Focus Group 689

Hello, my name is Lenora Lubega and I would like to welcome all of you to our focus discussion group. I will be the moderator.

I was a firm believer that my past would dictate my future. I am not the traditional college applicant and applying to law school at this stage in my life seems so surreal. With the awareness that great men like President Abraham Lincoln, Clarence Darrow, John Marshall, and other Supreme Court justices all took up this prestigious profession by law reading, I am indeed inspired tow this path. Yet, I choose to reap the benefits of an old-fashioned law school education.

The purpose of the focus groups was to collect information about stroke survivors’ beliefs, attitudes, and opinions on why they choose to engage or not engage in physical activity. Seven focus groups were conducted with saturation was met. Thirty-two stroke survivors provided responses to 7 questions from a semi-structured focus group guide. Probing was done minimally when needed. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the ensuing focus group data. Focus group discussions or responses were transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were read once and then a second time for clarity. Emerging themes were coded and similar data were group into the same category. Repeating ideas were grouped into themes.

Some of what you envision has come to pass. This is a gift. Other expectations have not been met. This too is a gift. For in our disappointment we are given the opportunity to learn to hold all things loosely. It is not wrong to have expectations, but unmet expectation can

I have a strong passion for learning, which is the reason why I’m attending Saint Leo University to further my education. During the first semester of my freshman year, I was undecided if the major of Criminal Psychology best suited me. However, as the year progressed I decided to major in Criminal Justice with a specialization in Criminalistics and a minor in Psychology. Now in my spring semester, I’m currently enrolled in the Introduction to Law and the Legal System course. In taking this class I’m able see my eagerness to learn about the justice system and the laws that protects our constitutional rights as humans.

Focus groups in a qualitative study allow the researcher to interview several participants simultaneously. Numbers of those within the group are typically no more than 12 to allow for a more in-depth discussion. Focus groups are beneficial with limited time, and may allow for richer data collection as conversations ensue amongst participants (Leedy & Ormrod, 2013). Thus, the use of the talking circle is appropriate in this study. The small numbers and shared epistemology of the ATC’s would allow for comfortable dialogue. The quantitative data consisted of two surveys, one for the administrators, with a separate survey for the ATC’s.

There were 10 different single-sex focus groups with 6 participants in each group. The groups were set up this way to enhance understanding of the topic and to promote communication within the group. This study clearly defines the roles of researchers in data collection and analysis of the data. The focus groups were 45 minute sessions with two undergrad senior students conducting the group. One student was in charge of using the topic guide to start the discussion, and the other student recording the events of the discussion. The phenomenon under study took place in two different settings. College students met within their institution and students from universities met off-campus. The data obtained in this study were analyzed appropriately. The researchers in the study used a Framework Analysis Approach. In this approach, 2 coders independently separated data into key themes and subthemes. Differences in interpretation of the data were discussed between the two coders. Goundry et. all\ (2013) stated, “a third researcher was available in case of disparities, but none were noted.” During the analytic phase of the study no biases were

This article represents a focus group type of qualitative research. According to Qualitative Research Consultants Association (2015), in focus group qualitative research, a group of individuals who share a need, life circumstance, or habit relevant to the research issue(s) at hand are led in a discussion by a modulator. The focus group discussions often include between two to ten respondents, and are often held face to face. They can also be conducted remotely through videoconferencing, teleconferencing, or

UThe strategy used to enrich focus group participation, comprised of involving individuals who were homogeneous, in the since that they were closely related in age, education level and socialization. Of the participants, one was an African American male and two of them were Caucasian females, all enrolled in a Bachelors degree program, at Texas State University, and socially familiar with one another. The participants consisted of 3 enrolled Undergraduate students, ranging between 19-21 years of age.

The data was gathered by using a focus group methodology combined one to one interviews for the student with Autism. The purpose of using two methods of data collection is based on the action research study design, which takes a series of quick looks at different times in a variety of ways (Johnson, 2012). By using focused groups to collect data, insight is gained on the different perspective of multiple stakeholders on to how to build a comprehensive transition plan that will carry students with ASD starting secondary school into adulthood (Kucharczyk et al., 2015). In addition focus groups use people with similar characteristic who engage in a deliberate discussion about a particular topic . Furthermore the focus group methodology used will help to identify key issues and themes in areas that has limited data gathered (Fontana & Frey, 1994).

The implementation of EA at Denver Law offered an opportunity to bring students into the discussion. While the EA program was being developed and rolled out at Denver Law, we designed a survey-based study to explore the impact of this program on enrollment and student educational experience. The study was designed around a series of Denver Law student surveys. Here, we report on the findings of five surveys: three entering classes (2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16) and two graduating classes (2015-16 and 2016-17). Table 1 outlines the logic.

Each interview and focus group audio was transcribed within 24 hours by a research assistant. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical package for social science to analyze the data set collected from the

Jemma, the researcher and focus group moderator, has structured the discussion in the following way: to start with, Jemma provides a frame of reference for the focus group referring to the aim of her research, and summarizes the pre-formulated research questions that serve as openings to obtain such feedback (Nel, Romm, & Tlale, 2015). Focus groups are seen as providing a unique data source, and tend to emphasise their value in exploring participants’ knowledge and experiences and in helping to understand not only what people think, but also why they think the way they do (Greenwood, Ellmers, & Holley, 2014).

The populace of interest for the Women’s Health and Money at Work Project focus groups was low to moderate-income women in Los Angeles County. The study was organized and developed by Iris Cantor - UCLA Women’s Health and Education Research Center, and funded by Cathay Bank Foundation. To note UCLA was approved by the IRB to move forward with the study. For this study four focus groups were pre-scheduled through June – August 2015 at St. Joseph's Center (SJC) or The New Economics Center for Women (NECW). Deciding on the two individual sites were selected by targeting the low-income population and where they were geographically located. In cooperation, SJC and NECW recruited all the participants through email and flyers. As well as, on an

Focus groups are a method of group interviewing in which the interaction between the moderator and the group, as well as the interaction between group members, serves to elicit information and insights in response to carefully designed questions. The dynamic nature of the questions asked by the moderator and the group process, produces a level of insight that is rarely derived from 'unidirectional ' information collection devises such as observation, surveys and less interactional interview techniques. Methods of recording and analyzing information gathered during focus groups, and strategies for collecting unbiased information have helped focus group research to gain