Conducting Professional Focus Group Research
Training Workshop
Janet Mancini Billson, PhD, and Kyra M. Chamberlain, MS
Group Dimensions International
DAY I8:30-9:00 a.m. Welcome and Continental Breakfast Registration and Submission of Questions
9:00-10:00 a.m. DEMONSTRATION FOCUS GROUP Preamble Introductions How should focus groups be used? Advantages and disadvantages compared to other methods.
10:00-10:30 a.m. Uses of Focus Groups A social scientific approach to focus groups Ethical issues, technical issues, defining the purpose of research Relationship between focus groups, surveys, and other methods Limitations and generalizability
10:30-10:45 a.m. Break
10:45-11:30 a.m. Research Design Issues Survey first or focus groups first? Breaks and number of groups Homogeneous vs. heterogeneous groups Sample size and types Maximum/minimum size of the groups Duration and timing Recruitment and screening of participants 11:30-12:30 noon Teams Develop Research Design for DAY II Mock Focus Groups Tasks: 1. Select a key research question 2. Create an appropriate research design to answer the question 3. Decide on population, sample, recruitment, and number of groups 4. Write a screener
12:30-1:30 p.m. Lunch and Critique of Research Designs
1:30-2:00 p.m. Development of the Moderator's Guide (Protocol) Refining the research question (outcomes/hypotheses) Mapping the flow of questions Designing productive questions Idea generation versus debate generation Probes and elicitation techniques Building in flexibility and reliability
2:00-3:00 p.m. Teams Develop Moderator's Guide
3:00-3:15 p.m. Break and Trainer Critique of Team I Moderator's Guide
3:15-4:30 p.m. Moderation Theory and Techniques Ice-breaking procedures Facilitating toward even participation Controlling dominants and dealing with difficult participants Keeping on task and ensuring even coverage of questions What to do when a question has been answered in a previous question Coping with complex questions Deflecting questions about "facts" Avoiding politicization of the process Termination procedures
Communication Theory One-way versus two-way communication Listening for meaning Modes of listening
DAY II
8:00-8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Critique of Moderator's Guides
8:30-9:00 a.m. Logistical Issues Working with community-based groups; working in different and multiple languages Using interpreters, simultaneous translation Informed consent agreements Single vs. co-moderators Note taking, audio vs. video-taping; GroupWare; Using laptops in the field
9:00-9:50 a.m. FOCUS GROUP: TEAM I (2 moderators @ 25 minutes each) 9:50-10:20 a.m. . Processing Focus Group I
10:20-10:35 a.m. Break
10:35-11:00 a.m. Working with Qualitative Data I Debriefing sessions Using transcripts The place of quantitative data in focus groups Structuring, coding, blocking, reorganizing data Using the word processor in qualitative data analysis Types of computerized text data analyzers
11:00-11:50 a.m. FOCUS GROUP: TEAM II (2 moderators @ 25 minutes each) 11:50-12:30 p.m. . Processing Focus Group II
12:30-1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30-2:20 p.m. FOCUS GROUP: TEAM III (2 moderators @ 25 minutes each)
2:20-2:50 p.m. Processing Focus Group III
2:50-3:00 p.m. Break
3:00-4:00 p.m. Report Writing and Presentation Structuring the report Executive summaries vs. in-depth reports Highlights and recommendations/implications
4:00-4:30 p.m. Wrap Up Focus Group and Workshop Evaluation
Saturday's clinic day schedule to be determined in consultation with those participants who will attend. |