Focus groups how to guide

Choose a facilitator

A focus group is best guided by an impartial facilitator (e.g. a teaching colleague or administrator) who is not involved in teaching in the course and who has good interpersonal and leadership skills, is non-judgemental, and is able to build an atmosphere of trust (Gibbs, 1997). This does not mean that you cannot run a focus group of your own students, but should you choose to do so, you do need to be aware of the power differentials inherent in the situation. Students need to feel free to express their ideas/perceptions 'without fear of criticism' (Loriz & Foster, 2002:32) or retribution. To do this they will need your assurance that you are all working together to enhance teaching and learning and that whatever they say will be used only for this purpose, not to penalise them (e.g. with poor marks).

Identify scope and purpose of the feedback

Identify the aspect/s of your teaching or the course you want to focus on (e.g. assessment), and the purpose and objective/s of the focus group discussion (e.g. to get constructive feedback/criticism on course assessment to assess its usefulness in meeting stated learning objectives). Develop five or six questions that will allow the objective/s of the session to be met. (See Ravelli, 2000 and Loriz & Foster, 2002 for examples.)

Plan the focus group session with the facilitator

Discuss your objectives and questions with the facilitator and provide her/him with any materials needed to prompt discussion.

The following should also be discussed with the facilitator and later communicated to participants:

• Recording issues. For face-to-face discussion the choices are:     
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  • video recording (which enables the most effective identification of 'who said what' but can be intimidating and intrusive);
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  • tape recording (which ensures all discussion is recorded but makes it difficult to identify which participants said what);
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  • note taking (which is good for recording non-verbal language but less effective for recording all verbal interaction and is distracting for the facilitator unless an independent note taker is employed); or
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  • a combination of methods (Sim, 1998).
• Anonymity and confidentiality issues (e.g. that anything discussed in the group stays with the group; that students are not identified personally on transcripts; that collated data is produced from online discussions ensuring identifying features are removed (see Clapper & Massey, 1996 and Montoya-Weiss et al, 1998 for discussion on the conduct of online focus groups).
• When and, if not online, where the focus group session will be held.
• The duration of the focus group discussion; generally one to one-and-a-half hours will be sufficient for five or six questions (McNamara 1999).

Select students and arrange a meeting time

Students can be randomly selected and/or volunteers. They can be invited personally, or by letter or email to attend a meeting, or to participate in an online discussion, to give their views on aspects of the course or your teaching. Let them know at this stage a) the time, place and duration of the discussion, b) what the objectives of the focus group are, and c) what you will do with data gathered. Randomly selecting students, as well as allowing volunteers keen to participate, allows for a greater representation of views (Nestel, 2002) though a focus group can never be wholly representative of the student cohort (Gibbs, 1997). Eight to 12 students works best (Bangura, 1994; Sim, 1998).

Conducting the focus group meeting

The 'nature and quality' of the data collected depends a great deal on the skills of the facilitator (Gibbs, 1997; Sim, 1998:345). Here are some 'reden rules' for facilitation:

• Explain the process (e.g. how the session will run, how it will be recorded, confidentiality issues) to the students and reiterate the purpose and objectives of the exercise, and what use will be made of the resulting data.
• Provide the students with any materials needed to prompt discussion (e.g. course outlines, assessment items).
• Make sure all participants have a chance to put forward their views - i.e. that one person does not monopolise the discussion, that quieter members are drawn into the discussion.
• Encourage interaction between group members rather than between the group and yourself. Aim to keep students focused on the issues and to probe their views without bias or judgement and without monopolising the discussion (Gibbs, 1997; Sim, 1998).
• Encourage a diversity of opinions. Although students will often reconsider their own understandings of issues/experiences/feelings through the interactive process (Gibbs, 1997; Catterall & Maclaran, 1997), consensus is not necessarily an achievable or desirable outcome of the process.
• Encourage students to provide feedback on 'what works well' as well as on 'what doesn't work well' (Nestel, 2002); that is, try to avoid the discussion becoming a grievance session.
• Seek clarification or elaboration of points that are unclear (Nestel, 2002).
• Reflect back to participants a summary of what you understand them to be saying (McNamara, 1999).