“We'll meet again…” Repeat attendance at group discussions — does it matter?

Recognising respondents at group discussions can be an alarming and embarrassing experience for both moderators and observers alike. Alarming because recruitment questionnaires, supported by tradition, require that, on the whole, no respondents should have attended a group in the previous six or twelve months, the period depending on a number of different issues including the recruitment policy of the researcher involved. We usually assume that if any individual seems familiar, they shouldn't be there.