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How to run a Focus Group, When the group meets, After the meeting - Coggle…
How to run a Focus Group
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Find a recorder
You don't want people's ideas to get lost, so someone should be noting what people say.
Tape recording gives more accurate data but takes longer to transcribe, but must have group permission to record first.
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Prepare your questions
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Some question examples:
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Would you say you are satisfied with the current situation, with the way things are going on?"
(If so) "What are you satisfied with? Why is that?
(If so) "What are they? Why is that? How should they change? What kinds of things would you like to see happen?"
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Are there other recommendations you have, or suggestions you would like to make?
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Recruit members
Call them, email them or find them
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When the group meets
Probe further
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Tell the members about any next steps that will occur, and what they can expect to happen now.
When all your questions have been asked, and before the group ends, ask if anyone has any other comments to make. This can be an effective way of gathering other opinions that have not yet been voiced.
Ask your next question -- and proceed with other questions in the same general manner. The phrasing of the questions, the follow-ups, the ordering of the questions, and how much time to spend on each one are points that the leader will have to decide -- sometimes on the spot. An experienced leader will be able to do this. This is why you have spent time looking for one!
Conduct the group
- Thank people for coming
- Review the purpose of the group, and the goals of the meeting. Set the stage.
- Go over the flow of the meeting -- how it will proceed, and how the members can contribute. Lay out the ground rules. Encourage open participation.
- Set the tone. Is it formal? Friendly? Funny? This is important, because probably few of your members will have been in a focus group before.
- Ask an opening question. This could be a very general question ("What are your general thoughts about X?"), or something more specific. Both choices are justifiable; and both types of questions might be asked before the group ends.
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After the meeting
Look at the data
If you have tape-recorded, make a transcript. If not, make a written summary from the group notes. But in any case, look closely at the information you have collected.
In some cases, you can devise and use a coding system to "score" the data and count the number of times a particular theme is expressed. Experience helps here. But whether you do this or not, try to have more than one person review the results independently. (Because even the best of us have our biases.) Then come together to compare your interpretations and conclusions.
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Use the results
Collecting useful information was the reason you wanted to do a focus group in the first place. Now you have the opportunity, and perhaps also the responsibility, to put it to use. You can improve the situation that originally motivated you, and made you think about a focus group at the very beginning.