1. Focus Groups

2. Definition
From Eliot and Associates: A focus group is a small group of six to ten people led through an open discussion by a skilled moderator. The group needs to be large enough to generate rich discussion but not so large that participants are left out.
The focus group moderator nurtures disclosure in an open and spontaneous format. The moderator's goal is to generate a maximum number of different ideas and opinions from different people in the time allotted.

3. Question Guidelines: Questions should be…
Short and to the point
Focused on one dimension each
Unambiguously worded
Open-ended or sentence completion types
Non-threatening or embarrassing
Worded in a way that they cannot be answered with a simple “yes”” or ““no”” answer (use ““why”” and ““how”” instead)

4. Question Design There are three types of focus group questions:
1. Engagement questions: introduce participants to and make them comfortable with the topic of discussion
2. Exploration questions: get to the meat of the discussion
3. Exit question: check to see if anything was missed in the discussion

5. Recruitment Members should be unacquainted Group should be HOMOGENOUS
Recruitment can be via:
Nomination
Random Selection
All members of an existing group
Drawn from position/title/condition
Volunteers when selection criteria are broad

6. To elicit participation:
Mail/ written confirmations with date/time
Over-invite to anticipate no-shows
Provide incentives: $50 for general population, up to $250 for specialised professional recruitment (eg physicians)

7. Conducting the Focus Group
Have not more than 12 questions; aim for 90 minutes at most.
The focus group moderator has a responsibility to adequately cover all prepared questions within the time allotted. S/he also has a responsibility to get all participants to talk and fully explain their answers. Some helpful probes include: ““Can you talk about that more?”” ““Help me understand what you mean.”” “Can you give an example?””
A moderator must tactfully deal with difficult participants, eg those who dominate, ramble, are quiet, etc.

8. Data Analysis
Goal is to SYNTHESISE data across the responses for different participants in different groups.
This is accomplished by uncovering themes via analysis of transcript.
“Themes” are most obviously recurring words uttered by members in response to specific questions but can also be latent concepts as understood by the analyst.