Online focus groups constitute an innovative and very efficient possibility to organise qualitative group discussions in the internet. The participants of online focus groups meet in a virtual chat room instead of a test studio. Psychologists especially trained for this task act as online-moderators. The test persons can directly participate in the discussion on their PC. The whole online discussion is recorded and can be evaluated directly following the survey. BENEFITS reaching specific target groups that are difficult to recruit offline (e.g. users of a specific website, young professionals, B2B area) rapid realisation independent of location automatic recording evaluation of online offers in real-life situation in the internet, socially approved response behaviour can be expected to be reduced, due to the medium's anticipated anonymity because of the possibility to use multimedia devices (images, animations, etc.), online focus groups take on a "playful" and thus very motivating character the participants spatial separation facilitates an a priori submission of stimulus-materials to isolated members of the group for testing POSSIBLE OBJECTIVES interviewing members of existing online communities evaluating online offers in the form of highlighting strengths and weaknesses qualitative measuring of image and brand management in the internet determining market potentials and product innovations in the internet collective interview of participants of different regional descent (e.g. in international expert groups) METHODOLOGY We construct structured guidelines for the discussion in coordination with our client. We recruit all participants according to the agreed target group criteria. Our online panel is especially useful for recruiting online focus groups. We provide the required software and guarantee the professional processing of the groups (moderation and co-moderation). The course of the discussion is recorded automatically and will be available as a text file immediately after the discussion. Optionally, individual protocols can be created and psychologically evaluated for every conducted discussion. All results are summarised in a chart report and presented to our client. CONTACT Holger Geissler Management Board +49 221 42061-344