Focus Group

Focus Group

A Focus Group is an informative research method for thoroughly examining how a jury will likely perceive the case issues. In a focus group, mock jurors who are demographically representative of jury-eligible residents from the trial venue are presented a narrative of each party’s case. The case narratives are argumentative and typically accompanied by the presentation of trial graphics. The mock jurors complete questionnaires and are divided into smaller groups where jury consultants facilitate group discusions to obtain in-depth reactions and feedback. Examples of research objectives that would warrant a focus group include identifying case themes, uncovering the case “story” that jurors craft to reconcile conflicting accounts presented by the parties, measuring the strength of case arguments and the importance of case facts, identifying areas of juror misunderstanding and confusion, evaluating juror receptivity to trial graphics and identifying additional areas of the case that would benefit from trial graphics. While case outcome (i.e., verdict and damages) may be assessed in a focus group, it is secondary in importance to the research objectives described above.