leading focusgroups 012814
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Honora N. EskridgeConsultant, DJA
Director of Centennial Campus Research Services at
North Carolina State University
Leading Focus Groups
Focus Groups:
Why?
Benefits:– Group dialogue (with no
pressure for consensus) provides rich information and diversity of ideas
– Provides insight on real experiences “on the ground” from the experts
– A lot of info at low cost
Limitations:– Facilitator bias
– “Groupthink”
– Not always generalizable to the broader population
Focus Groups:
When?
• Most effective in the early/design stages of a project
• When you have time/when you can still change course
• Purpose is to get candid feedback with the opportunity for follow up
• When the research questions are appropriate for group discussion
Planning &
Designing
• Basic principles:– Homogenous groups– Small (3 – 8 persons)– Neutral moderator + note-
taker (also manages recorder)
– Script– Comfortable, neutral,
distraction-free setting– Everyone sitting so they can
see and hear each other– Food is good!– IRB?
The Script
• Start with an easy warm up question
• Structure questions from general to specific
• Write open-ended questions (hint: if you can answer yes or no to it, it’s not open ended)
• Test the script for time and flow (6 questions = 1 hour)
• The participants are the experts
– e.g., never correct them, if possible use as an opportunity to get more information
• Moderator should have some familiarity with the community
– e.g. hot button topics
• Finding a balance between a rapport and professional distance of a researcher
Facilitating Focus Groups
• Body language is very important (yours and theirs)
• Neutrality in your response (don’t defend, justify or elaborate)
• Use probes to clarify– Tell me more? Can you
elaborate? What do you mean by…?
– Don’t paraphrase, if you have to, mirror
Listening &
Responding
• Don’t interrupt
• Don’t lead (“don’t you think that…”)
• Don’t finish thoughts
• Don’t rush the participant
• Balance between silence and keeping things moving
Listening &
Responding
Managing Time
• Finding a balance between letting people talk and keeping things moving
• Structure of the script is critical in terms of length and flow of questions
• To move things along --– Watch/listen for opportunities to transition
– Acknowledge the time, and that there are some other questions you’d like to ask
• Check in on their time
• Confidentiality
• One person speaks at a time
• Avoid side conversations
• Everyone’s opinions are valued
• We want to hear all sides of an issue (+/-)
• Equal representation of ideas
• Comfort
• End on time
Start With Group Norms
Create a
Facilitation
Guide
• The script plus
– Introductory remarks
– Norms and other ground rules
– When the recorder is being turned on
– Closing remarks
– Information about follow up
• Sample
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