Conducting Focus Groups What is a Focus Group? To collect information on community needs, services and perceptions, you can use focus groups – small gatherings of people whom you invite to come together to share opinions, respond to your questions, and offer information, anecdotes, perceptions, and experiences. Information from focus groups can inform strategic visioning, program planning, and evaluation. When used as an evaluation tool, focus groups need not wait until after the program is complete but can be used throughout the program cycle. In the for-profit business world, focus groups are often used to test a new product or service. This same principle can apply to our work – you can convene a focus group to assess the suitability of a specific program before it begins, or during implementation. As a result, you can develop activities that suit the needs of your clients and use your resources wisely. Getting Started – Select and Notify Your Participants: Beware of bias in selecting participants. Develop a pool of eligible participants and then randomly select. Incentives for Participation: Contact potential Money participants by phone or in Food person Small gifts (books, etc.) Follow up with a personalized Bus or subway/metro tickets invitation Positive, upbeat invitation Phone (or contact) each Opportunity to share opinions person the day before the Convenient and easy to find meeting location Involvement in an important research project focus group Opportunity to help others Build community, social or personal relationships Tips for Conducting Focus Groups: 1. Outreach and Attendance Plan for 8-12 participants per focus group; 6-8 participants is most preferred Invite “peers,” or people with similar backgrounds, to the same group to encourage open discussion. It is not necessary for participants to be strangers but it is preferred if the group has not previously interacted on a close personal level. Conduct more than one focus group to gain diverse perspectives Invite those who may be able to benefit from or contribute to the project Collaborate with organizations to help invite the targeted group to the focus group Project SOAR: Evaluation Methods – Focus Groups, page 1 Call potential participants, send written invitations, confirm participation by phone 2. Setting Create a comfortable and attractive environment Use circle seating to encourage discussion Offer refreshments Offer childcare and transportation if necessary Encourage people to speak freely Provide translators if necessary Tape recording sessions is highly encouraged 3. Moderator Should be skillful in group discussions Has adequate background knowledge of the topic of discussion Knows and understands the questions to be asked to the group Is an active listener Observes for participants’ reactions 4. Content Plan for one hour of discussion (two, if using translation) Ask open-ended questions (5-6 questions per one hour discussion) Start with easy questions and allow everyone to answer at the beginning Use questions that get participants involved Discuss problems and solutions in detail 5. Documentation Have an assistant to take careful notes and tape or video sessions Prepare report of the individual focus groups Use quotes to illustrate points made Report back to the community Emphasize recurring opinions and ideas Give focus group participants a copy of the report, translated to their language Or, hold a meeting with participants where the recommendations of the report are discussed Asking Questions that Yield Powerful Information: Use open-ended questions (What did you think of the program? How did you feel about the conference? Where do you get information about our organization? What do you like best about the proposed program?) Avoid questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no” Avoid “why” questions. They may put people on the defensive. Use questions that begin with “think back to a time when.” Take people back to a past experience, rather than forward to the future. Project SOAR: Evaluation Methods – Focus Groups, page 2 Vary the format of your questions. Design questions to encourage discussion to flow from general to specific: o Your opening question could be a round-robin question o Your introductory question could be used to build trust and rapport o Your transition questions should summarize the discussion so far o Your ‘wrapping-up’ question should ask: “of all the things we discussed, what do you consider is the most important?” or “if you had one minute to talk to the city council about this issue, what message would you want to relay?” o Your summary question should overview your discussion and request confirmation – “Is this an adequate summary?” o Your final question should review the purpose of the study and ask: “Have we missed anything?” After the Focus Group: Analyzing your Data To make sure that you collect relevant data and use resources efficiently, data analysis should be driven by the original purpose for the focus group. Here are some tips for conducting data analysis: While you’re still in the group - listen for inconsistent, vague or cryptic comments and probe for understanding. Offer a summary of key questions and seek confirmation. Immediately after the focus group o Draw a diagram of seating arrangement o If session was tape recorded, spot check to ensure proper operation o Conduct moderator and assistant moderator debriefing Note themes, hunches, interpretations, and ideas If relevant, compare and contrast this focus group to other groups Soon (within hours) after focus group, begin formal analysis Make back-up copies of handwritten notes and tapes. If tape will be transcribed, begin transcription. Begin reviewing tape, notes, and transcript (if available) Prepare summary of individual focus group in question-by-question format with illustrative quotes Share report for verification with other researchers who were present at the focus group If a group is part of a series, when individual analysis is complete, begin comparing and contrasting results between groups, looking for themes and note these findings Not every piece of data will merit analysis. Review all information but focus attention on the richer sections of the discussion After the Focus Group: Report Your Results Project SOAR: Evaluation Methods – Focus Groups, page 3 Chose your presentation style. Will you use narrative form or bullets? Chose quotations from your participants and insert them into your report to illustrate findings. Decide how you will order your findings – in the order that you asked the questions, or by themes that emerged? Share report for verification with other researchers and with the community. Based on the feedback, revise and finalize your report. To Learn More: Project SOAR – www.EthnicCommunities.org References USAID Evaluation Tools Krueger, Richard A., Focus Group Interviewing, American Evaluation Association. November 3, 2004. AEA Professional Development Workshop. Krueger, Richard A and Mary Anne Casey, Focus Groups, 3rd edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2000. About Project SOAR: For more than seven years, Project SOAR has provided organizations that serve refugees with the tools they need to deliver high-quality services. Through on-site assessments and trainings, regional workshops and networking opportunities, the development of practical materials, and one-on-one telephone and email consultations, we can help YOU diversity your funding portfolio, assess your communities’ needs, create and implement strategic plans, reduce vacancies on your board, recruit and develop volunteers and staff, create or update your website, grant proposals, or outreach materials, and much more! To request FREE assistance for your ORR-funded projects, contact us at [email protected]. Project SOAR: Evaluation Methods – Focus Groups, page 4 Addressing Barriers to Client Participation Refugee clients often face obstacles that must be addressed when designing program evaluations, particularly when evaluations are designed to elicit direct client feedback. This factsheet offers suggestions on how to address these potential barriers to client participation in program evaluations. Obstacle: Clients who are pre-literate or who have low literacy skills When designing an evaluation, you must take into account the literacy level of the clients and select appropriate data collection instruments accordingly. For example, you would need to rule out the use of questionnaires and surveys. Interviews and/or focus groups work best with this population since both of these data collection methods can be employed with clients who have little or no literacy skills. Obstacle: Barriers due to language and culture The language and culture of participants needs to be considered in program evaluations, just as it is in regular programming. Surveys and questionnaires should be translated into the language that respondents are most comfortable with, and focus groups and interviews should be conducted in that language as well. If facilitators and interviewers who speak the appropriate language(s) are not available, translation services need to be offered. Cultural considerations need to be dealt with as well when choosing data collection methods and designing data collection instruments. For example, focus group questions should either stay away from topics that are not discussed openly in the participants’ culture or should find ways to ask about these topics indirectly. Obstacle: Logistics Transportation and childcare are often barriers to client participation in program activities, and will be barriers to participation in evaluations as well. Ideally, the cost of transportation for clients going to and from interviews and focus groups, etc. will be paid for by the program, with childcare provided as well. You may also consider offering clients an incentive to participate in the evaluation. For example, each focus group participant would receive a small bag of groceries. Project SOAR: Evaluation Methods – Focus Groups, page 5