Many global research firms get trapped in a pitfall in designing the Japan leg of the global research project. “Consistent What and Differing How” is a norm one should always adhere to in global research projects that contain field research across many countries. More often than not, we need to adjust the specifics prescribed at the global level “What” to yield the best result from the research work in Japan. In this series of articles, I will shed a light on how we should deal with the “How” part of the norm to render the Japan leg most effective while keeping the “What” intact.  Specifically, this article is about focus group research.

有时，当我们进行焦点小组访谈时，海外客户会隔着单向镜监视他们，客户会立即感觉到与他们通常看到的有些不同。具体来说，他们希望每个参与者都敞开心扉，畅所欲言，从而说出真实的感受和想法。然而，在日本，这并不是通常的情况。有什么不同呢？

这里的人们往往不太愿意在公众面前敞开心扉。与美国典型的“展示和讲述”文化相反，日本人鼓励人们表达自己的观点，而传统上，人们倾向于在公众面前少说话。这可能是因为人们在自己的小圈子和大圈子里的态度会发生变化。显然，当他们在小圈子里时，他们会变得更加开放，反之亦然。换句话说，人们在“陌生人”面前说话时往往会变得非常沉默寡言。我的一位美国朋友称之为罐装文化！

我想与大家分享我们如何解决这一文化“障碍”，同时试图了解他们的真实感受和想法。

破冰

幸运的是，这种简单但普遍的做法在日本也很有效。人们对有趣的事情做出反应，轻松的氛围开始形成。这是一个热身。

点火

Nobody tends to want to be the first to express his/her own thought even if asked. What we often do is to present a point about which people can’t help saying something. For example, if you want to know the pattern of education spending by participants on their children, you may want to allude to a group of people who are “enthusiastic” about a certain type of educational spending. Since we have chosen people who are keen on education, each of them should have some clear opinion about it, be it positive or not. That works as an ignition.

避免偏向引力

In Japan, people tend to try to reach consensus as early as possible; many scholars suggest that this attitude stems from Japan’s agricultural societal structure where group works are always looked for. This is also what we observe in focus group meetings. People tend to gravitate toward one opinion; once a certain position is built, a “snowball” effect often kicks in where people begin to rally around it. This is one of major impediments one should avoid once free-wheeling discussions begin. Although I don’t get into specific tactics to stay away from the end result becoming highly biased because they are pretty common across cultures, the moderator should be very alert on this gravitational force gaining momentum and strike the balance of discussions.

贡献公司：
日本研究服务。日本东京。www.japan-research-services.com
联系人：菅野康。[email protected]

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