Moderator Disucssion Guide

Form Approved

OMB No. 0920-0800
Expiration Date: 1/31/2012

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

FOCUS GROUPS WITH WOMEN, Ages 40-60 years

Inside Knowledge: Get the Facts About Gynecologic Cancer

Round 2: Concept Testing

Moderator Discussion Guide

I. BACKGROUND (@2 minutes)

Objective: Explain the purpose, sponsorship and process for the discussion.

Thank you for joining me today. My name is _____; I am very happy to have this chance to get your reactions to information about some types of cancer that affect women. The people who are sponsoring our discussion are looking forward to your feedback -- to help them make sure that what they develop is as useful as possible.

Before I ask you to introduce yourselves, I’ll tell you a few things that I hope will put you at ease and also help us make the most of our time together.

Moderator will quickly address:

• Importance and value of hearing everyone’s candid opinions: I am so interested in what each of you thinks about the things I’m going to show you – specifically, some ideas for ads that may be in magazines and on TV. This is truly about your opinions and ideas – nobody else’s. Please be true to yourself – you do not have to agree with anyone else here. This is a time to be selfish…we truly want to know what you think – not what you think someone else would say or want to know. It’s also very important to let me know when you hear or read something that is new to you or hard to understand. The more our sponsor understands what is new or confusing to you, the better their information will be.

• CDC sponsorship: We are sponsored today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is part of the government’s public health service and is located in Atlanta. I’ll refer to it as “C-D-C” while we talk. The main reason I am telling you this is to emphasize that what we’ll look at is not being developed by a company that wants you to buy anything. This is strictly for health education, not sales.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1.5 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.  An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.  Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: CDC/ATSDR Reports Clearance Officer; 1600 Clifton Road, MS D-74, Atlanta, GA 30333, ATTN: PRA (0920-0800)

• Sometimes that’s hard for people who are shy or quiet, but it will get easier as we go along. There is no such thing as too loud!

• Moderator not being involved in preparation of materials and not being subject expert: It’s very important that you tell me about anything you see today that you like and also what you don’t like or think is confusing – it won’t hurt my feelings. I did not help prepare anything I’ll show you today, and I am not an expert on what we’ll discuss. I’ll give you some take-home materials later in case you have questions that are not answered here tonight.

II. INTRODUCTIONS (@5 minutes)

Let’s introduce ourselves. Please share with everyone…

• Your first name only.

• And also, tell us about an ad—from TV or a magazine—that you found memorable. I am especially interested in hearing about an ad you liked. It can be one that’s out now, or even one that was on a few years ago. [If anyone struggles to remember an ad she liked, could offer chance to talk about one she especially disliked, but prefer to focus on ads that were appealing.]

I’ll go first [mainly to demonstrate brevity. Moderator tells something brief about herself, and call on person to left or right to continue. The intros and warm-up are important to help women get comfortable, but it is also crucial to move quickly.]

III. DISCUSSION TOPICS

Objective: Obtain participants detailed reactions to print and TV storyboard concepts.

1. Reactions to print ad concepts (@40 minutes for presentation, discussion, comparison)

I mentioned that we’d be looking at some information about cancer. What I will show you first are a few ideas for print ads –ads that you might see in a magazine or newspaper. They are not finished, but they will give you a good sense of what the people working on them have in mind for the artwork and words. I really want to know how you personally feel about what you see today – not how you think other people might respond.

Here is the first one. [Moderator will hand out print boards one at a time]

The following probes will be used to obtain detailed reactions to each print ad concept.

1. Overall reaction to print ad concept:

Before we talk about your reactions in detail, I’d like you to write down a letter grade and answer a few questions about your reaction to the ad. There are no right or wrong answers – whatever is true for you is what you should write.

[After a moment’s pause for people to write down their response…] I’m going to go around and have each of you tell me very quickly what you wrote – just the grade and 1-2 words about your feeling about the ad – no further explanation for now.

Moderator will then launch discussion to probe the following: [Please note: There will not be enough time to probe every bullet for every concept. And some will only be appropriate for the first concept introduced.]

2. What are the main ideas here?

3. Do you think this would catch your attention if you saw it in a magazine? (why/why not?) Who do you think this ad is for?

2. Let’s talk about the creative approach they have used – that is, the idea of featuring… [moderator will mention something specific about the concept] Is that appealing to you? Why/why not?

If not already mentioned, will probe for specific concepts…

“INSTRUMENT”

What do you think of using a music theme for this message?

“I HAD” [Moderator will emphasize that final ad will feature photos of real women.]

What do you think about showing different women making these statements?

What can you tell me about the way the women look – the looks on their faces, the clothes or other details about their appearances, the scene/setting?

“DRESS FORMS” [Moderator will emphasize that final ad will feature photos, not drawings.]

What about featuring the dress forms like this ad has? Do you think that’s effective?

[If not mentioned here, moderator will ask later when TV ad featuring store mannequins is shown whether the mannequins or the dress forms are more appealing for the print ad.]

“JOHANNA AND SHERYL” [Moderator note—this is the only print concept that uses “vulvar”—will need to probe/listen for participants’ understanding of the word.]

Would you like to see another or additional versions of this...featuring others who have been affected by GYN cancers? How might these people be similar to or different from the woman featured in this ad? (e.g. real people, like just regular women in any community USA/celebrities/women and/or men?) What might these people say that would appeal to you?

What would you think of having a celebrity – someone whose picture you recognized?

[if time permits, probe Fran Drescher, and then see what other names come up organically]

Or, what about a man talking about someone close to him who had one of these cancers? Would that be a good idea? Someone famous (e.g., Patrick Dempsey, Pierce Brosnan)?

5. Let’s focus on the words in more detail.

Is there any new information here – something you did not know before reading it?

[We can add specific probes about main ideas and concepts to see how they’re coming across.]

Is anything confusing?

Moderator will probe as needed, specific words/phrases when they first appear:

For “ORCHESTRA”: Listen for whether the current headline works – if there are doubts about it, suggest a more active headline like “Tune into the most finely tuned instrument of all” is appealing.

For “I HAD”: Probe about the call to action. Is there one? What is it? Does it make you want to do anything? (This ad closes with “Ask about gynecologic cancer” rather than ‘get the inside knowledge’ - we’re trying to learn if this matters to our audience, and if so, how.)

Listen for whether or not women understand “having to go” (vs. urinate)

SPOTTING: Listen for discussion on ‘spotting’...if it doesn’t come up, ask – do you know what it means...who wants to explain what this is? Listen for whether there is agreement/another explanation.]

PELVIC: As above, listen for discussion on ‘pelvic’ pain/pressure....if it doesn’t come up, ask – do you know where this is...etc.

VULVAR [only in “Johanna and Sheryl”]: listen to see if there is discussion of vulvar cancer...the first time this has come up. Who has heard of vulvar cancer? Do you know where this body part is? Who can describe it?

“KNOW YOUR NORMAL”: any thoughts on that line—Appealing/ unappealing/ neutral?

Listen for: what information is missing...what info they are glad to see. (not necessarily having to probe for this...if should come out naturally, but you can ask if it doesn’t! [If too little, moderator will remind women that this is a print ad with limited space brochure to help them clarify what else they would want to see in the ad, versus content to go find elsewhere – from doctor, a Web site, etc.]

6. What is the ad telling us to do?

Listening for how participants interpret the call(s)-to-action.

Does the information about the Web site and phone number stand out enough?

Moderator will listen for Pap test mentions during group, and ask at a natural time—

Which diseases and conditions can a Pap test find?

If you have a Pap test that comes back normal…and then a few weeks or months later you noticed something that’s not normal for you - like bleeding between periods, or pelvic or abdominal pain, or unexplained bloating - would you see your doctor or health care provider?

7. Now let’s talk some more about how the whole ad works overall to get the message across for you personally -- the way the headline, the other words, the people, the scenes – look and work for you or not.

Is there anything you might do, after seeing this ad? [If yes…] Like what? Will probe if needed: Reactions to Web site and phone information in addition to other calls to action.

Is the ad easy enough to read? Why or why not?

[Will adjust wording to fit with what has already been said…]

So, let’s summarize the things about this ad that are appealing.

[Will adjust wording to fit with what has already been said…]

And are there things you like or things you don’t like about any part of it?

Are there any other changes you’d recommend?

Moderator then repeats this process with the other print ad concepts.

B. Comparison of the print ads (5 minutes)

Now that we’ve talked about these print ads, let’s compare them. I’d like you to write down the names of the two ads that are your favorites. And please write down the name of your least favorite--you may even write that one or more should be dropped from consideration with a few words about why.

[Have women report on best one first; also have women report on least favorite]

C. Reactions to TV PSA storyboard concepts (@30 minutes)

As I mentioned earlier, we're going to look at some early ideas for several TV ads. Most TV ads start out just like this. The actual ad will have real people—not cartoons or animated figures—real people and real scenes – The drawings you will see here – these are just to show you what the people in the ad will be doing and saying when the ad is filmed with live people. The real ad will be a seamless 30 or 60 second story – not a series of individual pictures like this. Please do not think of each individual picture separately – think about the whole story that all of the pictures together tell you. We call these “storyboards” because they show you the story that the TV ad will tell.

[Moderator will hand out storyboards one at a time.]

Will remind people throughout the discussion that the whole ad will be only 30 or 60 seconds in length.

Will emphasize the importance of first impressions, but also encourage women to consider things like whether the ad would catch their attention, speak to them, appeal to them, or perhaps make them think about taking some action.

Will emphasize as needed throughout discussion that women should focus on the creative approach or main part of the ad (not the quality or type of artwork that is used) to draw their attention to the message. And that any text information is secondary – because any information from any ad can be put in the final ads produced. We do not want people to evaluate the ad on the basis of facts alone that could be incorporated in any approach.

1. Overall reaction to TV concept:

Before we talk about your reactions in detail, I’d like you to write down a letter grade again – A, B, C, D, or F—and answer a few questions about your reactions to the ad.

2. Did this catch your attention? Why/why not? (Who do you think this ad is for? )

2. What are the main messages?

3. Let’s talk about the creative approach they used –…

Overall, moderator will be listening for how participants react to real woman concepts vs. symbolic, abstract concepts. If not already mentioned, will probe for specific concepts…wording of questions will be adjusted to fit with what participants have already brought up, especially in different groups where the concept order changes.

“I HAD”

Listening for/will probe especially:

Reactions to studio setting: What do you think of the studio setting? (If anyone things it doesn’t work, ask participants to suggest a different setting. Probe whether they think the women should be talking straight to the camera (the viewer) or to each other.

What would you think about having mostly women in this ad...but maybe including a man or two talking about his wife or sister or mother?

“ORCHESTRA”

Any thoughts on the music or kind of band this is? can also compare it to a club setting or a living room practice session...

“LATIN JAZZ”

Any thoughts on the music or kind of band this is?

The setting? [Moderator will ask participants to compare this concept with “Orchestra.” Or, can also compare it to a club setting or a living room practice session.]

“MANNEQUINS”

Listen for comparison with the print ad with the dress forms. Ask: is this similar to the print ad with the dress forms? Ask if it matters to them which – dress form or mannequin – might be used in the print ad and the tv ad. Listen for “Having to go.” Is the meaning clear?

“MIRROR”

Please describe the main idea behind the concepts presented. What is the main message? Does this speak to you? Is this an ad that you would pay attention to or quickly disregard?

2. Let’s take a look at the [other] words too.

Moderator will probe as needed, key words/phrases that may be presented differently in the storyboards than they were in the print ads, or that seemed to cause confusion in the print concepts.

2. Do you feel like you might do anything as a result of seeing this ad? [If yes…] Like what?

[Will adjust wording to fit with what has already been said…]

So, let’s summarize the things about this ad that are appealing.

[Will adjust wording to fit with what has already been said…]

And now the things you find unappealing.

Are there any other changes you’d recommend?

Moderator will repeat process with each concept.

E. Comparison of TV storyboard concepts (@5 minutes)

Now that you have seen several ideas for TV ads, I’d like you to compare them and tell me which one you like best. Please write down the number of the one that does the best job of appealing to you, getting your attention, and getting the message across to you personally -- just a few words please. And the same for the one that you liked the least...why doesn’t it work for you?

Moderator will have each person call out the letter of the one they chose [Storyboards will be lettered, for easy identification.]. The focus of discussion will be mainly on the role that the different approaches play in participants’ choice.

IV. CLOSE (@3 minutes)

Objective: Obtain summary advice from participants

I’d like you to write down the top two or three things that you think are most important to tell women about this subject.

Thank participants for time and ideas.

Provide departure instructions.

TOTAL TIME: 90 minutes –

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