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Using Focus Groups (Cont'd)
Why Use a Focus Group?
Focus groups are a very convenient method of program evaluation. Discussions in focus groups often yield in-depth information about the appeal of a program, or particular aspects of that program. Unlike other methods, such as surveys, they are capable of revealing potential "whys" behind the success or failure of your program.
As with any evaluation tool, focus groups have both advantages and disadvantages. While focus groups are very useful in gathering insight and a range of opinions concerning your program, they do not create generalizable data. That is, the sessions do not yield statistics and one cannot make the leap that a larger population or community thinks about the same themes that arise in focus group discussions. To overcome this limitation, some organizations choose to use a focus group as well as a survey. This provides them with the rich data produced by the focus group and the statistics produced through survey results.5
The following is a list of the advantages and disadvantages of focus groups:
| Advantages |
Disadvantages |
- Inexpensive
- Generate quick results/feedback
- Flexible design
- Capable of producing more in-depth, rich information
- Useful to determine why a particular program did or did not work or appeal to participants
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- May not be representative due to limited number of participants
- Less systematic/structured and therefore more difficult to analyze
- Do not provide the "hard numbers" that can be produced from surveys or other quantitative methods6
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5 Losh, S.C. (2002) "Focus Group Basics." Florida State University. Available at FSU on the World Wide Web: http://edf5481-01.fa02.fsu.edu/Guide6.html.
6 Israel, G.D. (June 2003) "Using Focus Group Interviews for Evaluating Extension Programs." University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences. Available at UF/IFAS on the World Wide Web: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PD036.
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