Dyads-Triads
Dyads-Triads Overview
Dyads or Triads (meaning two or three respondents at a time, are a intermediate point between In-Depth-Interviews and full Focus groups. They allow for a reasonable amount of dept to be covered but they also allow for some respondent interaction to occur. It's also possible to recruit people who are part of a larger decision making group (such as a husband and wife buying a new car, or an Procurement professional and a Nurse, who may have different ideas about which purchase is best for the household or for the hospital. In this case it can help the researcher (and the client sponsoring the research) to understand the tug-of-war that goes on during these complex purchase decisions.
The focus group facility (image) that is hired to host the Dyads-Triads will have their own list of potential respondents contact information and often includes basic information about the respondent such as: occupation, number of family members in house, zip code which indicates likely income and personal activities and possibly likely household income. If they can't recruit the required number of respondents there are a number of companies that sell lists of potential respondents and they will purchase an additional amount to ensure that they will have the required number of focus group attendees. The focus group facility will contact potential respondents by phone or e-mail. Initially they will ask a number of questions [screener] in order to see if the potential respondent is qualified to participate in the research project. For the potential respondents that qualify, the focus group facility representative will explain the incentive for participating in the research (for live Dyads-Triads in the US the incentive is typically between $50 and $200 depending on how challenging the recruiting criteria is). They will also explain the starting and ending time of the focus group - which is typically an hour or an hour and a half long. It's typical to conduct two Dyads-Triads each evening, usually beginning about the time that the workday ends, although lunchtime groups are sometimes used as well.
The Dyads-Triads
When the dyads or triads start, the moderator will typically review the key screening questions just to make sure that the attendees are qualified and that no mistakes were made. After that the moderator will introduce him/herself and ask that each person introduce themselves and what their role is with regard to the topic at hand. Then are typically a number of sensitizing questions to allow the respondents to feel comfortable with the topic to be discussed and to know something about the other respondents involved in the discussion (if they don't already know each other). Once the respondents seem to feel comfortable with their environment the moderator will steer the discussion towards the research topic, and from that point the moderator's discussion guide will generally guide the direction of the discussion - although the moderator may deviate from the discussion guide in order to allow the discussion a more natural flow.
Construction of a Dyads-Triads
Putting together a Dyads-Triads is a lot like putting together a focus group, except that the discussion often goes much deeper with fewer respondents. There are occasions when dyads or triads are chosen in order to get deeper into the purchase decision or the usage of a particular device - within a business or a home setting. In that case the discussion guide will probably have a number of probes to try to understand who is the primary influencer on which aspects of a purchase.
Dyads-Triads Pros
- A great deal of communication is non-verbal and being physically together allows a moderator to pick-up, and follow-through on subtle cues that might be missed through other mediums.
- The ability to show a broad array of visual aids, or to have the respondent physically interact with a prototype or control panel is a big advantage.
- There can be a synergy in Dyads-Triads where respondents piggy-back off of other respondents ideas in order to come up with a better solution than you might get with several people working separately.
Dyads-Triads Cons
- The costs of having respondents travel to a focus group facility and having a moderator and business representatives traveling from city to city can get expensive - although dyads and triads are typically less expensive than focus groups.
- It's possible to have a single person with a strong personality or much more expertise on the topic at hand that could sway the group in a different direction than it might go without such a character.
- The quality of the moderator can have a great effect on the quality of information that comes out of a dyad or triad.
Dyads-Triads Timing
Dyads-Triads are typically a pretty fast form of research. At first blush you would think that dyads-triads would be much easier to recruit than focus groups (with 8-10 respondents) but when the recruiting specifies that the respondents must be part of a decision team, that can greatly increase the complexity of the recruiting process. Even so, in certain cases it's possible to go from planning to screener to fielding to data review to presentation in a matter of only a few weeks.
Special Considerations
Physical Dyads-Triads do not provide much respondent anonymity so you should be cautious about conducting research that could be embarrassing to respondents via live Dyads-Triads.
