In a 27th September we did a workshop and each group was asked to read about one form of carrying out research. I was asked to read about focus groups. This completely appealed to me as I though it a more relaxed way of getting genuine response form the participants. I also thought this way would allow the students to discuss a question and bounce of each others ideas.
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https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_luxM8D4=/– mira board from the workshop and link.
My focus group was help on Teams so that enabled me to transcribe the conversation. Luckily I did a test before the focus group and found that the PC I was using did have the option to transcribe. I call IT help desk at UAL and after a lot of head scratching and testing we tried a different computer. This gave me transcribe, a massive relief as it meant that I could have to source with my interview on. It also allowed me to feel confident on the day as i knew what i was doing as i had tested out everything.
I also found a helpful video online of how to conduct a focus group online. I had wanted to conduct it in a small classroom where it felt more intimate, people could have a chat before hand and feel relaxed. Online can sometimes be more intense due to every one seeing you and listening, it more formal. However due to the students working on the Major projects I had to conduct it after submission. I had finished my teaching in London and because I do not live in London so it wasn’t possible to come into the university. Thus the focus group we held online.
In this video it discussed the fact the a key feature of a focus group is the interaction with the participants and this allows for a deeper insight into a topic.
One of the key things is that you are not in the same physical space, so you cant control where they can be over heard, have outside distractions, which raises issues on the confidentiality of the participant. So your environment is less ‘focused’ as there are external factors.
I will countered this by asking if everyone was OK to speak and if they were in a physical location which allowed them to speak freely and without distraction. I will also asked if they can turn the videos so that I could see if there was any external interruption and it also allowed me to read the room, I could see if someone want to add comment by their body language and also if they went to speak and then fell silent.
Also it mentioned about technical difficulties. This was an issue as one students connection was really bad so they logged off and logged on again on a different device but that mean they couldn’t turn their camera on. Unfortunately that was the one student who english was strong and was the quietist on the group. I gave her the opportunity to expand but I think she had prepared her answers so found it difficult to expand and express herself further in that environment. So I was unable to as to use non verbal cues as Katie Rakow, a PHD student highlights on the podcast.
Natasha Lackovic a lecturer for Lancaster university went on concur the fact that a camera on really helps with the interaction of participants.
Katie Rakow also mentioned the importance of keeping the camera on so that the participants could see that what they were saying was valued and I was listening and engaged in what they were saying. This showed active listening with non verbal cues, which validates what the person is saying and encourages them to continue. This is something you do when interviewing in TV all the time as you don’t want your voice on the interview so you have to communication nonverbally.
Why focus groups interviews in eduction and psychological research?’
I really like the 5 concepts-
synergism- more data is gained through the groups interactions together.
snowballing- that what one person says promotes further responses from others
Stimulation- when the group becomes more engaged and excited about what they are discussing.
security-when people can relate to each other an enables they to be open and honest about their thoughts.
spontaneity- because they don’t have to comment on every question, the answers they give can be more spontaneous and honest as it comes from the discussion without being premeditated.
These 5 things I really felt worked with my participants as they had all done the same extracurricular workshops but they had different experiences. I noticed that they often started with ‘ I agree with XXX’ or ‘XXX made a good point, and would either reconfirm that point or give an alternative point of view, thus creating a discussion.
Me as the moderator- aspects to consider as Wells (1974) is quoted in saying in the paper are the following-listening, thinking, probing, exploring, framing hunches and ideas.(p4)
Probes are good as you can get someone to add further comment or clarification, to expand on a thought. tis is done with follow up questions. again active listening is key, to make sure you pick up. eg Can you give further examples of this?
Analysing interviews
The way in which the interview is analysed will depend on the methodology chosen. If a researcher is looking for qualitative information, they may read the transcript over and over again, to try and understand the meaning. This will help them identity the common themes across the interviews.
However, if the researcher is looking for quantitative information they may count the number of times a certain word was said in order to make conclusions about, for example, the popularity of something.
QUOTES-
The goal is to conduct and interactive discussion that can elicit greater, more in-depth understanding of perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and experiences from multiple points of view and to document the content from which those understandings were derived. (P4)
Focus groups have the potential to bring the investigator closer to the research topic and through direct, intensive encounters with key individuals……..aim at understanding more about what the stakeholders think and feel.
Strother (1984) provides evidence that focus group interviews yield more accurate information about what participants actually think than do other research methods.