{"id":569,"date":"2019-07-06T19:30:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T02:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/?page_id=569"},"modified":"2019-07-06T19:46:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T02:46:11","slug":"focus-groups","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/communication-in-the-public-interest-resources\/methods\/chapter-3-collecting-data\/focus-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>What are Focus Groups?<\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/JohnMorawski\/focus-groups-5081094\">https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/JohnMorawski\/focus-groups-5081094<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Focus groups use a researcher-led discussion group to generate data.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Group nature of discussion can help generate new or additional insight.\n<ul>\n<li>However group dynamics can both help and challenge data collection.<\/li>\n<li>Mostly used to bring together people who share a similar background.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Can be held over single or repeated sessions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Focus groups are Interaction focused. They capture the process of opinion formation and help the researcher develop recommendations or models from the results.<\/p>\n<h5>Why Use Focus Groups?<\/h5>\n<p>Focus groups are a good way to consult with experts and\/or reach a targeted demographic. They also have the added bonus of providing you with data that can\u00a0reveal the role of group dynamics and other social cues in personal viewpoints and decision-making. They&#8217;re a relatively efficient way to collect data, and they allow you to segment different demographics into groups so you can compare them.<\/p>\n<h5>Focus Groups can also be held online:<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Can be synchronous (ie via zoom meeting or similar software) or asynchronous (ie. via discussion boards, google docs, or similar).\n<ul>\n<li>Asynchronous helps to include people from many different time zones and\/or work\/personal challenges. May also be more accessible.<\/li>\n<li>Can be delivered via text only, or via audio and video:\n<ul>\n<li>If text only, beware \u2013 the person who types the fastest will have the strongest say.<\/li>\n<li>Accessibility considerations must be considered with every medium.<\/li>\n<li>Best to offer multiple avenues of participation (text chat AND video AND audio only).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>More difficult to build rapport online than in-person. Might also be more difficult to incentivize participation.<\/li>\n<li>Other considerations \u2013 attracting participants \u2013 how to find people?\n<ul>\n<li>Usability of software \u2013 is it user friendly for a wide variety of people?<\/li>\n<li>Recording \u2013 will results be recorded?<\/li>\n<li>Anonymity and trolling \u2013 the nature of online environments can sometimes result in less sensitivity from participants. Moderator needs to set clear standards of conduct and enforce them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The next page will briefly discuss focus group design.<\/p>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/communication-in-the-public-interest-resources\/methods\/chapter-3-collecting-data\/focus-groups\/focus-group-design\/\">&gt;&gt;Next: Focus Group Design<\/a><\/h6>\n<h6><a href=\"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/communication-in-the-public-interest-resources\/methods\/chapter-3-collecting-data\/\">&lt;&lt;Back to Collecting Data<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are Focus Groups? Focus groups use a researcher-led discussion group to generate data. Group nature of discussion can help generate new or additional insight. However group dynamics can both help and challenge data collection. Mostly used to bring together people who share a similar background. Can be held over single or repeated sessions. Focus [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":184,"featured_media":0,"parent":541,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-569","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/184"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/569\/revisions\/577"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}