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Last Updated: 19/1/2007
Focus groups consist of a small group of people (usually no more than 10) led by a trained facilitator to discuss a specific topic or set of questions.
Focus group participants may be randomly selected or chosen to represent a diverse range of those who may be affected by your policy proposal. However, experience demonstrates that groups of people of a similar age, gender and social class communicate together more effectively and therefore give more useful feedback. It may therefore, be most effective to run a series of focus groups to assess the views of different relevant demographic groups.
It is important to use a skilled facilitator to lead the groups to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to express their views and that the discussion does not stray too far from the original agenda. Make sure that the discussion is recorded properly too, either by a member of your team other than the facilitator or with a tape recorder. Inform the group that their discussion is being recorded.
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