Haley White

MEJO 379
Focus Group Assignment
September 26, 2017

Part A: Focus Group/Question Map

1) RQ: Why does Under Armour struggle to reach the success of its top competitors, specifically
Nike?
2) Objective: I hope to gain data on why people choose other brands over Under Armour, and
from there I would like to gain insight into the specific aspects of other brands that our
subjects focus on or favor when choosing athletic apparel.
3) Question Map:

I. What do you wear to the gym?

a. Why do you wear that to the gym?
i. [Comfortable]
1. Why is clothing comfort important at the gym?
ii. [Fashionable]
1. Why is being fashionable important to you?
a. [Have to look good to feel good]
i. What about looking good makes you feel good?
1. [If I feel good at the gym, I am more likely
to have a good workout because I am
confident in the way I look]
iii. [Function]
1. Why is function of clothing important to you?
a. [Going to the gym is about getting a good workout, not
looking fashionable]
i. Tell me a little more about that, what is it about
working out that makes you not care about your
clothing choice?
1. [Buying clothing is dependent on what is
going to be the best for your workout]
a. What is your favorite type of
performance gear? Why?
b. How do those clothing items make you feel?
i. [Confident]
1. What does it mean to feel confident?
a. [To feel good about yourself]
i. Why is it important to you to feel confident when you
are at the gym?
II. What comes to mind when you hear athleisure?
a. [Trendy]
i. Why does trendy come to mind?
1. [See is more on the weekends brunch, shopping, etc.]
 a. Tell me a little bit more about that. Why do you associate
athleisure with brunch, shopping, etc.?
2. [Its a way for rich people to have stuff to wear to the grocery
store]
a. Why do you associate athleisure with wealth?
i. [Expense]
1. What do you think about the price of athleisure?
b. [Kylie Jenner]
i. What about athleisure makes you think of Kylie Jenner?
1. [She posts a lot on her Instagram wearing athleisure]
a. What kinds of athleisure clothing does she typically wear?
i. Why do those pieces standout to you?

PART B: Insights

Insight 1: Fashionably little effort

People are driven by casualty, but only if the clothing is fashionable at the same time.
Several subjects in our focus group articulated their thoughts on athleisure as a being a
casual yet fashionable choice of clothing. Though there were two subjects who had not yet heard
the term athleisure, a majority of subjects expressed that they viewed athleisure favorably as a
source of trendy comfort. There is a difference between athleisure and t-shirt and shorts, one
subject stated. Athleisure is cute and trendy, yet still relaxed. Another subject said that
athleisure is preferable because you dont look like a hobo but youre still comfortable.
There was also significant conversation about the type of people who tend to wear athleisure
clothing. A majority of subjects mentioned that they see athleisure clothing being worn by
individuals in the upper class on the weekends for activities such as brunch, shopping and
casual activities that dont require too much dressing up but you still want to look cute and
comfortable. When asked how athleisure made the subjects feel, several subjects said that
athleisure is not conventional. On subject said that athleisure doesnt have much more use than
looking nice and looking less like a bum than you would if you were to not wear athleisure.
Another mentioned that specific clothing items, such as sports bras, dont work and arent
comfortable for working out in.
One can infer that people prefer to purchase and wear clothing that are trendy and
fashionable as long as the clothing is comfortable and requires little to no effort to wear.
However, there were limits to what I found in terms of insights due to a lack of follow-up
questions. For example, when we asked How does athleisure make you feel? we received
functional and motivational data regarding athleisure, and stopped there. We should have
followed-up with questions like What about athleisure is unconventional? and Why is it
important to you to have conventional clothing for working out? to get an emotional response
that would translate into a deeper insight than one would gather from functional and motivational
data alone. Similar to the card stock example in lecture, getting to the root of an insight often
comes at the end of a series of questions. While the first couple of questions result in functional
and motivational insight, follow-up questions are vital to provoking emotional answers. In turn,
we gather emotional data to create a richer insight than we would by simply gathering data from
just one or two follow-up questions.
 The insight, Fashionably little effort, stems from one of my secondary research
assignment insights: Athleisure is the new casual. The difference between the two is that I was
able to better distinguish between fact and insight. My original insight from the secondary
assignment is more of a fact than an insight because it doesnt answer why people are
purchasing comfortable clothing that is also fashionable. In my focus group assignment, I better
answered the question, Why is athleisure the new casual? by collecting data that proved people
prefer clothing that is both trendy and requires little effort to wear.
An interesting finding was the spectrum of reasons why people wear athleisure. For
example, on subject mentioned that athleisure makes them feel lazy and that wearing it makes
them not want to leave their house. Another subject stated that athleisure makes her feel good
wearing it, and that she often associates athleisure with going out to brunch and shopping. I
believe that this particular contradiction requires further investigation into why these two
subjects had completely opposite answers as to how athleisure makes them feel. Contradictory
data can often be perceived as a negative effect of focus group discussion. However, I would like
to consider the contradiction as something that is capable of producing a source of knowledge
that will allow me to dive deeper into another potential insight.

Insight 2: Fake portrayal of athleticism

Several subjects in our focus group expressed interest in a product simply because it
would make them feel athletic, whether or not they actually are.
For example, after asking How do you feel when you wear your favorite brand of
athletic-wear? one subject expressed her favorability toward Nikes athletic clothing because it
makes her feel more athletic than [she] actually is. Another subject who claimed that
Lululemon was her favorite athletic-wear brand said that she wears it because she can look
athletic and feel confident without having the body of an athlete. She went on to say that she
can wear the clothes without being an athlete and be able to relate to the athletes who wear
Lululemon.
Based on the qualitative data collected, one can infer that people who wear athletic
clothing buy it to not only look trendy, but also to look athletic despite a lack of athleticism.
However, I believe that this insight only scratches the surface of a deeper insight that could have
been brought forth had I asked more follow-up questions. For example, after hearing a subject
say that Nike makes her feel athletic, I should have then asked her, What about Nike makes you
feel more athletic? Similar to issues with my first insight, I struggled to get past the functional
and motivational answers and dive deeper into the emotional responses that create stronger
insights. I also wish that I had asked more questions regarding the importance of athleticism and
looking athletic. In future focus group settings, it is important that I create a map of questions
that forces subjects to answer more than one or two follow-up questions in order to receive data
that will provide me with a profound insight. The follow-ups need to focus on the why aspect
of a persons story instead of the what factor.
In relation to the insights from my secondary research assignment, this insight differs
completely. Similar to the changes made with insight one of this assignment, this insight is less
fact-based and more motivationally and emotionally-driven. It also dives into the topic of
athleticism, whereas my previous insights were about transparency, causality and creativity.
Furthermore, I obtained this insight through questions regarding other brands instead of asking
specific questions about Under Armour. I found it very useful to ask questions based on what the
subjects favorite brands were instead of forcing them to answer questions about Under Armour
because it allowed for a freer discussion regarding ones feelings toward a specific brand. In
turn, I am able to use that data as a way to not only formulate an insight, but also to discover key
aspects of other brands that Under Armour can adopt as a selling point in a campaign.
Specifically, creating athletic clothing that makes people feel powerful and confident, even
as non-athletes, would be a potential strategy Under Armour can use to better compete with
competitors like Nike.
Like insight one of the focus group assignment, insight two also answers the question,
Why do you wear a specific brand or type of clothing? Insight two also complements insight
one as it feeds off of the idea that people choose the brand and type of clothing based on the way
the athletic-wear makes a person feel. Insight two focuses more on the fact that people look for
athletic-wear that will make them feel like an athlete, whether or not they are one. On the other
hand, insight one refers to the idea that people choose athletic clothing as long as it is both
fashionable and casual. However, the process of coming up with insight two was a bit different
than making insight one. While the first insight was a combination of new data and the revision
of an insight from the secondary assignment, this second insight was formed based solely on the
answers I received from subjects in my focus group.

Part C: Weaknesses

Group Alpha Issue

We had a group alpha who tended to be the first person to answer almost every question.
In turn, other subjects seemed to answer based on what they had heard from the group alpha,
whether it was agreeing with him or simply staying quiet because they did not want to counteract
his statements.
As soon as we walked into our assigned classroom, people began to sit together in
different areas of the room. For example, one subject brought two friends with her. All three of
them sat together in one corner of the room. On the other hand, a separate group of participants
who knew each other sat on the opposite side of the room. Then, there were three or four
students in the middle area of the room. When Kristina began asking questions, almost everyone
participated consistently. However, there was one student (a male) who sat close to two other
students (both female). The male subject was clearly the alpha in the room, and as a result the
quieter subjects such as the two females near him said little to nothing during our questioning.
For example, when we asked What comes to mind when you hear athleisure,? the male
student responded what the hell is athleisure? Not only did his response not answer the
question, but it was said and positioned in a tone and manner that made the more introverted
students not want to answer for fear of ridicule. We also asked, How you do think other people
perceive you when you wear athletic clothes outside of the gym? The male subject responded
by saying, Like trash. His quickness to answer that question, and in the manner in which he
answered it, was off-putting for other subjects. As a result, we did not receive detailed responses
from the introverted subjects, and often they would not speak unless we went out of our way to
ask them questions individually. In other words, Kristina or I would have to reword questions as
if they were being asked directly to the individual (i.e. What are some brands that pop into mind
when you all think of athleisure? vs. What are some brands that pop into your mind when you
think of athleisure?). The issue here became that they were answering questions based on the
answers they had already heard. I think the best way we could have solved this issue is by asking
more individual questions, going person-to-person and allowing the introverted individuals the
opportunity to answer first. Then, allow other participants who are more outspoken to answer the
question. This way, we prevent the alpha subjects to influence a persons desire to speak as well
as other peoples answers.
In our secondary research assignment, the problem of an alpha never came up because
the majority of information that I used was purely quantitative data-driven. In a focus group,
however, there is bound to be a person or a few people who are more outspoken than others. In
turn, it is important that the moderator makes sure that every person gets the opportunity to speak
their mind. A focus group will never be perfect because of obvious bias that can occur whether
it involves the subjects of moderator. This is a perfect example of why we dont have in-depth.

Impacts of Moderators Sitting Position

The physical placement of the moderator affected the certain subjects interest in
answering questions.
Toward the end of the questioning, Kristina left and I became moderator. This resulted in
a significant change in the volume of responses, where I would receive less responses from
specific people because of the way my body was positioned in comparison to them. Kristina
began as the moderator and sat at the head of the room on a desk so she was raised above the
subjects of the study. At that point, she could see everyones face and everyone could see hers.
Because she had to leave early, I took over as moderator. The difference in my position was that
I was sitting to her left in a chair, with my back turned toward three of the subjects. When I took
over I did not think to turn my body position to be more inclusive to other participants. The
subjects who sat behind me then became less active in answering questions. Due to this
circumstance, the subjects behind me did not answer all questions and we were unable to gather
more qualitative data. In the future, I need to make sure that my body language and position are
inclusive and open to all subjects so that everyone feels comfortable answering questions.
Another issue that came of switching moderators was the impact of moderator bias.
Kristina and I switched moderating with about 10 minutes left in questioning. At that point,
subjects had already gotten comfortable answering Kristina. They had built trust with Kristina,
and me taking over forced the process to almost start over because the subjects had to regain
trust in the moderator. The quality of our answers was not impacted, but instead the quantity of
answers we received went down. The easiest thing to do to fix this would be to not switch
moderators. However, we should have made a better effort to make our subjects comfortable
with the switch, and we should have done a better job warning them that the switch would
happen so that they could be mentally prepared.