One of the most talked about areas within the marketing profession is the use of the Internet to conduct marketing research studies. Many research companies have formed specific units to address the opportunities in this area, considering both qualitative and quantitative research studies. One of the most disturbing outcomes of this process has been the attempt to conduct focus groups using the Internet, implying that they represent a cost-effective and time-efficient replacement for the traditional focus group. My problem with this comes not with the concept of trying to collect qualitative information on the Internet, but rather in attempting to imply that qualitative research conducted on the Internet could be a replacement for the real thing. There probably is some logic to trying to use the Internet to develop qualitative inputs, but it is absurd to imply that the work which is conducted would be comparable to the output of traditional, professionally implemented focus groups.