Menu Labeling Campaign Focus Groups

OMB No: 0910-0497 Expiration Date: 09/30/2017

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Menu Labeling Education Focus Groups

Appendix II

Moderator’s Guide

Introduction (2 minutes)

Thanks for joining us today. I’m _____, and I’m from RTI International. We’re a non-profit research organization based in North Carolina. We are conducting research on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As part of that research, we are holding discussions around the country about how calorie information on menus will help in making healthier food choices. The purpose of the discussion is to hear your views and opinions on food and eating habits and get your reactions to some informational materials on this topic. Your insights are very important to us and your time today is appreciated. We will have about 90 minutes for our discussion.

Before we begin, I want to review a few ground rules for our discussion.

• There are no right or wrong answers in today’s discussion. We want to know your honest opinions and experiences.

• We are audio and video recording this conversation so that I can give you my full attention and not have to take a lot of notes. In addition, I have a colleague listening to our conversation to take notes so that your opinions are accurately captured. Some project staff from our research team will be watching the discussions from the video recording or in the observation room behind us. When writing up our findings, we will not include any information that could identify you. Your name, address, and phone number will not be given to anyone, and no one will contact you about this research after this group is over.

• Everyone’s participation is important; we want to hear from everybody.

• It is OK to disagree.

• Please speak up (speak loudly).

• Please speak one at the time so we can hear all the responses – no side conversations.

• Please turn off your cell phones or anything else that may make it difficult to concentrate.

• If at any point you feel uncomfortable with my questions, simply let me know that you prefer not to answer.

• Do you have any questions before we begin?

Warm-Up (5-7 min)

Thanks again for being here. Everyone in the room has something in common - you are all mothers of young children. Let’s warm up by going around the room and saying your first name and your child(ren)’s ages and their favorite foods.

Motivations for Eating Out/Eating Restaurant Food (20 minutes)

Great, let’s get started. For this discussion, we’ll be talking about your experiences at fast-food and other restaurants when you go there with your children (between the ages of 3 and 10). Just as a reminder, let us know if there are differences between your children. That is, are things different for your older children ages 8, 9, or 10 versus the younger ones 5 and 6?

1. To begin with, what types of establishments (restaurants) do you go to with your children when you eat out?

   1. [IF PARTICIPANT MENTIONS PHONE ORDERING OR CARRYOUT/TAKEOUT, ASK] What do you do most often? Eat in restaurants? Order take out? Do you order by phone or online?

2. How often do you eat out in fast food restaurants with your children?

3. What are the advantages/disadvantages of eating fast food with your children?

4. How often, if at all, do you order from the kids’ menu for your children? Why or why not?

   1. What about ordering for your kids from the general (adult) menu? Are there any advantages/disadvantages to ordering from the general (adult) menu?

For the rest of our questions, I want to you think about what you do most often. That is eat-in, carry-out, etc.

5. Who decides where you will go to eat? Adults? Children?

6. How easy or difficult is it to get your child to try something new? Does this change as your children get older?

7. Who decides what your child(ren) will order? Do you decide, or help them to choose their food?

   1. [Adapt depending on whether mothers decide or help child to choose] What kinds of things do you consider when helping your child to choose their food?

   2. [PROBE] To get something the child will enjoy, choosing a meal that will be eaten, to get full, to get nutritional variety, to choose a healthier meal, etc.?

8. How do you know how much your child should eat when at the restaurant? [Probe: How do you know what is too much? How do you know if a meal/entrée is too large? Is portion size something you consider when ordering?]

Perceptions about Healthier Food Options/Choices and Using Calorie Information when Eating Out (13-15 minutes)

We understand that you might have other priorities when you choose to eat out, such as [list those that have been already called out for Q3 advantages], but we would like to talk a little bit more about selecting healthier options when you eat out.

9. Currently, how do you get nutrition information, such as calorie information, about meals/foods you order in restaurants?

   1. Do you look at the menu to see if the menu highlights healthy items?

   2. Do the menus display calorie information?

   3. Do you ask for additional information from restaurant staff?

   4. Do you look up additional information from a website or app?

10. When eating out, how do you try to encourage your child to make healthier choices?

    1. By suggesting healthier alternatives? By offering smaller portions?

    2. By choosing different side orders, such as apples instead of fries, water or milk instead of soda?

11. Could you share an example of a time when your child ate healthier than usual while eating out? What do you think caused this? How did you feel after that? What would help you to make healthier choices when eating out?

Stimulus Testing (40-45 minutes)

For this final activity, we are going to ask for your reactions to an educational campaign. We will show you some draft advertisements which are designed to motivate moms like you to make healthier choices when eating out.

To start, we wanted to first hear your reactions to the concept or theme for the overall campaign. The campaign will be called, “You’re the Mom”. [SHOW ON FLIPCHART “ORGANIZING THEME: MOM POWER”, AND READ ALONG WITH MOMS]

12. What do you think about what you see here?

    1. What are your first reactions?

    2. What catches your attention, what do you like or not like about this concept?

    3. Is this campaign made for someone like you? If not, why?

    4. What feels most inspiring or motivating, if anything, for you personally?

Now we will look at three sample ads that get a little bit more specific. These ads will be part of the educational campaign. You might see ads like this in billboards, magazines, or websites.

[MODERATOR: Hand out hard copies of the display stimuli] Moderator should read each STIMULUS aloud one by one and ask the following questions for each [rotate order for each group].

13. Looking at this ad [For each stimulus, probe:]

1. Tell me in your own words what this idea is saying.

2. What is your overall feeling about this message?

3. What about this ad do you like the most? Why?

4. What do like the least? Why?

5. What would you change about this to make it better?

6. How relevant do you feel this idea is to you and your friends outside of this room?

7. Do you think this ad would influence you to make different choices in what you (or your kids) pick to eat – at fast food restaurants? Why or why not?

• If yes, what changes would you or your kids make?

• If no, what changes could be made to the ad?

After feedback is received on all STIMULI, MODERATOR askS participants:

14. [Rank]: Now we are going to go around the room and have you say which ad of all of them is the most relevant/useful to you and why [If the participants want to identify a combination of two concepts as being most motivating/salient, that’s fine]

1. Which is least relevant/useful to you? Tell me why you think that.

2. [REITERATE THE TOP CHOICES FOR EACH] Tell me about why you chose the ads you did.

False Close (6 minutes)

That’s all the questions I have. I am going to check in with my colleagues to see if I missed anything.

[Moderator go to back room to see if there are any new questions.]

Close (2 minutes)

Do you have any questions for me or any additional feedback that you’d like to provide?

Thank you very much for your time today. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

[Moderator: Stop recording. Administer incentives and obtain receipts.]

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