How to Write Focus Group Questions

Focus Group In Action

Focus groups are planned discussions designed to elicit specific information, thoughts, or opinions from a targeted group of people. This article provides steps for writing focus group questions.

Instructions

1. DETERMINE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION.

   Whether you are planning your own focus group discussion or for a sponsor, it is very important to be clear about what you want the focus groups to accomplish. This will guide the development of your focus group questions. Answering the following questions may help with this step: 1) How will the information from the focus groups be used; 2) What will it be used for; 3) Who will use the information; 4) What new, if any, information do you want to get from the focus groups.

2. REVIEW WHAT INFORMATION IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THE TOPIC, IF ANY.

   This step really depends on the type of info that you hope to get from the focus groups. If this a relatively unexplored topic, there may not be information available for review. For other topics, review relevant sources about the topic. For instance, if you want to know what high school students think about global warming, do an internet search to see what others have reported about their findings. You can use other findings to make your questions more specific or perhaps other work can reveal an relatively untapped area that you hadn't considered. The bottom line is to make sure that you have a basis for asking each focus group question, especially if you plan to report your findings in peer reviewed scientific publications.

3. DEVELOP AN INITIAL FOCUS GROUP QUESTION DRAFT.

   Based on the steps above, generate a list of focus group questions that address the information that you're interested in. At this stage, concentrate on insuring that the most important concepts are captured in the questions. Since most focus group discussions last 1 to 1.5 hours, your final draft should 5 to 6 questions (many different schools of thought on this-see TIPS below). However, while writing your initial draft, there is no limit- you're just trying to capture the information (12 questions for the initial draft might be sufficient if you plan to use only 5 to 6 in the actual focus group).

4. GET FEEDBACK FROM OTHERS (SPONSORS) ABOUT THE INITIAL FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS DRAFT.

   Give your initial draft to the sponsors or other team members. Get their thoughts on which questions capture the essence of the focus group objectives. This step is important in insuring that your questions have face validity (whether they make sense on the surface for what you're trying to accomplish).

5. REFINE YOUR FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS.

   Refining your focus group questions will likely be an iterative process. Use the feedback from others to refine your questions and get the list down to 5 to 6 questions. 1) Use only open-ended questions (questions to which the answer is NOT a simple yes or no or other short answer). 2) Also questions should proceed from general to specific. For instance, using the global warming example above, your first question could be "What have you heard about global warming?" The goal of the initial question is to get the participants thinking about the topic and will also provide some insight into how the participants view the topic or what has influenced their views. 3) Include prompts (key words or phrases to hone in on a particular concept) for focus group questions where you anticipate people will need help gathering their thoughts. For instance, a prompt for the initial question "What have you heard about global warming?" might be "In the news" or " From your parents or other adults".

6. GET ENDORSEMENT FOR YOUR FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS.

   After you have refined the focus group questions, let the sponsor or other team members review them again. Make modifications as necessary.

7. PREPARE YOUR MODERATOR'S GUIDE.

   The moderator's guide is the "script" that your focus group moderator or facilitator will use. In addition to the focus group questions, it can include any other information that should be shared during the focus groups (i.e. objectives, ground rules for the focus group discussion).

Tips & Warnings

• There are a number of different opinions about the number of questions that are adequate for a focus group discussion. It really comes down to whether you think you can get quality information with the number of questions you decide to use. One of the benefits of focus groups is that you can really in depth information from participants. So, usually, less is more.