Conducting Focus Groups: Talk Informing Action

1. Conducting Focus Groups:Talk Informing Action Information Services Assessment Council June 8, 2006

2. assessmentan ongoing process in which services, resources and performance are measured against the expectations of users, and improvements are made to satisfy user needs effectively and efficiently.

3. What do we need to know?

4. Who can tell us?

5. How can we get the information?

6. What will it enable us to do?

7. What we’ll cover: • What is a focus group? • Why is it used? • What can it tell us? • How to organize and conduct one • Examples from our experiences this past year • Your questions

8. What is a focus group? A group of 4-12 people, selected according to some defined criteria, who engage in a focused discussion on a specific topic, facilitated by a moderator.

9. What a focus group is not: • not a method for gathering quantitative data • not a question and answer interview • not a substitute for a survey • not a gripe session

10. Why use a focus group? • People tend to be more comfortable discussing a topic as part of a group • Interaction among participants reveals more information • Provides insight into role of peer pressure in relation to topic

11. What are they good for? • Determining user habits &/or usage of specific resources & services • Revealing user attitudes about specific resources & services • Identifying the language and vocabulary of users with reference to resources & services

12. What good?...continued… • Creating awareness of specific resources & services • Generating ideas for new resources & services • Testing possible survey questions • Testing user reactions to promotional strategies

13. Successful focus group basics • 4-12 participants (8-10 is ideal) • Well-conceived discussion guide (leading questions) • Quiet room with comfortable seating and refreshments • 50-90 minutes in duration • 1-2 recorders • 1 facilitator

14. The discussion guide • Identifies the objectives of the exercise • Outlines the process the focus group will follow • Details the general discussion topics • Details the specific discussion topics

15. Selecting participants • Homogeneous is generally best • Consider gender-specific groups, especially among students • Consider using a screening questionnaire

16. The focus group setting: • Quiet room with comfortable seating in conference-style or living room arrangement • Refreshments easily accessible • Paper and writing instrument at each seat • Perimeter seating for recorders or observers • Nametags for participants

17. Who should facilitate? An effective facilitator will exhibit the following characteristics: • Good listener • Good short-term memory • Well-organized • Personable • Responsive • Unbiased/neutral

18. Cautions for facilitators Facilitators can inhibit the effectiveness of the focus group by: • Allowing one or two members to dominate the discussion • Defending practices, policies, resources, etc. • Allowing discussion to stray from the topic • Interjecting opinion

19. Recording and observation • Note taking • Audio taping • Videotaping • Silent observation

20. Conducting the focus group: • Introduction • Warm-up discussion • Specific discussion • Closing

21. Introduction • Facilitator introduces self • Explain purpose of session • Identify recording methods • Distribute refreshments • Review group rules

22. Warm-up • Participants introduce themselves • Discuss general issues related to topic

23. Specific topic discussion • Discuss specific topics introduced from discussion guide

24. Closing • Gather information forgotten or omitted • Any “further advice for ...” • Thank participants • Tell participants how/where to collect compensation

25. Compensation • Food and drink • Money • Other valuable consideration

26. Some recent focus group topics...

27. Desktop support in IS • Six focus groups of one-hour duration were conducted on June 6, 7 & 8, 2005 in the Kansas Union, level 3, Alcove F. • Each group included 3-6 participants, 1 or 2 note-takers, and 1 facilitator. • The 29 total participants included 17 Libraries staff (including 3 dean’s staff), 7 Information Technology staff, 4 Network & Telecommunications Services staff, and 1 Information Services vice provost’s staff.

28. Desktop support discussion guide: • Describe your ideal desktop support arrangement. • What types of support are essential to your job? (hardware, software, applications, systems, etc.) • What level of responsiveness do you expect? (time, manner, method, communication)

29. Libraries Web site Eighteen staff members and student assistants participated in the three focus groups about student and faculty users' experiences with the Libraries Web site that we conducted on October 27 and 28.

30. Libraries Web site discussion guide: What questions do you get asked about the Libraries Web site? How frequently? What types of users (students, faculty, etc.) Describe how you assist users who are experiencing problems with the Web site.

31. IS newsletter • Four focus groups; 22 participants (9-IT, 6-NTS, 7-Lib); November 16 & 17, 2005 • Locations: Anschutz Library (2), Computer Center, McCollum Hall

32. IS newsletter discussion guide: • How do you currently get information about IS-wide issues? (meetings, email, etc.) • Are these effective means? What could be better? • Did you attend the IS convocation in August? Have you watched the video? Thoughts, impressions, recommendations, etc.? • What kind of information would you like to have? (content)

33. What do you need to know? • What frequency and length would be optimal? • Would you be willing to contribute as a writer? • Did you receive and read the HVC2 Outcomes reports? Thoughts, impressions, etc.?

34. Student use of email • Three focus groups of one-hour duration were conducted on May 2, 3 & 4, 2006 in the Burge Union, room 307. • Thirty-one students participated; participants by group numbered 8, 13, 10. • Participants by class included 4 freshmen, 7 sophomores, 10 juniors, 7 seniors, 2 graduates • Participants by school included 17 CLAS, 5 fine arts, 4 architecture, 2 education, 1 journalism, 1 business, 1 social work

35. Student use of email discussion guide: • For students who choose to have a KU email account, why do they choose one? Do they use it, or do they use another account? • For students who do not choose a KU email account, why do they use something else? • Is connectivity between mobile devices (PDA’s) and email important for students and why or why not?

36. Do students need or want a full-featured groupware service with calendaring, notes, contacts? Do they want other kinds of calendaring, like a federated calendar where they could subscribe to events or tracks and have those pre-populate a calendar. • Do students interact with faculty and other students through email as part of their courses? (and, if so, is a KU email account necessary? Do they use something else such as Blackboard?)

37. Email is the official KU communication channel. What would make students more receptive to official email? • Are other modes of communication (chat, IM) desirable for students as official ways to communicate with KU? (Thinking about the work the writing center does and the library does with their chat-based services.)

38. What else do students need? Storage, federated calendars…wiki’s, blogs, rss feeds, etc. • Maybe something about the viability of offering services through the portal as we have done with email. Are they using portal email?

39. What level of expertise do you expect of desktop support staff? • Describe the kinds of things you can handle on your own. • In your area of responsibility, how should desktop support tasks be prioritized? • What is working well with the current arrangement? • What would you like to see improved?

40. Planning checklist: • Topics to be discussed • Participant pool composition • Method of recruitment • Participant compensation • Number of sessions • Time of day and duration of session • Number of participants per session • Facilitation • Facility • Recording method • Reporting

41. Information Services Assessment Council members Susanne Clement, Libraries Jill Glaser, IT Ryan Papesh, NTS Thelma Simons, IT John Stratton, Libraries Bill Myers, IS

42. Call on ISAC members to: • Consult, advise and assist in the development of assessment initiatives. • Identify other campus resources for assessment-related services. • Provide oversight and assure coordination with other IS assessment activities.

43. Assessment presentations available at: www.informationservices.ku.edu/assessment/