Focus Groups Singapore
Focus group research where the moderator is also the strategist
At most agencies, a partner sells the project, a junior designs it, and a different person moderates. At Assembled, the person who scopes your study is the same person who sits in the room, reads the group dynamics in real time, and presents the findings to your board. That continuity changes what comes out of the research.
One senior moderator, start to finish
Felicia Hu scopes every project, writes the discussion guide, moderates every session, and presents the final report. No hand-off between sales, design, fieldwork, and analysis. The person reading the room is the same person who wrote the research objectives. That means probing decisions happen in real time, not after transcription.
Recruitment from our own 100,000-member panel
Built through 9 years of actual project participation. Not a purchased list. When we need premium skincare users with five or more products in their routine, luxury watch collectors, insurance policyholders segmented by product type, or pet owners separated by dog versus cat — we recruit from people who have been verified through previous screeners.
700+ five-star reviews from the people who sat in the room
Not client testimonials about delivery speed. Participant reviews about what happened during the session. Words like "comfortable," "inclusive," "lively," and "warm" appear across hundreds of reviews. That participant experience is why our respondents come back for future studies and why our recruitment timelines are shorter than industry average.
Discussion guides developed through multiple iterations with your team
We have refined screeners through four rounds on a single project to get the qualification criteria right. The discussion guide is not a questionnaire read aloud — it is a moderation architecture that maps research objectives to conversation flow, with built-in flexibility for the moderator to follow unexpected threads.
From Brief to Boardroom
How a focus group project works at Assembled
Most projects complete in 4 to 6 weeks. Here is what happens at each stage.
Scoping and design
We consult with you before you commission. We define the research question, identify the right consumer segments, choose the format (standard FGD, mini-group, triad), and build the screener. If your question is better answered by IDIs or a quantitative study, we tell you.
Week 1Recruitment and screening
Participants are recruited from our 100,000-member proprietary panel. Screeners go through multiple iterations. We have screened for premium skincare routines of five or more products, specific insurance policy types, luxury purchase history, and B2B decision-making authority.
Weeks 2–3Discussion guide development
The guide maps your research objectives to a conversation architecture. It includes warm-up modules, core discussion, exercises (product evaluation, concept ranking, scenario mapping), and wrap-up. Separate guides for different segments. Materials adapted for bilingual moderation.
Weeks 2–3Fieldwork
Sessions run 90 to 120 minutes. Felicia moderates every group. Clients observe behind one-way mirror or via live stream. All sessions are audio and video recorded with full transcription. Mid-fieldwork debriefs share emerging themes between sessions.
Weeks 3–4Analysis and reporting
Topline findings within 5 business days of the final session. Full report with verbatim quotes, segment comparison, thematic analysis, and strategic recommendations. Presentation-ready PowerPoint decks. Felicia presents directly to your team.
Weeks 5–6Post-project support
Executive listening sessions where senior leadership hears consumer voices from recorded highlights. Full audio and video archives. Transcripts in English and Chinese. We remain available for follow-up questions and additional analysis as your team builds on findings.
Ongoing
Inside the Session
What happens in the room that your survey will never capture
Focus groups generate insight from the dynamics between people — the moments when someone changes their mind, when a quiet participant disagrees with the group, when body language contradicts a verbal answer.
Psychological safety first
The warm-up is not small talk. It is designed to build enough trust that participants will contradict the group, admit ignorance, or share sensitive information. Our 700+ five-star reviews consistently describe sessions as "comfortable" and "inclusive" — that environment is engineered, not accidental.
Real-time probing
When a participant says something unexpected, the moderator follows it. Because Felicia designed the research objectives herself, she knows which unexpected threads are worth pursuing and which are tangents. That judgment cannot be outsourced to someone who was not in the scoping meeting.
Exercise-based activities
Product evaluation where participants handle physical prototypes. Concept ranking. Packaging comparison. Occasion mapping. Interactive activities reveal preferences that participants cannot articulate verbally — how a jewelry piece feels in hand, whether a skincare texture triggers luxury or clinical associations.
Group dynamics as data
The moment a dominant personality is challenged by a quieter participant is data. The consensus that forms around an unexpected feature is data. The nervous laughter when pricing is revealed is data. We capture and analyse these dynamics, not just the words spoken.
Sector Experience
Focus groups across six industries, drawn from 235+ completed projects
Every example below is drawn from actual completed engagements. Client names withheld for confidentiality.
Financial services & insurance
Product development, customer segmentation, claims experience, financial inclusion research
12 FGDs with 72+ respondents in a single insurance study, segmented by product ownership and pet type
Food & beverage
Menu testing, sensory evaluation, concept testing, competitive positioning across multiple restaurant outlets
Multi-phase testing of 8 product categories with ANOVA and JAR scoring across 100+ consumers
Healthcare & pharma
Patient journey mapping, physician perspectives, hospital staff research, medical device evaluation
Staff focus groups at a major hospital exploring workplace experience and service delivery improvement
Beauty & personal care
Skincare innovation, male grooming loyalty, kids skincare safety, home-use trials, multi-national segments
12 IDIs across 4 nationality segments evaluating microneedling patches with premium skincare consumers
Luxury goods
Jewelry design validation, luxury watch consumer psychology, physical prototype evaluation
6 FGDs evaluating 8+ fine jewelry prototypes in-hand across geometric designs and material combinations
Tourism, education & community
Attraction behaviour, voucher programmes, mixed-methods research across stakeholder groups
Mixed-methods study with 5 survey versions across 4 stakeholder groups including educators and families
Who Leads Your Research
The moderator is the methodology
Felicia Hu has moderated focus groups across insurance product development, quick-service restaurant menu testing, luxury jewelry concept validation, skincare innovation trials, male grooming loyalty studies, kids skincare safety research, hospital staff experience, and financial inclusion programmes.
Her background is in communications, not traditional research. That training shows in how participants describe the sessions: the words "comfortable," "inclusive," "lively," and "warm" appear across hundreds of the 700+ Google reviews. Participant care is not a department at Assembled — it is a moderation skill that produces better data.
She adapts discussion materials for multi-national consumer segments, and uses Singlish naturally when it helps participants express themselves authentically.
Group Formats
The right format for the research question
Not every qualitative question suits a standard focus group. We match the format to the sensitivity, complexity, and audience of your study.
| Format | Best For | Common Uses |
|---|---|---|
|
Standard focus group
6–10 participants · 90–120 min
|
Group dynamics, spontaneous reactions, peer influence. The default when you need to see how opinions form and shift in real time. | |
|
Mini-group
4–5 participants · 75–90 min
|
Specialist audiences where recruitment is tight and individual depth matters. Extended individual probing within a group context. | |
|
Dyads & triads
2–3 participants · 60–75 min
|
Intimate topics where group size suppresses honesty. Combines IDI depth with minimal peer dynamic for natural conversation. | |
|
In-depth interviews
1 participant · 45–90 min
|
The most sensitive categories. Segment-specific guides for each audience type. Full audio recording and transcription. | |
|
Product evaluation groups
6–10 participants · 120 min
|
Physical prototype handling, sensory assessment, packaging evaluation. Participants interact with actual products in structured protocols. | |
|
Online focus groups
6–8 participants · 75–90 min
|
Geographically dispersed or time-constrained audiences. Multi-market research. Follow-up groups after in-person fieldwork. |
Questions