Data collection in qualitative research focus groups october 2015
1. Qualitative data collection in
Educational Research: focus groups
J.McIsaac & T.Varga-Atkins
Academic Development
University of Liverpool
November 2015
Photo credit: to Ian Willis
2. Outline
• Situating focus groups in educational research
• Why? (Purpose)
• What? (Characteristics)
• How? (Method/Process)
• Key considerations
3. Your experience?
• Have you been a participant in a focus group?
• Have you been a facilitator of a focus group?
• What qualities/attributes and skills are
needed for each role?
4. Situating focus groups
• Derived from market research context,
increasingly popular in social science research
• Data gathering process extends academic
practice of exploratory discussion (Cousin,
2009)
• A form of group interview
• It is all about the group interaction
• Useful to triangulate with other methods
5. Possibilities for focus groups
Can be:
• A lead-up to a larger quantitative study
• Used with a quantitative study to deepen
researcher’s understanding
• A way to help researchers understand previous
data collected by quantitative methods
• Used with other qualitative methods e.g.
interview
• A stand alone method
(Wilson, 1997)
6. Methods: from individual to group
Surveys
Focus groups
Interviews
Researcher present
individual
group
Researcher
not present
7. Methods: from individual to group
Surveys
Focus groups
Interviews
Researcher present
individual
group
Researcher
not present
How many hours do
you spend studying?
What makes you study (more)?
Can you tell me a bit more about what you do
when you study?
Thinking
time?
Participant
motivation
Bias by
others?
Shared
experience?
8. Surveys Focus groups Interviews
Bias? Useful when you
don’t want others to
bias your participant
Potential of ‘group
bias’ – participants say
what they think you or
other participants
want to hear
Useful when you don’t
want others to bias
your participant
Shared experience? Participant relies on
own experience –
may be more difficult
to recall.
Useful to talk about
shared experiences.
‘You bounce off ideas
from one another’.
Useful when you
want to explore
individual
experiences.
Thinking time? Relies on participant
able to formulate
their ideas without
prompts.
As ideas develop
during the process,
FGs are useful when
this thinking time is
useful.
As ideas develop
during the process,
FGs are useful when
this thinking time is
useful.
Motivation/Enjoyment ?
Non-response and
quality of response
as a problem.
Participants generally
enjoy the process.*
They learn something
new.
Participants generally
enjoy the process.
They learn something
new.
9. Why? (rationale)
focus groups
“When people gather to talk about something,
their contributions and understandings will
be enriched by the group dynamic”
(Cousin 2009)
“To display and discuss differences in a group.”
(Ritchie & Lewis 2003)
10. Characteristics of a
focus group
• Structured group activity designed to elicit
views on topic(s)
• Small group: 4-12 people
• Meet 1-2 hours
• With trained researcher/facilitator
• Non-threatening environment
• Explore participant’s perceptions, attitudes,
feelings, ideas
• Encourage and utilise group interactions
11. What is a focus group?
Researcher/FacilitatorSize: 6-8 (4-12)
participants
Incentive
Sample selection!
Ethics: informed consent and reporting
Audio recorder & other resources
or stimulus material
1-2 hours
13. Part 2: The Questions
Low vs high moderation
2 questions 6 questions: exploring international
student experience on campus
6 questions
(Cousin 2009, p63)
14. Anatomy of a good focus group question
with ready probes
(Cousin 2009, p63)
Preparation and good question (and prompts, probes) design is very important!
English
language
Peer
support
Probing for
range
Probing for
depth
Study
skills
Can you say
something
about further
support..?
Open question
15. Sample questions
• What aspects of the X best facilitated your
learning?
• What aspects of the X inhibited your learning ?
• What aspects of the X caused the most
stress/anxiety and did this stress/anxiety worsen
or lessen as the X progressed?
• Optional specific questions
• Can you suggest one (two) different ways in
which the X could be improved?
(UoL curriculum review, 2013)
16. Key considerations
Cousin, 2009
• Trustworthiness
• Group Dynamics
– Interpersonal
– Intrapersonal
– Environmental
• Convergence or Conformity
17. Summary
• Focus groups enable
– exploring a shared experience.
– the research benefits from the development of
understanding and ideas in a group environment.
– group bias or conformity is not likely/important.
• Must be facilitated.
• Valuable in terms of the quality of the data
• Facilitator must attend to follow up questions,
seeking alternative views
• Nominal Group Technique can be used to end a
focus groups (or used alone)
18. References
• Focus groups
– Cousin, G. (2009). Focus Group Research in Researching learning in higher
education : an introduction to contemporary methods and approaches.
– Ritchie, J. & Lewis, J. (2003). Qualitative research practice : a guide for social
science students and researchers.
– Varga-Atkins, T., McIsaac, J. & Willis, I. (2015) Focus Group meets Nominal
Group Technique: an effective combination for student evaluation?
Innovations in Education and Teaching International. Published online
– Wilson, V. (1997) Focus Group: a useful qualitative method for educational
research? British Educational Research Journal, 23:2
• Nominal Group Technique
– Practical guide: Varga-Atkins, T., with contributions from Bunyan, N; McIsaac, J; Fewtrell J. (2011) The
Nominal Group Technique: a practical guide for facilitators. Written for the ELESIG Small Grants Scheme.
Liverpool: University of Liverpool. October. Version 1.0. Available at http://slidesha.re/s5KPUr
– Project report: Varga-Atkins, T. with contributions from Bunyan, N; McIsaac, J and Fewtrell, R. (2011) Using
the nominal group technique with clickers to research student experiences of e-learning. Project Report
written for the ELESIG Small Grants Scheme. Liverpool: University of Liverpool. Available from slideshare.net
at http://slidesha.re/sc8gwT
Notes de l'éditeur
Purpose: to talk about focus groups as method of data collection
Why us?: have been doing with Educational Development colleagues focus groups, mainly for curriculum review purpose – Nominal Group Technique.
Enjoy this method and participants get something back too.
30 minutes
Optional practical hands-on workshop 2-3pm today
Slides available on slideshare now, so feel free to upload.
References included. On tables, our reports on Nominal Group Technique and a recent journal publication promoting FG as a site for student engagement and evaluation.
Feel free to ask questions throughout.
Situate the method in relation to other forms
Focus group process
Example questions
Mention alternatives such as Nominal Group Technique
First question (large group) : Have you had experience of focus groups as participants or facilitators? (show of hands)
Last question – have a think, write down your responses – we will return to this later in the session. Talk with peers about this.
Popular in commercial world, testing products, services, markets.
Social science – used to explore experience of particular groups
How have you used focus groups?
For what purpose?
A research method that allows for ‘sharing and comparing’, ‘co-construction of knowledge’ (Cousin, 2006)
Just to get started – a brief comparison with other two research methods (more after this session) – there are other considerations.
May depend on research question and facilitation and group!
Feasibility and practicalities: getting volunteers, organisation
Give a handout version
Explore experiences of groups, including those ‘hard to reach’
Focus groups gathers common views and experiences – useful method to gather what most students experience – and moderator can capture dissenting voices.
How much of a combined issue/comment/problem? Any dissenters?
Reporting includes the sense/tone/nuances from the focus group environment.
What is a focus group?
Note: there are various definitions, sometimes referred to as focus group interview
Analysis is based on the resulting interactions as productions of data.
Your views on the skills/capacities/qualities needed? (return to your list from earlier)
Ethics – informed consent and reporting
Your views on the skills/capacities/qualities needed? (return to your list from earlier)
Might have a note-taker or observer taking field notes?
Observer reflections on process are additional data.
Refer - 3 December: Analysing data in educational research session.
Preparation – read the literature to shape the research focus, inform data gathering and analysis, support (your) researcher reflexivity and theorising.
Prepare a prompt sheet of questions to use flexibly!
Topics to cover – might need to leave some out depending on group discussion
Could pre-test questions or show other researchers your questions.
Method – use Cousin, 2006
Recruitment
Single group or series of groups?
Purposive sampling
Saturation
Focus the questions
Facilitator – tolerating silences, non-verbal communication, bias, skills, ground rules, warm-up, observer, participant identification, materials, summarising, ranking key points.
Credibility, trust and maximum participation
Group management:
Convergence and conformity
Are we looking for consensus?
Are participants trying to conform to emerging group norms?
Are participants
Closure (reporting) and thanks
Briefing guide needs probes and prompt questions, as well as the opening question.
Trustworthiness: diversity of group (sample) to ensure range of views gathered eg. Across years of a programme, types of students. Importance of exploring new lines of enquiry. Using observer to watch and comment on discussion process, researcher reflexivity, sharing transcript with participants?
Interpersonal: relationships between participants and with the researcher/facilitator. Age, Gender & Social Power differentials
Intrapersonal: what everyone brings to the room. Facilitator watch for ‘positions’ and work with these. And self-management.
Environmental: physical setting influence (any distractions?) and layout of space between seated participants – safety
Convergence/conformity: process of sharing and comparing should enable participants to progress their understandings but easy to mistake group talk as agreement. Facilitator watch for who sets moral tone for discussion, any dissenting voices? For some research, group talk will be the key interest while for other research, want to explore the range of opinion, so a developmental approach should be taken. Focus group might introduce new ways of talking about things – ‘stretching the thinkable’
Unintended outcomes: e.g. students reporting feel valued and listened to (in CR focus groups)
NB: Depth of data – rich data, not about scale, choice of participants important (sample)