Clemson University : Assessment : Focus Groups

Focus Groups

Focus Group Outline

Focus Group: a group of persons organized by an investigator to obtain detailed information about a topic or issue through unstructured but guided discussion.

Preparing for the Focus Group

· Identify the major objective of the meeting

· Carefully develop 5-6 questions

· Plan your session

· Invite potential members to the focus group

· Approximately 3 days before the meeting, call each member to remind them to attend

Developing Questions

· First, ask yourself what problem or need will be addressed by the information

· Develop 5-6 questions

· Basically, focus groups are interviews with multiple individuals

Planning the Focus Group Session

· Scheduling

· Setting and refreshments

· Ground rules

· Agenda

· Membership

· Record session with either an audio or video recorder (consent to tape/record forms)

Facilitating the Focus Group Session

· Major goal of facilitation if collecting useful information pertaining to purpose of the meeting

· Introduce yourself and co-facilitator, if used

· Explain means to record the session

· Carry out your agenda

· Carefully word each question

· After each question is answered, carefully reflect back a summary of what you heard

· Ensure even participation

· Closing the session

Immediately after the Focus Group Session

· Verify the tape recorder/video camera, if used, worked through the focus group

· Make any notes on your hand written notes

· Write down observations made during the interview

Focus Group Guidelines

Definition: Confidential group discussion with trained and skilled moderators using open-ended questions that promote interaction and explore participants’ perspectives and experiences in a structured but relaxed atmosphere designed to generate qualitative data.

Should you use a focus group?

Advantages of focus groups

· Opportunity to observe how participants make meaning about the topic through group discussion.

· Efficient method of collecting data from many participants.

· Effective use of student affairs staff members’ interpersonal relationship skills to do research.

· Relatively easy to assemble, inexpensive and flexible in terms of format, types of questions and desired outcomes.

Disadvantages of focus groups

· Findings may not represent views of larger segments of the population.

· Requires good facilitation skills, including ability to handle various roles people may play ("expert", "quiet", "outsider’, "friend", "hostile", etc.);

· Tough rich, data may be difficult to analyze because it is unstructured

· Possible conformance, censoring, conflict avoidance, or other unintended outcomes of the group process need to be addressed as part of the data analysis (Carey, 1995)

Considerations for planning focus groups

1. Identify the purpose of the focus group. What information are you looking for? What general questions are to be answered as a result of conducting the focus group? These could be broad in nature, such as "What are our customers’ requirements?" or as narrow as "How did the training improve the work flow?" Identify the overall reasons for conducting the focus group.

2. Determine when the results are needed. The complete focus group process usually takes about three to four months, form the first step to completing an analysis and a report of the results. Knowing this will help determine the start date.

Developing Questions

· Questions should be "open-ended" to provide a wide variety and depth of responses. Simple "yes/no" questions can provide very specific information but, generally, do not help stimulate discussion or exchange of ideas.

· Questions should be clearly stated so that participants are not confused or misled.

· Questions should be neutral to avoid influencing the responses of participants.

· Questions should be ordered from easy, general questions to more difficult ones to help participants develop their ease in answering them.

Planning the Focus Group Session

The ideal size for a focus group is between six to twelve participants. It is important to have a good number of people to facilitate discussion, however the group should not be too large where it could preclude members of the focus group from participating fully. Additionally, identify members of the focus group who would be able to provide information most pertinent to the topic of the focus group.

After identifying focus group participants, determine when would be the best time to conduct the focus groups. Often, the information being collected determines the timeframe for conducting a focus group. Once the timeframe has been identified, logistical information, such as coordinating the rooms, dates, and times in addition to contacting the participants, can be completed.

Conducting the Focus Group

When conducting the focus group, there are several points to adhere to, including:

· Confidentiality: Participants in the focus group must feel confident and trust that what they say during the focus group will be treated with the same confidentiality as responses made on a survey. Accordingly, no one besides the facilitator will have access to the participants’ names, no one besides the facilitator will have access to the participants’ comments, and no observers are allowed in a focus group.

· Ground rules: Establish the ground rules for participating in the group, such as participating fully, respecting comments of all others’ participating in the focus group, and keeping the comments said within the focus group confidential.

After confidentiality has been stressed and the ground rules have been reviewed and established, go forward and carry out your agenda for conducting the focus group. When the focus group has ended, thank participants and inform them of how the information gathered in the focus group will be used.

Reporting Focus Group Results

The last task after conducting the focus group is to compile, analyze, and communicate the findings of the focus group to campus stakeholders. The facilitator of the focus group will type the comments, determine trends and themes, and identify single comments that are worthy of inclusion in the final report. Recommendations for future steps and improvements can be included in this analysis. The focus group findings can be used in a presentation or written report, whichever is deemed the best mode of presentation.

References

"Designing, Conducting, and Analyzing Focus Groups." PowerPoint Presentation.

"Focus Group Guidelines." Draft, 8/22/02.

http://www.managementhelp.org/evaluatn/focusgrp.htm.

Resources

Krueger, R.A. & Casey, M.A. (2000). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications.

Morgan, D.L. (1998). The Focus Group Guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications.