4 Data collection

NOTE TO WIL - THIS IS FROM THE WEEK 5 SWAY FOR THE LAB - I'VE TAKEN IT OUT OF THERE AND PUT IT IN HERE

Suggested timeline for the project - ADD IN LINK

4.1 Preparation for running your focus group

4.1.1 Planning the focus group

We suggest scheduling your focus group for Week 8.

Two people should run the focus group - one person should act as the facilitator and the other person should act as the note-taker. This is the minimum required to run the focus group.

If other members of your group would like to come along to watch, this is okay (but please ask your participants if they are comfortable with this). If additional members do join to observe, they should not participate in the group, and should have their microphones and camera's turned off so as not to interfere with the process.

We anticipate focus groups will be around 30-45 minutes (not including ice-breaker and setting things up at the start) - yours may be shorter or longer than this, but please discuss with your participants if you are planning a longer focus group, and ask them if they'd be comfortable with extending it.

Ethics information and the finalised version of the focus group schedule (just the main questions, not the probes/prompts) must be sent to your focus group members in advance, and they must return signed consent forms to you. Keep these safe - they do not need to be passed on to the Course Leads.

Please use the checklist and allocation activities that were given to you to complete in the Week 5 lab.

4.1.2 Ethics

Please adapt the Information Sheet and Consent form for your focus group. These do not need to be submitted for formative assessment. There are only a few, minor, sections in each form that need adapted in order to make them specific for your project.

You must give everyone participating in the group the Information sheet and consent form before the focus group takes place. Completed consent forms should be returned to the group hosting the focus group before the group commences. These must be destroyed after hand-in of the project.

Plan what the best approach for this will be among your group, and agree who will be responsible for this.

Remember that everyone (both those participating and running) the focus group have a responsibility to maintain confidentiality of the discussion.

4.1.3 Collecting demographics

IMAGES REQUIRED, SO ADD IN THIS SECTION FROM THE SWAY Here

4.1.4 Focus group structure

There are a number of stages to a focus group, and it's not always exactly the same, but we would advise the following structure for your focus group:

Stage 1: Setting the scene. The topic of the project should be introduced by the facilitator, and everyone agrees to take part. It must be made clear to the people in your focus group a) that they do not have to answer any questions that they do not feel comfortable with, b) highlight that the session will be recorded, and they have a choice to have their camera on or off, but that the mic must be used, c) what will happen with the recordings (i.e. that they will be kept safe on University-approved servers and the transcript anonymised), d) that everyone has a responsibility to maintain confidentiality of the topics discussed in the group and e) that they are free to leave the session at any time. Run through the Information Sheet and Consent Form here, and discuss any ground rules you have. I would also raise the point here that there are a few questions to get through, and therefore you might have to step in to help manage time.

Stage 2: Recording. Remember to press record!! This is very important.

Stage 3: Introductions. Go around the 'table' and ask everyone to introduce themselves. Start with yourself and the note-taker first. Everyone should state their first name clearly.

Stage 4: Ice-breaker. Ask a warm-up question or ice-breaker. The aim is to allow participants to introduce themselves, ensure everyone understands the procedure, and to encourage people to feel comfortable talking. Previous projects have used photos, cartoons, and media, or asked participants to generate meanings of the terms used in the discussion (e.g., “poor sleep”,”well-being”) to get people talking.

Stage 5: Discussion. This is where you ask your main questions, and follow-up questions. It is a good idea to prepare around five or six main questions, and perhaps highlight three or four that are most important to focus on. The discussion may follow a different order to that on the focus group schedule - this is fine.

Stage 6: Facilitating the discussion. The facilitator should be prepared to help steer conversation back on track, and balance discussion so that everyone gets a chance to contribute. Have a few specific prompts that relate to each question and/or some general prompts to keep the discussion flowing. What are you going to do if no-one participates? Or if one person is contributing? For example… “has anyone else had a similar experience? ..Does anyone have a different view?” At the same time be ethical and avoid targeting people. Give participants the opportunity to describe their interpretations and take ownership. E.g., “How would…make you feel”, “Have you ever noticed that…” “Think back to when…”, “What was most important to you about…?”

Stage 7: Ending the discussion. It's good to end the discussion by going round the group and asking each participant if they have anything they want to add to the discussion/sum up their thoughts on what was discussed.Remember to allow focus group members the chance to confirm/withdraw consent for their anonymised contributions to be used. Also remind them that the discussion cannot be reproduced/recorded for any other purpose than for the qualitative report.

Please discuss some 'ground rules' at the start with the group, and also go through the Information Sheet and consent form at the start, to ensure everyone is aware of their responsibilities.

4.1.5 Facilitation and note-taking

4.1.5.1 Facilitation/moderation

The facilitator (sometimes also known as the moderator) will be the person taking the lead during the focus group. They will be the one asking the questions of the participants, and the one facilitating the discussion. As you are aiming to mimic a naturalistic conversation, you have to build rapport. Ensure you allow everyone time to introduce themselves, and contribute to the ice-breaking phase by saying a bit about yourself.

A good interviewer shares the perspective of the people they are talking to throughout the focus group. The interviewer should not be listening out for good quotes and should not be thinking about what to analyse. The role of the interviewer is to listen to the participants, and understand their points of view.

4.1.5.2 Note-taking

It is a good idea to have a note-taker there. Hopefully there will be no IT issues that mean that the recording doesn't work! Therefore, the note-taker should remind the facilitator about recording if required, and note down any impressions/initial thoughts around themes/good quotes. This can be helpful when you come to analysis. Was anything unexpected? Did participants focus on a particular aspect of a question over others? Was there anything that the discussion kept coming back to? Also, you could note down how well the questions worked - were there any that participants didn't understand?

4.1.5.3 Facilitation: how to manage the group

There is likely to be variety in the class in terms of how to manage group dynamics in your focus group. Here, we have some tips for those who might find them useful.

Balance contributions from those who are quieter and those who are more dominant in a group situation

The ice-breaker/easy opening questions are perhaps most important for quieter members of the group, to help make them feel more comfortable.
It might be a good idea to use the 'Raise hand' feature on Teams - this would allow quieter members to show that they want to contribute, but without trying to gauge when to jump in the conversation. You can then take points in order of when they raised their hands.
If some people have contributed to part of the discussion and others haven't, open it up to the rest by asking if anyone who hasn't responded yet has anything to add. However, don't put people on the spot by asking them directly.

If the discussion is stuck on one topic

Remind the members of the group that there are a number of different questions to explore, and that you are mindful of time, so it might be best to leave that topic for now, and you can return if there's time at the end.

If you are unsure what someone meant

Seek clarity during the focus group if you are unsure about what a participant meant during the discussion.

4.1.6 Practical considerations

You don’t have much control of the environment, as we are all doing our focus groups online using Microsoft Teams. It is not possible to do them in person due to logistical restraints (recording equipment and booking space) and you cannot use platforms other than Microsoft Teams due to logistics (Zoom is limited to 40 mins) as well as University requirements around GDPR.

You will be recording the visual and audio content of this focus group. Practice using the Teams environment with the rest of your group in advance. See this video (ADD IN) for help.

Please press record before you start the focus group! You do not want to end the focus group and find out that you didn’t press the right button and the whole thing is gone. Just in case, a member of the group could be taking notes. This should never be the interviewer, as this would distract them from their task of understanding what is being said.

After the focus group, consider the following questions:

Do you think your research question has been answered? If not, why not?
If participants went off-track, is that because there was a flaw in your questions, or because they hit on a topic that was more interesting to them?

Either way, you can write up a really strong project by being reflexive and considering what you could do differently in future.

4.1.6.1 Setting up and recording the online focus group

Pilot the focus group schedule on friends first
- are there any questions that need refined?
Do a test recording beforehand using Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Stream (transcription software). This should be done early enough that you can contact one of the Couse Leads if there are any issues.
- See the 15 minute video here for how to set up and record a Teams meeting and access the transcript.
- Did everything work okay in the test? Is there anything you are uncertain of? If there were any issues during the test (e.g. if you weren't able to access Stream), contact the Course Leads ASAP and let them know.

4.1.6.2 Downloading the transcript