focus group
a small set of people, typically 8 to 12 in number, who share characteristics (e.g., working parents with 5- to 8-year-old children) and are selected to discuss a topic of which they have personal experience (e.g., their children’s reading abilities and school performance). A leader conducts the discussion and keeps it on target while also encouraging free-flowing, open-ended debate. Originally used in marketing to determine consumer response to particular products, focus groups are now used for determining typical reactions, adaptations, and solutions to any number of issues, events, or topics and are associated particularly with qualitative research.