The team ran focus groups with young people to find out about users’ needs to inform and recommend the development of the apps. Then, once the tracker is developed, you might want to recruit people with disabilities who are physically inactive to find out their experiences of the product. %PDF-1.5 %���� It is vital that the focus group be led by both a facilitator and a scribe; one … Practical advice on how to run focus groups to refine your digital product. In 1991, marketing and psychological expert Ernest Dichter coined the name “Focus Group.” The term described meetings held with a limited group of participants with the objective of discussion. Reflecting the many changes that have occurred in the study of focus groups in recent years, the book begins with an updated introduction offering a discussion of current social science approaches to focus groups. You can use your model of how your product works to help you put together questions to guide the discussion during the focus group. The method aims to obtain data from a purposely se- lected group of individuals rather than from a statistically representative sample of a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is a research method in the social sciences, with a particular emphasis and application in the developmental program evaluation sphere (Doody, Slevin, & Taggart, 2013). The results included the compiled list of 34 recommended features and functions of the app. The moderator typically writes the guide, which contains topics, questions, and activities for an interview. We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve government services. Practical advice on how to run online focus groups. All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated. The guide, as its name implies, guides the interview. endstream endobj startxref The extensively revised edition of the best-selling Focus Groups as Qualitative Research continues to provide an excellent guide for researchers across the disciplines. For example, when developing a fitness tracker for people with physical disabilities, you might want to recruit people with disabilities who have used a tracker before in order to find out their needs and preferences. The team ran online focus groups exploring the views of an online intervention for breast cancer survivors. Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. It is a form of qualitative research where questions are asked about their perceptions attitudes, beliefs, opinion or ideas. The guide starts with an introduction to qualitative research (chapter 2). These were ranked according to their importance. (2009) propose another useful structure for focus group analysis which is centred around a combination of different data analysis techniques – constant comparison method (which may involve comparing themes emerging in different focus groups), content analysis (e.g. How to use focus groups to evaluate your digital health product. Focus groups use group dynamics to get shared experiences of people with similar characteristics. 0 This is different from an interview study, where the focus is on individuals. 569 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<3B83D0A95621AE42866716BE01D871D5>]/Index[552 33]/Info 551 0 R/Length 93/Prev 821671/Root 553 0 R/Size 585/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Such interviews typically go for about 45 minutes, but this can vary. Focus groups … "Focus groups aim to discover the key issues of concern for selected groups. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone. focus groups is suggested, which includes a consideration of when focus groups are preferred over one-to-one interviews. You use it during a focus group or depth interview. Discovering these issues can help determine which of a number of options is the preferred way forward, or to determine what are the concerns that would prevent a proposal going ahead. They should: If you have not facilitated a focus group before, it is a good idea to get someone to run it for you until you become familiar with the role. You will need to create a plan in advance of the focus group session. Focus groups are moderated by a group leader. t�6��w@���@�gTg`��ʰ�a3�0�������N�_|��{�0���X����1��F. • It is a form of qualitative research where questions are asked about their perceptions attitudes, beliefs, opinion or ideas. This would help to spark discussion and debate around the fitness tracking features users wanted and any unmet needs this group of users had. � Ĩ(� �t���IqVAYP�w�������'C��ᩳ�lI;�5)?�6Vd�����\��MV?`�}8b���(�� CF��E�R�`�p�`�`�`�`� ��X The focus group sessions were recorded and transcribed. Opening Remarks (2 Minutes) Thanks for coming today. The objectives of qualitative research are to focus more on target audiences’ range of behavior and perceptions that drive it rather than facts and statistics that govern quantitative research. The focus group moderator guide is your interviewing outline. If you anticipate some participants not showing up, invite 10-20% extra participants. This page is part of a guide to evaluating digital health products. Technology, for one, needs to be stable, consistent, and offer tools that augment qualitative researchers’ efforts and objectives. By moderating respondents, hidden opinions that could not be acquired through quantitative research can be understood. Introduction • Focus Group Discussion (FGD) involves gathering people from similar backgrounds or experiences together to discuss a specific topic of interest. Smaller groups can work too. They stopped at this point because they had reached saturation. When conducting a focus group, four key factors must be considered: (a) the process, (b) the content, (c) group composition, and (d) data analysis. It is also a good method to employ prior to designing questionnaires. Trust and rapport aside, there are other critical elements to a successful interview beside the guide. Focus group interview is a type of qualitative research that helps clients understand consumers thoroughly. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is a qualitative research method and data collection technique in which a selected group of people discusses a given topic or issue in-depth, facilitated by a professional, external moderator. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Avis and others (2015), ‘Lessons Learned from Using Focus Groups to Refine Digital Interventions’. In bridging research and policy, FGD can be useful in providing an insight into different opinions among different parties involved in the change process, thus enabling the process to be managed more smoothly. Alkhaldi and others (2017), ‘Promoting Engagement With a Digital Health Intervention (HeLP-Diabetes) Using Email and Text Message Prompts: Mixed-Methods Study’. h�b```�B��B ���� They conducted 4 groups with 15 participants. Although focus groups are commonly used in health research to explore the perspectives of patients or health care professionals, few studies consider methodological aspects in … The vast majority of commercial qualitative research involves interviews. Depending on what you want to find out, you might want to recruit people who are similar to each other (homogeneous sampling), or recruit more varied users to get a wider understanding of their experience of your digital product (heterogeneous sampling). Here, group interaction is typically encouraged (Roulston, 2010, pp. Think about what you want to find out. Preparing for the Focus Group Discussion Be sure to make the location and time of the FGD are clear to all participants. guide to evaluating digital health products, use your model of how your product works to help you put together questions to guide the discussion during the focus group, ‘Content and Feature Preferences for a Physical Activity App for Adults With Physical Disabilities: Focus Group Study’, ‘Lessons Learned from Using Focus Groups to Refine Digital Interventions’, ‘Insights for conducting real-time focus groups online using a web conferencing service’, ‘Young People’s Response to Six Smartphone Apps for Anxiety and Depression: Focus Group Study’, ‘Promoting Engagement With a Digital Health Intervention (HeLP-Diabetes) Using Email and Text Message Prompts: Mixed-Methods Study’, ‘Feasibility of Synchronous Online Focus Groups of Rural Breast Cancer Survivors on Web-Based Distress Self-Management’, Define how your product works: evaluating digital health products, Rapid evaluation of digital health products during the COVID-19 pandemic, Choose evaluation methods: evaluating digital health products, Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance and support, Transparency and freedom of information releases, you want to get a breadth of understanding of the thoughts and experiences of users, you have open-ended questions about your product, group dynamics can promote discussion, idea sharing and debate, they provide a breadth of shared experiences from people with similar characteristics, for example people experiencing similar health conditions or health professionals using your digital product, they can be used at every stage of creating a digital product, from finding out more about the needs of your users to refining and testing new content and features of your product, staff needed – you will need a facilitator who encourages discussion and possibly also a separate note-taker, it might be difficult to get the users you need together in one room at the same time, encourage participants to discuss their views openly, use prompts and questions to make sure the discussion points you are interested in are covered, venue – neutral places are best because participants will be more open in what they say, whether you will pay transport costs or give participants incentives for participating. 2017 ), ‘ Lessons Learned from using focus groups aim to discover the key issues concern. 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