Answers
Synthetic panel vs AI focus group
A synthetic panel is a census-grounded set of simulated respondents asked the same instrument and aggregated into option shares. An AI focus group is a small tracked conversation. Buyers often treat those as the same product. They are not. Lewsearch is a panel that can seat a room. The panel is the statistic. The room is the reread.
Do not blur the categories
Search results for both phrases mix interview tools and tabulated panels. The useful test is the artifact you walk out with. If it is a distribution with an n and a published miss, you bought a panel. If it is a transcript and a theme map, you bought a group. Lewsearch publishes the panel miss: 7.47% MAE on 404 ex-electoral questions. The room inherits that panel. It does not replace it. Product notes are on /focus-groups and /study.
Worked example: one claim, two reads
A grocery claim tests in Texas. The panel returns option shares whose published Texas ex-electoral MAE is 4.88%. The room of 12 highlighted respondents tells you which phrase sounded like a lawyer wrote it. If you only run the room, you do not have a share. If you only run the panel, you may miss the wording that will get you yelled at in a real facility. That is why Lewsearch seats the room on the panel instead of selling the room as the sample.
| Question | Synthetic panel | AI focus group |
|---|---|---|
| What you can quote | Option shares and crosstabs | Quotes, themes, contradictions |
| n that is the sample | The full panel (often 500+) | The room (often 5–30) |
| Lewsearch role | The production artifact | Optional tracked room on top of the panel |
| Published miss | 7.47% MAE, 404 Q | Same panel underneath; quotes are not scored as MAE |
FAQ
- What is the difference between a synthetic panel and an AI focus group?
- A panel returns percentages you can tabulate. A focus group returns a small conversation you can follow. Lewsearch runs the panel first and optionally seats 5–30 named participants on top of it.
- Which one is Lewsearch?
- Panel-shaped. Studies typically sample 500 to 10,000 respondents from a chosen market. The optional room is 5–30 people with memory across questions. See /focus-groups and /study.
- When do I use each?
- Use the panel when you need shares, ranks, or crosstabs. Use a room when you need to hear the same 12 people contradict themselves after the second screen. Use a human facility when the sample itself is the deliverable.
- Can I convert 12 quotes into a poll?
- No. That is the category error this page exists to stop. Twelve quotes are not 500 option shares, synthetic or human.
Check the work
Related answers
Canonical: https://lewsearch.com/answers/synthetic-panel-vs-ai-focus-group