Sections of this topic
Basics of Conducting Focus Groups
© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Sections in This Topic Include
Preparing for Session
Developing Questions
Planning the Session
Facilitating Session
Immediately After Session
General Information and Resources
Ethics and Conducting Research
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Focus groups are a powerful means to evaluate services or test new ideas. Basically,
focus groups are interviews, but of 6-10 people at the same time in the same
group. One can get a great deal of information during a focus group session.
Preparing for the Session
1. Identify the major objective of the meeting.
2. Carefully develop five to six questions (see below).
3. Plan your session (see below).
4. Call potential members to invite them to the meeting.
Send them a follow-up invitation with a proposed agenda,
session time and list of questions the group will discuss. Plan
to provide a copy of the report from the session to each member
and let them know you will do this.
5. About three days before the session, call each member
to remind them to attend.
Developing Questions
1. Develop five to six questions – Session should
last one to 1.5 hours — in this time, one can ask at most five
or six questions.
2. Always first ask yourself what problem or need will be
addressed by the information gathered during the session,
e.g., examine if a new service or idea will work, further understand
how a program is failing, etc.
3. Focus groups are basically multiple interviews.
Therefore, many of the same guidelines for conducting focus groups
are similar to conducting interviews (see the Basics
of Conducting Interviews).
Planning the Session
1. Scheduling – Plan meetings to be one to 1.5 hours
long. Over lunch seems to be a very good time for other to find
time to attend.
2. Setting and Refreshments – Hold sessions in a
conference room, or other setting with adequate air flow and lighting.
Configure chairs so that all members can see each other. Provide
name tags for members, as well. Provide refreshments, especially
box lunches if the session is held over lunch.
3. Ground Rules – It’s critical that all members
participate as much as possible, yet the session move along while
generating useful information. Because the session is often a
one-time occurrence, it’s useful to have a few, short ground rules
that sustain participation, yet do so with focus. Consider the
following three ground rules: a) keep focused, b) maintain momentum
and c) get closure on questions.
4. Agenda – Consider the following agenda: welcome,
review of agenda, review of goal of the meeting, review of ground
rules, introductions, questions and answers, wrap up.
5. Membership – Focus groups are usually conducted
with 6-10 members who have some similar nature, e.g., similar
age group, status in a program, etc. Select members who are likely
to be participative and reflective. Attempt to select members
who don’t know each other.
6. Plan to record the session with either an audio or audio-video
recorder. Don’t count on your memory. If this isn’t practical,
involve a co-facilitator who is there to take notes.
Facilitating the Session
1. Major goal of facilitation is collecting useful information
to meet goal of meeting.
2. Introduce yourself and the co-facilitator, if used.
3. Explain the means to record the session.
4. Carry out the agenda – (See “agenda”
above).
5. Carefully word each question before that question
is addressed by the group. Allow the group a few minutes for each
member to carefully record their answers. Then, facilitate discussion
around the answers to each question, one at a time.
6. After each question is answered, carefully reflect back
a summary of what you heard (the note taker may do this).
7. Ensure even participation. If one or two people
are dominating the meeting, then call on others. Consider using
a round- table approach, including going in one direction around
the table, giving each person a minute to answer the question.
If the domination persists, note it to the group and ask for ideas
about how the participation can be increased.
8. Closing the session – Tell members that they
will receive a copy of the report generated from their answers,
thank them for coming, and adjourn the meeting.
Immediately After Session
1. Verify if the tape recorder, if used, worked throughout
the session.
2. Make any notes on your written notes,
e.g., to clarify any scratching, ensure pages are numbered, fill
out any notes that don’t make senses, eta.
3. Write down any observations made during the session.
For example, where did the session occur and when, what was the
nature of participation in the group? Were there any surprises
during the session? Did the tape recorder break?
For the Category of Evaluations (Many Kinds):
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