My Take: Focus Groups - Real Data or Just Chatter?
By B.A. Laris, MPH | November 13, 2013
How often have you wished you had a good quote or interesting comment to help make a point in a report or proposal? Have you ever needed to test materials for comprehension or readability? Do you want to understand people’s reactions to your programs or services?
Focus groups are a great way to gather in-depth descriptive data that can illustrate nuances of opinions in a way surveys can’t … but is the data real? Yes! This type of qualitative data is real and often uncovers factors that influence opinions and behaviors.
A well-designed focus group can help you gain a genuine understanding of differences in perspectives. That’s valuable and useful data.
"I think it's different when a kid your age says something or makes fun of you. But when it’s an adult, someone you look up to and who is supposed to be a role model for you, that’s just not right, and I think that can be more damaging than teenagers making fun of you.”
Middle school student on bullying and harassment at school
Clear Objectives
An important first step in planning and conducting a focus group is to have clear objectives for what you want to get from the group. This can give you quality data that will be useful to your organization or program. Think in terms of P-P-D.
- Purpose: What do we want to know? What is the nature of the problem or issue of interest? What kinds of information do we need?
- Participants: From whom do we want to learn this information? What are the characteristics of the people in the group?
- Data use: How do we want to use the information? Is this data appropriate for our needs?
"I am afraid to be absolutely honest with my doctors because of past experiences."
Client in an HIV services clinic
How You Ask
How you ask your questions has an impact on the quality of your data. Putting thought and effort into developing a protocol ensures that your participants are encouraged to share relevant information. Seven essential elements create a positive group dynamic that encourages conversation and builds rapport and openness.
- Welcome
- Participant assent
- Group agreements
- Introductions
- Opening questions
- Main questions
- Closing
"We have to be aware as a teaching community that what students eat is directly related to how they learn.”
High school teacher on the need for healthy food in the cafeteria
Purpose Drives the Analysis
One of the challenges with focus groups can be analyzing the data. It’s less clear-cut than counting survey responses. Let the purpose of your focus group drive the analysis.
It’s helpful to look for the big ideas. Identify three or four of your most important questions and let your data support and illustrate the findings. You need to be able to explain how you got your results, so be sure the analysis is systematic and deliberate.
If you’re interested in more information on how to use focus groups, download our free 18-page report “Best Practices in Research & Evaluation: Focus Groups,” or contact us at evaluation@etr.org.
B. A. Laris, MPH, is a research associate at ETR and has extensive experience collecting real data with focus groups. She designs quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation tools for a wide range of ETR projects. You can reach her at bal@etr.org.
