Scribd
Upload
9 views3 pages

me-focus-groups

Focus Groups

Uploaded by

Christopher Joss
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9 views3 pages

me-focus-groups

Focus Groups

Uploaded by

Christopher Joss
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

MONITORING & EVALUATION IN GLOBAL HEALTH

Focus Group Discussions


Lecturer: Nami Kawakyu

Introduction
In this lecture, we will discuss a data collection methodology called focus group discussions. We
will discuss what they are, how and when to conduct them, and the advantages and
disadvantages of focus group discussions.

Focus group discussions


Let’s begin by defining what focus group discussions are, which are often referred to by the
abbreviation, “FGD.” Focus group discussions are a way of collecting in-depth qualitative data
with a group of people to explore their experiences and perspectives. They are different from
interviews in that they explicitly rely on group interaction to generate insights.

Conducting focus group discussions


So how do you actually conduct focus group discussions?

Focus group discussions usually last 1-2 hours and are made up of about 6-12 participants. Eight
participants are often ideal. A common rule is that the group should be big enough to
encourage a lively discussion of the topic, but small enough to ensure all participants stay
engaged in the process. The exception to this rule is when participants have had considerable,
long-term experiences related to the evaluation question. In this case, “mini focus groups” with
3 to 5 people can be effective.

In focus groups, the interviewer is referred to as a “moderator” or “facilitator.” They are


responsible for asking questions from the discussion guide and effectively managing the
conversation. It’s important that the moderator stimulate the discussion while keeping it on-
topic. The moderator should also make participants feel at ease and make sure all participants
feel safe and able to share their views. A well-run focus group encourages a lot of interaction
among all participants, rather than having the moderator or a few participants dominate the
conversation.

Ideally, there should also be a notetaker present during the discussion, whose main role is to
take detailed notes. Notetakers should report not only on what people say, but also on group
dynamics, the general environment, participant attitudes, vocabulary used, and body language.
Because of the lively interactions that can take place in focus groups, it is highly recommended
to record the session. The audio recorder should be used in addition to the notetaker, not as a
replacement.

Monitoring & Evaluation in Global Health online course


University of Washington 1
Immediately after the completion of each focus group, the moderator and notetaker should
debrief together, reviewing the broad themes that came up during the discussion and
expanding the notes taken during the focus group.

Data from focus groups typically consist of a combination of audio recordings, transcripts of
those recordings, notes from the discussion, and debrief notes. A typical 2-hour discussion
results in about 40-50 pages of transcripts.

Use
So, when should you use focus groups? Focus groups are appropriate to use when you are
interested in group norms rather than individual behavior. Focus groups are especially effective
when you’re initiating a new service or product because they allow you to get feedback from
the target audience to inform its development. For example, you might use them to gauge
reactions to information and materials related to education or communication to ensure their
content and messaging is on-point. Focus groups are also commonly used prior to survey
development, as they can help determine what questions to ask and how best to ask them.
Finally, they’re useful when you want to supplement information already obtained from
surveys, particularly as a source of follow-up data to clarify poorly understood survey results.

Advantages and disadvantages


Now let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of focus groups.

Advantages of focus groups include that they allow evaluators to explore a range of opinions
and assess the degree of agreement or variation across those opinions. Focus groups can also
encourage participation from those who are reluctant to be interviewed on their own and can
gather a lot of information from many people in a relatively short period of time. For example,
6-12 viewpoints can be gathered in the time it would otherwise take to interview one person.

On the other hand, focus groups can be more logistically challenging to coordinate, especially if
people are traveling from different locations. Additionally, the number of questions that can be
explored is typically limited because you need to make time for every member of the group to
respond to the questions. Focus groups are also subject to social desirability biases. This means
that focus group participants may answer question according to what they perceive to be
favorable to the group versus what they truly feel. This can result in over-reporting of “good
behavior” and under-reporting of “undesirable behavior.”

Expert tip: composition of focus groups


Let’s take a moment to talk about the composition of focus groups.

Focus group participants are usually from a group with shared characteristics, behaviors, or
experiences. Depending on the topic of interest, you may need to group together those of the
same gender, age range, caste, occupation, and so on.

Monitoring & Evaluation in Global Health online course


University of Washington 2
It’s critical to consider power dynamics when forming groups. Select individuals who will not
dominate the discussion or inhibit others’ participation. For example, if you are investigating
workplace satisfaction for health care workers, you would not want to mix employees with
their supervisors, or the employees may not feel comfortable speaking honestly about their
experience.

The decision of who to include should always respect the local norms of interactions in the
target population.

Case study
Now let’s refer back to the hand hygiene program evaluation question, “What are the barriers
and facilitators to increased health care worker compliance with hand hygiene guidelines?”

To help answer this question, we could use focus groups with health care workers to collect
first-hand information about their experiences implementing the guidelines. In order to make
participants feel more comfortable sharing in a group, we would likely separate the groups not
only by facility, but also by health care worker type within each facility. For example, we might
hold one focus group with nurses at Facility A, and one with doctors at the same facility.

Focus groups would enable the program to assess the level of agreement across the barriers
and facilitators reported by health care workers, and to compare health care worker responses
with those from their supervisors.

Closing
In this lecture, we discussed focus group discussions as a data collection methodology. We
discussed what they are, how and when to conduct them, and the advantages and
disadvantages of focus group discussions.

Monitoring & Evaluation in Global Health online course


University of Washington 3

You might also like