Focus on Focus Groups

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Focus on Focus Groups
Brand Camp
April 6, 2007 Presented by Debra J. Dahab,
Ph.D
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Session objectives

• Know when to use focus groups
• Use systematic procedures
• Successfully
• recruit participants
• Develop a script
• Demonstrate the credibility
• of your results

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REASON To understand how people think or feel
about an idea, a product, an issue or service.
Eight to ten PEOPLE who have something in common
to bring to the topic.
A skilled MODERATOR leading a focused discussion.
A comfortable, permissive ENVIRONMENT
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• I need some information and I think I want to do
  a focus group, but Im not sure.

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Start off in the right direction

• Choosing the right methodology helps you defend
  your results

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Comparison of Methods
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Use focus groups to.

• Advise decision making about a service, program
  or communications
• Program or service development
• Identify ingredients of customer satisfaction
• Gather opinions and insights for needs assessment
• Evaluation
• Enhance planning efforts
• Post-quantitative to understand why
• Clarify issues and set objectives for other
  research

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DO use focus groups when

• You want to understand motivations and behaviors
• You want ideas to emerge from the group
• You want to pilot test something
• You are looking for the range of feelings or
  ideas
• You want to understand differences in
  perspectives between groups

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DONT use focus groups when

• You are looking for consensus
• You are asking for sensitive information
• You need statistical projections
• Other methods can produce better quality
  information
• Other methods can produce the same quality
  information more economically
• Focus groups do not tell you if the issue is true
  for one person or a thousand people. You cant
  count focus groups results.

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Survey, focus groups, or interviews?

• What issues do physician offices and medical
  clinics face in providing medical translation
  services?
• What can a state advocacy organization for people
  with disabilities do to encourage employers to
  hire more employees with disabilities?
• What do teachers think of proposed changes in a
  particular curriculum?

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Survey, focus group, or interviews?

• GEAR UP is an intervention program to provide
  information on higher education options and
  financial aid for low income high school and
  middle school students. In what ways and how
  well is the programs mission and purpose
  communicated to parents and students?
• What kinds of parenting programs are currently
  being offered in our community for low income,
  single mothers? Are community needs being met?

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Exercise

• Art gallery wants to identify ways to increase
  participation in programming for children.
• Who should participate?
• How do we identify potential participants?
• Are there any other qualifications
• or characteristics we should look for?
• What screeners should we use, if any?

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How to avoid the empty room

• Participants are not the same as volunteers!
• Schedule for convenience
• Make a personal connection
• Follow-up in writing
• Easy to find, safe location with adequate
  transportation
• Over-recruit
• Use incentives (food, services, money, coupons)
• Same day reminder

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Creating a discussion guide
Warm-up

• Limit to 5 or 6 questions
• Always start with an easy question
• that requires little thought and
• is answered quickly
• Prime the pump follow a logical
• sequence that leads up to key
• questions
• (remember, its a FOCUS group)

Shopping
Department stores
Dillards
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Example discussion guide

• Warm-up, introduce self and talk about children,
  ages, where and what courses have they taken?
• How did you first hear about classes at the
  gallery?
• Thinking back, what made you decide to enroll?
• Describe your childs experience
• What did he/she like best? Least?
• What changes would you suggest for future
  classes?
• Would you enroll your child in another class (or
  recommend classes to other parents)? If not, why
  not?
• Is there anything we missed that you would like
  to add?

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More DOS and DONTS

• Do exclude or limit observers
• Do use audio and/or video recording
  demonstrates importance of listening and
  accuracy
• Do call people by name
• Dont give participants a list of questions
• Dont allow observers to ask questions
• Dont use an executive or program director as a
  facilitator (or have them in the room for that
  matter) and expect to get unbiased responses

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Timing is critical

• Assign approximate time limits to
  each portion of the discussion guide
• Deviate from the discussion guide if necessary to
  pursue new areas or avoid repetition
• Plan for 1-2 hours for the group
• Finish on schedule

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Responding to questions about the results

• Is the research scientific?
• Are the results subjective or soft?
• Are the results valid?
• Dont the results just represent the opinions of
  the few people in the room?
• Generalizability
• Value
• Size of sample

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Is the research scientific?

• Yes, qualitative research is scientific because
  it is disciplined, systematic, and verifiable
• Demonstrate these by your methodology
• In quantitative research, the goal is to identify
  relationships or demonstrate predictability
• In qualitative research, the goal is to provide
  insight and understanding

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Are the results subjective or soft?

• Again, demonstrate how you maintained researcher
  neutrality and followed systematic procedures
• If soft means not quantified, then yes, this is
  true
• Explain intent was to understand opinions and
  feelings
• Reiterate standards and rigor

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Are the results valid?

• Translation Can I trust the results?
• Explain everything you did to ensure that the
  results are accurate
• This means describing the steps you took to
  follow quality research protocols

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Isnt this just the opinions of the few people in
the room?

• Intent was never to generalize or predict
• Rather, to understand opinions and feelings
  in-depth
• You cannot do this with surveys
• Results may represent opinions and feelings of
  other similar people
• Solution Multiple groups until you are not
  getting new information

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Closing comments

• Purpose drives your study
• Make sure focus groups are the appropriate
  methodology
• Seek agreement and understanding of benefits and
  limitations
• Follow systematic and neutral processes
• Recruiting
• Moderating
• Report results systematically and objectively