I've done both online and in-person focus groups. I am signed on to pinecone research and while $5 is not a lot, every little bit helps, now the in-person surveys, well thats a whole nother ballgame. since I started doing them in Sept 04, I think I have averaged around 2 focus groups a month for 2 hrs each for anywhere from $60-85.
go to this website, and find your state, city and call each of those places and tell them you want to be added to their database. Then they will start calling you, not right away, but the calls will start coming. You do have to qualify for surveys, but once you do enough of them, you know what kind of answers they are looking for and that makes it much easier to qualify.
http://www.focusvision.com/maps/showmap.asp?map=facm_us
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