Voevodins' Library _ "Focus Groups" 3rd edition / Richard A. Krueger & Mary Anne Casey ... Interview, People, Discussion, Decision Making, Development, Single-Category Design, Multiple-Category Design, Double-Layer Design, Broad-Involvement Design, Audience, Written Plan, Questioning Route, Categories of Questions, Opening Questions, Introductory Questions, Transition Questions, Key Questions, Ending Questions, Campaign, Strategies for Selecting Participants, Sampling Procedures for Focus Groups, Moderating Skills, Moderator, Discussion, Head Nodding, Question, Analysis Strategies, Long-Table Approach, Using the Computer to Help Manage the Data, Rapid Approach, Sound Approach, Principles of Reporting, Written Reports, Narrative Report, Top-Line Report, Bulleted Report, Report Letter to Participants, Oral Reports, Styles of Focus Group Research, Telephone Focus Groups, Internet Focus Groups, Media Focus Groups Voevodin's Library: Interview, People, Discussion, Decision Making, Development, Single-Category Design, Multiple-Category Design, Double-Layer Design, Broad-Involvement Design, Audience, Written Plan, Questioning Route, Categories of Questions, Opening Questions, Introductory Questions, Transition Questions, Key Questions, Ending Questions, Campaign, Strategies for Selecting Participants, Sampling Procedures for Focus Groups, Moderating Skills, Moderator, Discussion, Head Nodding, Question, Analysis Strategies, Long-Table Approach, Using the Computer to Help Manage the Data, Rapid Approach, Sound Approach, Principles of Reporting, Written Reports, Narrative Report, Top-Line Report, Bulleted Report, Report Letter to Participants, Oral Reports, Styles of Focus Group Research, Telephone Focus Groups, Internet Focus Groups, Media Focus Groups


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The Purpose Drives the Study
To decide who should be invited to the group interview, think back to the purpose of the study. Usually the purpose is to describe how certain people feel or think about something-people who have certain things in common. What kind of people are you interested in? What kind of people can give you the information you are looking for? The purpose should guide the invitation decision. The statement of purpose may require refinement to ensure that the target audience has the degree of specification needed for the study. For example, the researcher might have initially identified community residents as the target audience but later, after some thought, restricted the audience to unmarried residents between the ages of eighteen and forty. In other situations, participants might be identified in broad terms such as homemakers, teenagers, or residents of a geographic area.
The purpose of the study is the first of three ingredients that influence the decision of whom to invite. The second includes every thing you currently know about your target audience and groups that are close to your target. Is the target audience distinctive, identifiable, and reasonable to locate? In focus groups, the goal is to have a homogeneous audience. There are no precise rules that determine homogeneity, but rather, it is a judgment call based on your knowledge about the audience and the situation.
Third, the budget influences the degree of specification. Simply put, how many different groups can you afford to conduct? Or another way of asking the question is, How much are you willing to invest in this study? If resources are scarce and only three focus groups can be conducted, you will need to decide what type of people will give you the most meaningful information.
Let's suppose that a religious group decides to use focus groups to discover what would prompt new people to attend services. The religious group would need to decide what type of members it wants to attract-teenagers, young families, single-parent families, seniors, residents living within a geographic area, and so on. If several different audiences are sought, then it is advisable to conduct a series of focus groups with each audience category: teens, single-parent families, and so on. A decision is needed regarding the research budget. What is this information worth? With X resources, one audience category might be investigated, but 2X resources are needed to include two audiences, 3X for three audiences, and so on. The research budget should include the actual costs of conducting the focus groups and the volunteer time needed to conduct the study.

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The Composition of the Group >>