6a continued...Pilot Focus Group

Bell (2005) states, "focus groups are more likely to include members who either have similar characteristics or experience...or are known to have a professional concern about and knowledge of the issues involved."  

This was the case with the pilot focus group I conducted, as the four participants were friends of mine who are also professional dancers.  Therefore, similar interests are shared which reflected in the continuous flow of conversation and the responses from the participants.  I was slightly apprehensive to see whether this tool would be effective, as the friends who agreed to participate all have big personalities, which meant some participants might have been at risk of being overshadowed, which is a downfall to the focus group tool.

My Findings

• I felt this tool worked well as the participants all knew each other.  Therefore all participants felt relaxed and no one felt intimidated to put their opinion across.  All participants were supportive of each other which was encouraging and allowed participants to be confident when sharing their thoughts and opinions.  Therefore, as I will be using professional dancers in my community who do know each other for my practitioner research this tool should work well.

• To begin with a few participants spoke at once as the question wasn't asked to a specific person, however once we had got into the flow of the discussion, ideas were triggered which led the discussion to progress and grow and each member of the focus group to have their turn in participating.

• The majority of the data gathered was relevant and will be useful to incorporate in my Inquiry, however at times the conversation did go off track and I had to make sure I brought the discussion back to the question. 

• I used a mixture of female and male participants, which worked well as the similarities and differences between the genders became apparent and also triggered a more in depth discussion between the participants and it allowed me to see a different perspective on my Inquiry topic.

• After reading Reader 6, I thought it would be interesting to try and see if a seating plan would affect the outcome of the focus group.  I decided to seat the participants and myself in a circle.  I felt this gave us all the opportunity to see and hear one another clearly so we could see when someone had an opinion to share.  I also felt this seating plan made sure everyone felt of equal importance, so no one felt intimidated.  It is definitely an element I will keep for the practitioner research.

• I tried to notate the focus group and write down the main points, instead of trying to write down every word.  However, when I read the notes later on I had forgotten what was said exactly and I wouldn't want to falsely convey the participants opinions.  Therefore, I will be using a dictaphone to record the discussion, just like the Interview tool.  I will then transcribe the main points and quotes I would like to use for my Inquiry afterwards and delete the audio file if any participants object to me using it for any other work related purposes for my Degree studies at a later date.

• I felt having four participants taking part in the focus group was a manageable number and if there had been any more the participants could be at risk of not everyone being able to get their opinions across.  I would rather have fewer people speak in more depth about their thoughts and opinions than have more participants and only hear briefly from each of them.

• I did have certain questions I wanted to ask the focus group, however those questions led onto other questions I hadn't prepared.  This worked well as it triggered other questions I hadn't thought about before and by using this structure it allowed the discussion to flow well.  The prepared questions were useful when wanting to bring the conversation back to the topic.

• It is difficult to put a time guideline on a focus group, as I have no idea how much information the participants used for my practitioner research will want to share and where the conversation will go.  However, the pilot focus group took approximately 40 minutes, so I can image it will probably not last any longer than an hour, otherwise the data gathered might not be as relevant to the topic.    

Overall, I feet this tool will be an effective way to get an insight into multiple dancers thoughts and opinions, which will be valuable for my Inquiry.