THE APPLICATION OF ONLINE FOCUS GROUPS IN MARKET RESEARCH

Sa？etak Focus groups, as important exploratory and qualitative methods of research, have become ever more present in theory and practice. The object of this research is to explore the applicability of online focus groups and to find out whether the traditional approach could possibly be exchanged with the new one. Also, the object is to summarize new reachable surveys and to compare theory with practice. The data was collected from in-depth interviews and secondary sources. The main questions are: Is the online focus group an effective method of collecting qualitative data, and is it always the best solution? Moreover, will it replace the traditional focus group? The new approach, however, can be cheaper and easily combined with other methods. For example, interviewees can be reached more easily. Both the traditional and the new approach have, of course, advantages and disadvantages. A researcher has to be well informed about them, so he could decide which approach is appropriate for which survey. Finally, one of the objectives of the research is to check whether the Croatian market is developed enough for a concrete implementation of online focus groups