Focus Groups

 

"The two things I appreciated most about Susan were her collaborative approach, and her ability to flex with our needs. When it looked like we would not be able to fill all of the focus groups, Susan went the extra mile to survey principals to find out what it would take to encourage more educators to participate in our groups. When we had trouble honing in on focus group questions, she contacted key informants to help guide our thinking. Susan handled every challenge gracefully and with fidelity to our project goals."  --Elaine Gantz Berman, Colorado State Board of Education

 

Focus Group Description

A focus group is a small group of carefully selected individuals who have been invited to share their thoughts, feelings and opinions about a topic with which they are intimately familiar. A skilled facilitator leads participants through an open discussion of no more than ten carefully crafted, open-ended questions with the goal of generating the maximum number of ideas from as many different people within the time allotted. When well executed, a focus group creates an accepting environment that puts people at ease, allowing them to expand, change, and deepen their answers. Focus group responses are ultimately summarized, categorized, and analyzed for major themes, insights, and inconsistencies.

 

Focus Group Parameters

• Size: 6 to 10 individuals per group
• Number of groups: A minimum of three per topic
• Duration: 45 to 120 minutes per group
• Composition: Individuals who are close to the issue and similar to each other in ways important to the study e.g. race, gender, occupation, age
• Participant Characteristics: Motivated individuals invested in contributing constructive thoughts and opinions and willing to consider the thoughts and opinions of others

Focus Group Advantages

• Uncovers feelings, attitudes, motivations, insights and perceptions.
• Reveals the reasoning behind an answer.
• Allows for in-depth probing of a topic.
• Affords the opportunity to ask unplanned questions.
• Designed so that some participant responses trigger other participant responses.
• Affords a safe comfortable environment in which participants can open up.
• Designed to generate an open but guided discussion that sticks to the topic.
• Values the contribution of each individual.
  
• Creates an opportunity for even quiet participants to add their comments.
• Encourages the sharing of widely divergent ideas and opinions.

An Example

Here is an example of a focus group study I recently completed, including the full report. See more examples of focus group work I've done.

A Community Assessment for Providence Health and Services

• Study Participants: Low-income, vulnerable populations in three counties
• Use: Develop a three-year plan to bridge gaps in health services for health care consumers
  

As part of a broader set of quality measures, Providence Health and Services in Portland Oregon conducts a mixed-method, multiple stakeholder assessment every three years to evaluate the effectiveness of their services and identify unmet needs. The assessment includes community interviews with key officials, an employee survey, and a direct mail survey to patients. But because Providence realized that a crucial step towards building responsive solutions for vulnerable populations is to engage them in in-depth discussions, they  added a series of focus groups with vulnerable populations to their 2010 tri-annual assessment. I was hired to design and conduct the focus groups; two in Yamhill County with migrant farm workers, two in Clatsop County with unemployed, uninsured adults, and two in Portland with African American individuals.