On this class, we have to present the task that have been given to us two weeks ago. We need to present our topic of evaluation website. For me, i got a focus group topic.
Focus groups are moderated meetings of 'involved' people discussing their
experience of an educational intervention.
They are a useful tool for
formative/developmental or
summative/retrospective evaluation and can serve as a single, self-contained method or
link to other evaluation activities.
Uses
-Generating hypotheses
-Developing interview schedules
-Identifying key issues
-Developing emergent themes
-Illuminating quantitative responses
-'Learner centred' course development
-Getting reflective feedback on interim interpretations of study outcomes
-Developing interview schedules
-Identifying key issues
-Developing emergent themes
-Illuminating quantitative responses
-'Learner centred' course development
-Getting reflective feedback on interim interpretations of study outcomes
Main advantage: obtaining a large amount of interactive information
on a topic
comparatively easily, within a short time.
Main disadvantage: the setting is not
'natural' but deliberate
Process:
1. Define issues for focus
Start with broad themes which can be made explicit to the groups, keep a checklist of individual points of concern to prompt for, if they don't emerge naturally.
Start with broad themes which can be made explicit to the groups, keep a checklist of individual points of concern to prompt for, if they don't emerge naturally.
2. Identify participants from relevant
population
Try to make these representative of various types of 'user', i.e. different motivations, different entry levels, different learning environments ...
Try to make these representative of various types of 'user', i.e. different motivations, different entry levels, different learning environments ...
3. Design the sessions
Set group size - between 6 and 12 is recommended.
•Decide whether mixed groups or contrastive groups will best serve your
need, comparing similar groups to check agreement or distinct groups to
establish perspectives on issues.
•Decide on structuring
strategy - one or two broad topics, or a guided
programme for discussion within allocated timeslots? Let conversation flow, if
purpose is exploration.
•Define required
analysis level - qualitative, 'ethnographic' or systematic content coding, or a
combination of these, depending on goals and resourcing. (The data will be
'rich' so it is best not to set too many focus items for one sitting.)
•Decide on recording options - notes? audio
recorded? video-recorded?
4. Stage the sessions!
The most important thing is to be both confident, and relaxed - then they will be too.
The most important thing is to be both confident, and relaxed - then they will be too.
5. Transcribe records
Verbatim, expressing as written text, or noting against pre-defined criteria whilst listening to/watching tape.
Verbatim, expressing as written text, or noting against pre-defined criteria whilst listening to/watching tape.
6. (Code and) analyse
transcripts
Start with two, and examine closely to establish most useful breakdown of detail in terms of evaluation targets. Broad possibilities are by topic theme, or by participant type. When procedure agreed, test it against remaining transcripts - does it cover the data?
Start with two, and examine closely to establish most useful breakdown of detail in terms of evaluation targets. Broad possibilities are by topic theme, or by participant type. When procedure agreed, test it against remaining transcripts - does it cover the data?
7. Interpret findings
Integrate with other outcomes from other methods used.
Integrate with other outcomes from other methods used.
