Welcome back. Now, you can recall the components of the focus group report.
Your previous analysis clarified themes and sub-themes with backup quotes.
With that, you're ready to put it together and write your focus group report.
Please note that the way I write a report may be adapted depending on the group.
However, I usually start with the body.
That includes important themes and quotes in the introduction.
After the body, I then write the report introduction, conclusions, and recommendations.
This allows me to take notes from the body for the intro,
conclusion, and make recommendations before I write the final draft.
At the conclusion of this lesson,
you will be able to write the various parts of the focus group report.
Let me show you what I mean.
Start with the body and list
the preferences that were discussed in our business case scenario.
You would see that most people mention the battery, texting, and camera.
You'd write an explanation about these features.
That would go into the conclusion of
that section as well as the conclusion of the focus group.
I tried to write a conclusive summary statement in
bold and sometimes set it in brackets so it stands out on the page.
In the body, aim for succinct analysis.
Review all points that were made within
each section of your transcript one section at a time.
Take the first section,
what they like most about their cellphone,
and read every comment.
Then start writing, for instance,
"When we initially went around the room during introductions,
each person described what they like best about their cellphone.
There were a wide variety of responses,
but the camera and iMessages were two areas that came up most often.
People also liked battery life durability,
texting capability, smaller-sized cellphone, and social media.
A few people mentioned liking the camera.".
First, capture the theme then
write a short description of the key finding for that theme.
While summarizing themes that came up in the group,
review all the questions that were asked in the order they were given.
The next question was whether anyone had considered a different type of
cellphone prior to deciding on the one that they actually bought.
I'd write that and mention I open the discussion to anyone who chose to respond.
The general consensus I found was that the group stuck with what they
had in mind in the first place and didn't get swayed by looking at another brand.
To support this, I would use a quote like,
"I knew going to the store that I was going to buy an iPhone.
I was looking at another phone,
but I knew that I was gonna buy an iPhone since I had the 5S."
For each theme heading,
you then capture each subheading.
Starting from the last example,
I'd write a couple of people mentioned the upgrading plan and how
they knew they would move to the latest upgraded phone in the same brand.
You'd support that with a quote like,
"Once I traded to iPhone from Android,
there was no going back."
Aim to summarize each topic into a single sentence.
For example, take the topic of the cellphone feature, texting.
First, try to summarize what was said in the group in
one sentence such as texting was brought up throughout
the entire focus group as a way of conveying
quick information to a friend instead of writing a long email.
You might refine that to most participants said that texting is
a good way to get out quick information for a quick response.
Then you back up the statement with a quote.
While capturing themes, sub-themes, and quotes,
it's important not to imply that there is a definitive answer.
Note instead that the particular group had these certain viewpoints.
In summarizing, make sure again to use the words all,
most, many, some, few,
or none regarding how many participants were in agreement
with your summary or chosen quote rather than actually giving a number.
The introduction to topic explains why you are doing the focus group.
Think back to when you decided to do a focus group.
What did your client want that made you decide to start with qualitative research?
What answers did you seek?
Why did you need in-depth answers?
What were you trying to achieve?
Review all of this in your mind.
In our case, we knew we wanted to find out from somewhat affluent students
what features of a cellphone they needed to warrant
increasing the purchase price of a high-end cellphone.
We chose a focus group because we had no idea
what this population felt about the features of their phone,
and what went with their decision-making process when purchasing a new phone.
We needed basic information first
before testing out the responses in a quantitative survey.
The executive summary arises from condensing the themes,
quotes, and summaries in the body.
It also summarizes the introduction summary and recommendations.
To write your limitations section,
you must go back to the beginning purpose and methods for your group.
You only had a small sample of people who you
intentionally selected during the recruiting.
It's called purposive sampling.
Even though we approach random people on the UC Davis Campus,
we still sought certain visual qualities that may fit our criteria,
so it was not random.
When describing the limitations,
it's important to explain that the findings cannot be
generalized to the entire population of 20 to 30-year-olds who are UC Davis students.
The findings were also time-sensitive,
meaning they could change year to year or even moment to moment.
Explain these things in your limitation section.
When writing the background and methods section,
aim to summarize exactly what procedure was used for deciding the who,
what, when, where aspects of the focus group.
Discuss recruiting for the focus group participants: the flyers,
the team of researchers,
the place and date, and describe the procedure of the confirmation,
and reminder emails and calls.
In writing the overview or flow of the report,
explain the narrative framework either
chronological or by order of the most prevalent finding.
Since our group gave way to
an important conversation about how cellphones have changed communication,
I might go ahead and start out summarizing that
and then describe how it motivated people to contribute.
When writing the recommendations section,
use bullet points to delineate recommendations clearly.
I would start with the most important recommendation usually
related to the main topic and address the original business question.
In this group, we wanted to know about key features,
attributes, cost, and design.
Therefore, the recommendations should address each of these points then
recommend if further research is needed and what kind: focus groups,
individual interviews or quantitative surveys, for instance.
Write the first draft then review it slowly.
Make sure you've clearly stated all the points you want to make.
Check to ensure that quotes you use support statements.
Proofread to make sure there are no errors,
misquotes or typos, and that you've properly formatted the document.
Then leave it for a few days and return to it with a fresh perspective.
Read it again from the beginning to the end one more time.
Also, have a few other readers if you can.
Check it to make sure it meets professional standards.
Sometimes you miss those easy typos.
That concludes our lesson on writing your focus group report.
If you use these along with your practice activities and resources,
you should now be able to write a focus group report.
Susan BermanPresident, Impact Research
