

Create, edit and manage all of your FC Live options in the Activities > FC Live tab.

1. Click on the + button to begin a new focus group. The process is the same as creating an IDI but you will select Focus Group for the Interview Type.
   
2. Create Sessions associated with the focus group in the same manner as for IDIs.
   

   Sessions may only be added or deleted. They cannot be edited to change the date and time.

   • Members will see the list of available session times and can RSVP for a time slot. View and manage the session times from the Schedule tab.
   • You can optionally assign a session to a moderator. This is useful if you have multiple moderators running sessions so you can keep track of who is responsible for each session. If a session is assigned to a moderator, it doesn't prevent another moderator from running the live session. Members cannot see the assigned moderator.

Add Focus Group to an Activity

An activity must be created and have an FC Live Focus Group added to it for it to display to members.

After creating an FCLive Focus Group, add an FC Live block in the Landing Page step of the activity creation. Members will reserve the session time on the activity page.

In the FC Live box, type in the name of an interview and it will auto-populate. The Block Title must be filled in (for internal reference only).

We recommend you download the PDF FC Live: How to Join PDF for Members and add it to your activity. It will tell the members what browsers we support and how to join when the session starts.

 

FC Live: Interview Management

Under the Activities > FC Live tab, all interviews are listed in one place. View their statuses, create new interviews, and edit or archive existing interviews. An FC Live interview element can be added to multiple activities.

From the Actions dropdown, export the RSVP list for each Interview. This will download an Excel file containing all session times.

The file will display, among other things, for each reserved time...

• User ID
• Username
• User Email
• Session Start Time
• Mod Assigned
• User Status—If the export occurs after the session has finished, the status will then show the following statuses based on if the member participated or not.
  • Completed: Member joined and participated in the focus group. If points are enabled for participation in FC Live, members with Completed status will receive points.
    • NOTE: The host moderator must click the "End Session" button to successfully end the session. Clicking "End Session" will save the recording, which will then be available in the Completed Sessions tab.
  • Cancelled: Member joins the session, but moderator ends up Cancelling it. The session is not saved when Cancelled and the member can reserve another time if any are available. This distinction is helpful because it means the member joined and others had technical issues or asked to reschedule. If the member never shows up or joins, the status will be User No Show (described below).
    • When the host moderator clicks the "Cancel Session" button, the video recording is not saved and the member participants can join another, future session. Canceling a session is useful when a participant only joins briefly and wants to reschedule.
  • Maxed Out: Applies to Focus Group only. Member logged into the community, but could not join the focus group because the room was at maximum capacity.
  • Locked Out: Applies to Focus Group only. Member logged into the community, but could not join the focus group because the moderator locked the room.
  • Member Leaves Session: The member joined the focus group but left the session before the moderator locked the room.
  • Mod Disconnected: Member was disconnected from the focus group by the moderator (should only be used when a member is acting inappropriately)
  • User No Show: For Focus Groups: Moderator starts the session, member never logs in. This distinction is necessary because a member might not be able to join a Focus Group if the room is full or if the mod locks the room. The No Show status helps you know that the member never even attempted to show up.
  • Mod No Show: Member was assigned to a session, but Moderator never launched/started the session.
  • Ignored: No member reserved the time slot, and the session was never started by the moderator (because no assigned participant)
• Public or Private
  • Public: The session will display to members in the activity and any member with access to the activity can RSVP for the session.
  • Private: The session will not display to members of the activity. Instead, you will need to manually assign a member to a private session time from the Upcoming Sessions tab.

NOTE: The following details can be exported from FC Live Interview or from the Activity Export. In the export, you will be able to see the status of each member who signs up for a Focus Group session.

• It will then show the following statuses based on if the member participated or not:
• The statuses above can be helpful if you want to manually allocate points to members who attempted to join, but were not able to because the maximum group size was reached.

FC Live: Upcoming Sessions

On the Upcoming Sessions tab for Focus Groups, the total number of reserved members will display in the Participants column.

When you click on the Participants link, you'll see details of the members who have reserved. From there, you can manually add members or remove members from the session.

Members will receive an email notification when you add or remove them in a session.

FC Live Notifications

Members and moderators receive automated system email notifications to ensure users join at the correct times. The following notifications will be sent:

• FC Live RSVP Confirmation: Sent to members after they reserve a time on the activity detail page. It includes the session date and time and a link to the activity detail page. You can customize the email messaging from Communication Center > System > FC Live RSVP Confirmation.
• FC Live Manual Assignment: Sent to a member after being manually assigned by a moderator. It includes the session date and time and a link to the activity detail page. You can customize the email messaging from Communication Center > System > FC Live Manual Assignment.
• FC Live Session Cancelled: Sent to a member after they cancel a session or if the moderator removes the member from the session. You can customize the email messaging from Communication Center > System > FC Live Manual Assignment.
• FC Live Reminder (member): Sent to a member 60 minutes before the session start time. It includes the session start time details and a link to join the session. You can customize the email messaging from Communication Center > System > FC Live Reminder.
• FC Live Reminder (moderator): Sent to a moderator 60 minutes before the session start time. It includes the username of the member participant, session start time details, and a link to launch the session. You can customize the email messaging from Communication Center > System > FC Live Mod Reminder.

Moderate an FC Live Focus Group Session

FC Live sessions are supported on the following browsers: Chrome version 103+ (video and screensharing), Firefox version 103+ (video and screensharing) and Safari version 14+ (video only; no screensharing). Chrome is the recommended browser for sharing your screen during a session.

If you are joining from an office or other professional environment, audio and video might be blocked by an internal firewall. Work with your IT department to fix the issue by doing one of the following:

• OPTION 1: Add "*.twilio.com" to the SSL decryption bypass on web proxies
• OPTION 2: Whitelist the IPs outlined at this link: https://www.twilio.com/docs/video/ip-address-whitelisting

To start a session...

1. go to Activities > FC Live > Upcoming Sessions.
2. Click the Launch Chat button to start the session. Video will begin recording immediately.
3. The member can join once the start time is reached and not before, even if the host moderator has already started the session.

The below picture shows what a moderator sees during a session, with the member on top and the moderator on the bottom:

During the session, the moderator can do the following:

Mute Moderator

• The option to mute yourself is the small microphone icon that displays over your video feed.
• You can toggle between mute and unmute state by clicking that button.
• By default, audio is enabled when you start a session.

Mute Participants

• You can mute individual participants by clicking the small microphone icon that displays over any participant's video feed.
• This toggle will mute or unmute the participant for them. It is best used when a member is in a location with a lot of background noise but has forgotten to mute themselves.

Remove a Participant

• Over each participant's video feed is an icon with a silhouette and X, this is the disconnect button. When you click the button, the member will be removed from the session and unable to rejoin.
• Only use this option if the member is acting inappropriately because they will not be able to rejoin.

Share Screen (button)

• Sharing your screen allows you to select an application, browser tab, or entire desktop to share with the member. This option is useful if you want to share stimuli with the participant during the session.
• The member will be able to see your screen as well as your video feed (video and audio).

Screen sharing is only available on Chrome version 72+ or Firefox version 52+ browsers. Chrome is the recommended browser for sharing your screen during a session.

• In a focus group, only the host moderator can share their screen (members are only able to share their screen during an IDI session)
• This option is useful if you want to share stimuli with the participants during the session.
• Sharing your screen allows you to select an application, browser tab, or entire desktop to share with the member.
• The participants will be able to see your screen as well as your video feed (video and audio).

Lock Session (button)

• To prevent members from joining if the group size has not been met, click the Lock Session button. This will lock the room and not allow anyone else to join. This is helpful to do if the total group size has not been met, but you don't want anyone else joining during the session as this might interrupt the conversation.
• When a member visits the activity after the session is locked, they will see the Session Full message on the page.
• When you pull an activity export, members who log into the community but cannot join the session due to being locked out, show the status "Locked Out"
  • Note: For members who login into the community but cannot join because the room has hit capacity, the member will show as "Maxed Out" in the activity export.

Cancel Session (button)

• Canceling a session is sometimes helpful if not all of the members can join and you don't want to run the session.
• When the session is canceled, the video recording ends. When the moderator joins, but no members show, the video will not save.

 

End Session (button)

• Ending the session closes the video recording for both the moderator and member. The member will be shown the End Session message and returned to the activity detail page.
• The video recording is saved and will be available in the Completed Sessions tab after the session is ended.
• If you close the video session browser without clicking the End Session button, the video will continue recording.
• If you don't return to the session within 5 minutes, the recording will automatically end and be available in the Completed Sessions tab.
• During a video session, if either the member or moderator is disconnected, the recording will continue and the disconnected user can return to the chat. The member who was not disconnected will see a message notification about the disconnection and is asked to remain in the session until the user returns. Return to the video session screen by clicking the Relaunch Chat button from the Upcoming Sessions tab and continue with the session if the member is still in the video session.

Reassign a Member

In some cases, a member may join the focus group but needs to leave and wants to reschedule for another time. In this case, even if the member leaves, the status will be Completed for that member because they joined, even briefly. When the member has a Completed status, they do not see an option to reserve another session.

As the moderator, manually reassign that member to another, future time in the Upcoming Sessions tab. The member will receive an email confirmation when they are assigned to a session and the process for participating will be the same for the member at that point.

Join as an Observer

Once a session has been started by the host moderator, any moderator or client user can go to Activities > FC Live > Upcoming Sessions and will see the Join as Observer button for any sessions in progress.

Once you click the button, you'll see a nearly identical view as the host moderator with a few exceptions:

The observer participant cannot do any of the following:

• Mute the mod or any member
• Disconnect the mod or any member
• See the host mod notes
• Be seen or heard by the mod or members

The observer can only do the following:

• Participate in the real-time Mod Chat (only the host mod and other observers can participate in the chat)
• View the list of observers in the Observers tab. This is a real-time list that shows the username of observers that have joined or left the room.

Download an instructional PDF for joining as an Observer.

If you are joining from an office or other professional environment, audio and video might be blocked by an internal firewall. Work with your IT department to fix the issue by doing one of the following:

• OPTION 1: Add "*.twilio.com" to the SSL decryption bypass on web proxies
• OPTION 2: Whitelist the IPs outlined at this link: https://www.twilio.com/docs/video/ip-address-whitelisting

FC Live: Completed Sessions

After the session is over, the video is available in the Completed Sessions tab. This tab does not include the sessions that occurred without a recorded video.

In this section, you may...

• Download the merged video or individual videos for each session, including a separate video for desktop sharing if enabled during the session.
• Export the notes you took during the video session.
• Send the video to Voxpopme for transcription and analysis (only available if Voxpopme is enabled for the community).
• Archive videos.

Member View

The member view in the activity is the same as for IDIs. Members will see the available session and can reserve it at any time before the session begins.

If a member is reserved for a time, but the room is full or the moderator has locked the room, they will see the Room Full message (see below). If any other available times are available, they can reserve another session.

Member view of a focus group on desktop:

Member View of a focus group on Mobile:

The focus group session behaves like a group video chat. The member can mute/unmute audio and leave at any time.