What’s the Matter with Boston?
Earlier this month, two clients contacted us about moderating focus groups in Boston.
Why is this notable? Well, we almost never conduct qualitative research in Boston, despite being headquartered 50 miles to the north.
In 2007, Boston barely finished among our top-10 cities for qualitative research:
- 1. New York
- 2. Washington, D.C.
- 3. Atlanta
- 4. Philadelphia
- 5. Southwestern Connecticut
- 6. Los Angeles
- 7. Dallas
- 8. Chicago
- 9. Phoenix
- 10. Boston
When looking to conduct focus groups and IDIs in a Northeast market, our clients opt for New York, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. But rarely do they choose Boston.
Considering the healthy number of well-educated, higher-income consumers that most of our clients are targeting, I wonder: Why don't our clients, many of them headquartered in New York, want to conduct research in Boston?
A few possibilities:
It's too white -- and, at the same time, ethnic. Boston's metropolitan area is more than 20% whiter than the national average, and has a reputation of being more segregated than other major U.S. cities. Boston residents are thought to have a stronger-than-average sense of cultural identity, which could set them apart from potential participants in other cities.
It's too educated. Boston Public Schools, the oldest public school system in the country, is still considered the nation's best, and the array of colleges and universities provide a population that could be seen as too intellectual.
It's weird and isn't representative of the U.S. A lot of people think New Englanders are just strange and don't represent the rest of the country. (Many New Englanders appreciate this reputation.)
What do you think?
http://www.thetaylorgroup.com/blog/trackback.cfm?3854DF44-1422-22E7-239BA15BF6836CA4
There are however, a number of practical reasons that make Boston a no-go for selection as a focus group market.
For starters, there are not a lot of great facilities in this city. I've done focus groups in Boston on four separate occasions with four separate facilities and was disappointed all four times. The reasons are mostly limited to to recruiting, but also include sub-par facility personnel, as well as locations that do not encourage a broad mix of respondents. The back room food was disappointing too. Not that that should matter, but it does.
Mostly though, Boston is too darned cold and snowy in the winter, and too darned hot and muggy in the summer. Now is that a reason to nix a market in which to do focus groups?
You betcha!
Respondents who have to fight through icy conditions are less likely to attend groups than those living in more temperate climates. And I've come very close to missing groups due to flight delays and cancellations caused by inclement weather. And Boston's summer heat and humidity are such that people try to desperately get out of Boston as much as possible during the hot weather. Even if you do find enough bodies to stuff into a focus group room, you probably don't have a representative sample.
So for Boston that leaves May and June, and September and October as the only decent months in which to conduct focus groups. And being a sports-crazed town, the Celtics are usually in the playoffs during May and June, and the Red Sox are often in a pennant race or World Series during September and October. Therefore show rates suffer, unless you screen out sports fans, which means you're screening out a good chunk of the city -- and frequently that includes those highly valued participants with the most vocal opinions.
So in my opinion, it's no surprise Boston is a focus group market of last resort. What is surprising to me is that Washington DC made your Top 10 list at all, given the large number of federal government workers there. And that Chicago ranks a paltry # 8, when it is the great amalgam of America. Yes it's cold there too, but there's a ton of good focus group facilities, and you can find virtually every type of respondent you're looking for. And oh yeah, the pizza is pretty good there too. Not that that should matter of course.
But it does.