GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FOCUS GROUPS Andrew Scott Ziner, Ph.D. Director of Assessment and Accreditation Office of Assessment and Accreditation Science & Technology Center, Office 239 East Stroudsburg University Ext.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FOCUS GROUPS Todays Objectives: Review What is a Focus Group (FG) Discuss the Uses and Goals of FG Methodology Role of Follow-up Research for Action How to Make the Most Out of FG Outcomes Concluding Thoughts (Summarizing Key Points)

FOCUS GROUPS WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT A FOCUS GROUP, WHAT COMES TO MIND? 2

FOCUS GROUPS A. WHAT IS A FOCUS GROUP (In Brief) A focus group is a study method where participants obtained from a defined target population are typically put in a single group and interviewed in an interactive manner. The participants are given the opportunity to freely talk about and discuss their ideas and opinions towards the object of the survey, often building on each other’s responses, improving the richness of data being gathered Focus groups, or group interviewing, is a research strategy for understanding attitudes, behaviors and experiences. 3

FOCUS GROUPS A. WHAT IS A FOCUS GROUP (In Brief) Involves 6 to 12 persons interviewed simultaneously, with a skilled moderator or facilitator leading respondents in a semi-structured discussion about the focal topic determined by the researcher or client Distinguishing characteristic of a focus group – Use of controlled group discussion in an exploratory context Usually structured to take between minutes, depending on the audience’s age and the topic 4

Focus Groups (Continued) B. USES AND GOALS Each FG session explores topics and helps to discover new ones – providing direction and depth, keeping you up-to- date and, hopefully, spawning new ideas FG research supports subsequent quantitative research. You often use focus groups before surveys to help develop survey questions and potential response categories FG research also may be used after surveys to gain deeper understanding about survey results (e.g., NSSE outcomes) 5

Focus Groups (Continued) For example, note these data trends in NSSE … FY cohorts are stable while SY cohorts are not SY cohort differs sizably from PASSHE seniors in 2013 This raises several noteworthy questions for subsequent focus group research: 1. Why do seniors view campus safety differently from first year students? From PASSHE seniors in 2013? 2. What “features and services that enhance safety” are present but unknown to seniors or, simply put, are lacking on campus in their minds? 6

Focus Groups (Continued) B. USES AND GOALS When FG outcomes point us in a new direction, we then use survey-based (quantitative) research to confirm those outcomes before we spend valuable time and resources on making changes (not always done!) Why? When we move from exploratory (qualitative) to confirmatory (quantitative) research, we use sampling strategies to obtain representative samples derived from the population to produce accurate and reliable outcomes – all FG outcomes are non-generalizable! 7

Focus Groups (Continued) C. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS FGs are useful as a type of exploratory pilot study Provide rich data often unobtainable by other methods Can be conducted quickly and generally are low-cost to run Not useful for making predictions or supporting hypotheses Raises serious questions of accuracy & reliability, if used as a single study method to shape or inform policy Should be used to shape the scope and direction of follow- up survey-based (quantitative) research, when considering the implementation of FG outcomes/findings as policy 8

Focus Groups (Continued) Questions? 9