Special Considerations for a Focus Group
In addition to the location, recording, facilitation, and interview guide issues discussed above, there are special considerations specific to designing a focus group.
Group composition. Who will your participants be? Should they be homogenous strangers - that is individuals with like traits, such as demographic characteristics including age, race/ethnicity, or occupation, who share something in common and can speak from that experience? Or should they be more heterogeneous - such as, from a variety of backgrounds who can contribute to the discussion in diverse ways? Regardless of the group’s composition, you should expect that all participants will share something about their unique experiences to add to a rich dialogue about a given topic.
Recruitment. The target number of participants per focus group is 6-10. With less than 6 participants, it may be difficult to maintain an active discussion. However, with more than 10 participants, the moderator may find it difficult to manage the conversation. To ensure that you have the right number of people in the room, there are two strategies to use. First, you should recruit an additional 2-3 participants per session to accommodate for those who drop out or do not show. Second, you’ll want to call or e-mail the day before to confirm the appointment with participants.
Moderator role. A moderator’s role is to encourage all participants to actively engage in the focus group discussion. This can be done in two ways, which we call high or low moderator involvement. The level of involvement is largely determined by the research question and the intention of the project. High moderator involvement is characterized by a very active process of questioning and probing, in which the moderator guides the conversation in a highly structured manner. High moderator involvement is best suited for research questions/projects where there is a set of predetermined questions, all of which need to be addressed by participants. In other words, the researcher knows what he or she is looking for and the process is less exploratory in nature. Low moderator involvement allows for participants to “self-regulate” and for the process to be more emergent and exploratory. Low-moderator involvement is most suitable for research questions and projects where the goal is to learn more and be more open. Low or high moderator involvement is best reflected in the development of the interview guide.