Developing Card-Based Surveys: Focus Group Insights for Smart Grid Prosumer Optimization

This study presents a novel approach to developing effective surveys for optimizing residential micro-grid configurations, integrating insights from focus group research. The development of card-based questionnaires allows for the collection of qualitative feedback, which in turn enables the understanding of prosumer (i.e., producer/consumer) preferences and the improvement of microgrid design. By integrating insights from focus groups, we construct card-based questionnaires that capture the nuances of prosumer perspectives on energy infrastructure, pricing mechanisms, information sharing, community engagement, regulations, and governance. The methodology employed three key phases: ethnographic surveys to identify salient attributes, combining technical and social attributes through interviews and focus groups, and conjoint analysis to quantify attribute importance. In this paper, a previous ethnographic survey was employed to develop a card-based questionnaire for use in a subsequent conjoint analysis survey. This research contributes to the development of optimized micro-smart grid configurations that are conducive to widespread adoption and sustainability.