Lo-tech setup for home based focus group – a wire connecting the video camera with the TV in the observation room. The space used for the focus group is normally someone’s home, and in this instance the observation room is a converted bedroom – there are no seats so the observation team is perched on the edges of a large double bed. The setup works surprisingly well, with the participants relaxed in the surroundings and the proceedings sufficiently focused.

A backup battery sits in one corner of the home a sign that they are used to having power cuts. The host informs us that if the power does go for any length of time then the TV in the observation room will cut off, and given that it is a windowless room presumably we will be plunged into darkness.

But for once I’m able to say I spent a half day lounging around on a bed (there were no chairs), sipping tea and watching (the participants on the) TV and all in the name of work.