8310 Dis 1 week 6

2

Respond to one of your colleagues’ posts with a suggestion about using a focus group for their research idea. Your suggestion may include 3–4 interview questions to ask, considerations for sampling; or how to manage recruiting participants.

Angelia Slavings 

RE: Discussion 1 - Week 6

Individual Interviews and Focus Groups

Ratvitcha and Carl (2021) discuss qualitative interviews as being relative to the study, contextual, non-evaluative,person-centered, partial, and subjective. According to them, the researchers should select a comfortable setting, clearly explain the purpose of the interview, review the consent forms, ensure the audio for recording is working, and address issues of confidentiality along with the process of the interview. During the interview, the researcher should provide straightforward questions, practice active listening, make eye contact, maintain trust, engage the participant, ask follow-up questions and take unobtrusive notes. At the end of the interview, the researcher should thank the participants and leave time for questions or reflections. The researcher should always send a note of thanks to each participant. 

Focus groups are set up similarly to individual interviews. Some of the differences were illustrated in this week’s video, “ How to plan and conduct a focus group” (Walden,2016). This Video depicted running a focus group. The focus group should begin with six to eight people of similar interests and backgrounds. It is helpful to have a research assistant with the researcher for time management, note-taking, and helping to moderate or help with technology if needed. The researcher also suggested offering an incentive such as a grocery store gift certificate. Like the individual interviews, the study reasons and questions need to be explicit, confidentiality and consent need to be given, and the space is comfortable, perhaps offering a light refreshment. Keeping the participants on-topic and not interrupting and talking over each other is also a concern in focus groups. Burkholder et al. (2020) suggest using a video recorder to help visually discern who is speaking when recording for a focus group instead of just an auto recorder where voices may become jumbled and unrecognizable. Burkholder et al. (2020)   explained that for a successful interview, the researcher should be calm, go slowly through the interview, have the interview questions and probes written down, have a plan, and be reflexive after the interview. The researcher in the Walden (2016) video offered that themes often emerge after three focus groups. An excellent way to attract subsequent focus groups is for group members to help recruit friends and colleagues to future focus groups, known as snowballing.

I pondered completing a focus group for my study. If I could garner the time and resources of my colleagues, three focus groups may be obtainable. Offering a gift would be a great way to incentivize teachers. I could then move to individual interviews for more in-depth questions based on the information from the focus group. Time, money, and availability of participants would deter me from using focus groups.

 

Resources:

Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., Crawford, L. M., & Hitchcock, J. H.  (Eds.). (2020). Research designs and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2021). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological (2nd ed.) Sage Publications.

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2016). How to plan and conduct a focus group [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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