Focus Group guidelines can be interwoven with questioning and observation depending on concentration of study.

• an interview of a group of 6-10 people
• nonstructured and natural manner
• moderator leads
• gain insights by listening to a group of people

Why choose a Focus Group?

• being in a group often encourages participants to share feelings or opinions they might not have thought of in an individual interview

Designing a Focus Group Session:

• keep session in reasonable time frame (45-90 minutes)
• homogeneous grouping reduces inhibitions of participants
• more than one focus group on any topic to produce valid results (usually 3-4)

Designing Questions:

• structured around pre-determined questions, but not restrictive
• 8 questions is ideal (no more than 12)
• questions should be short and to the point
• focus on one dimension in each question
• open-ended questions
• non-threatening
• avoid embarrassing questions
• avoid questions that can be answered by “yes” or “no”
• 3 types of focus questions
  • Engagement questions: introduce participants to and make them comfortable with topic
  • Exploration questions: get to meat of discussion
  • Exit questions: checks to see if anything was missed in discussion
• begin with ice breaker question “If you had a limitless budget, where would you vacation?”
• moderator may need to request participants to clarify or elaborate on thoughts

Participants:

• participants should be comfortable with each other but not know each other
• homogeneous grouping, consider this:
  • gender: will both men and women feel comfortable discussing topic with each other
  • age: will young people be intimidated by older person or vice versa?
  • power: will participants be willing to make candid remarks with superiors present
  • cliques: influential high school peers
• establish inclusion/exclusion criteria up front
• participants can be recruited by:
  • nomination
  • random selection
  • existing group (ex: PTSA, clubs, etc.)
  • job title/role
  • volunteers
  • over invite to ensure enough participants (you will want no more than 10 participants at a time)
  • offer incentive for participation
• choose comfortable and convenient setting
• offer food/snack
• assign participants identifying numbers for note taking purposes
• all participants should sign a consent form
• may need to collect demographics on participant (age, gender, etc) by having participants complete a half-sheet paper prior to discussion

Conducting Focus Group

• ideally conducted by two people: moderator and assistant (records and takes notes)
  • Moderator:
    • Can listen attentively with sensitivity and empathy
    • Is able to listen and think at the same time
    • Believes that all group participants have something to offer
    • Has adequate knowledge of the topic
    • Can keep personal views and ego out of facilitation
    • Group feels comfortable with and can relate to
    • Can manage challenging group dynamics
    • Should greet participants and invite them to partake in food
    • Good to summarize complex comments
    • Must remain neutral
  • Assistant Moderator
    • Run a recording device
    • Take notes
    • Note body language and other subtleties
    • Allows moderator to do all the talking
    • Should also greet participants and invite them to partake in food

Sample Focus Group Scripts

• Focus Group Script
• Sage Focus Groups

Using Focus Groups

• Qualitative Research - Focus Group
• Focus Groups

• Tips For Conducting Focus Groups
• Sample Teacher Focus Group Questions

• Google Moderator
• Google groups (find an online community to interview)
• Sample Focus Group Topic Guide