Photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash

This is post 2 of 3 in my summer evaluation series. If you missed last month, check out a real-life example of evaluation in the Science of Reading project!

This month I'm sharing about my favorite evaluation tool - focus groups.

Ever wish you understood your people better, but you don't know where to start? Focus groups just might be your answer.

What is a focus group?

• A small group conversation with 4-8 participants. It can be held either in person or online and is usually audio-recorded for future analysis.

• Guided by an experienced facilitator (like me!). Ideally the facilitator is someone external to your organization or project. Your leaders are not present so focus group participants are more comfortable answering questions.

• Designed with a small number of open-ended questions. I plan questions in advance with my client according to what they want to understand better (or even what their funding agency wants to know).

Examples from my work

I have used focus groups to help clients explore each of the following:

• Long-term impacts: Talking with a nationwide group of K-12 teachers to understand the long-term impacts of a grant-funded professional development program (I presented with my client about this strategy at the American Evaluation Association conference in 2023)

• External partners: Exploring the experiences of external partners on a large, collaborative grant project funded by a federal or state agency (I have used focus groups to help these clients maintain accountability and improve their large projects along the way)

• Internal staff: Talking with my client's own staff or students to better understand their motivations and capacity building in a workforce development project (I just turned in an evaluation plan that would use this method)

• Strategic planning: Hearing from residents of a rural town as a component of strategic planning for economic development grants (I recently participated in a federal grant proposal where we would use this strategy)

Why focus groups?

• Exploration: If you're doing something new, a survey probably doesn't exist. Focus groups allow you to explore what's happening in your new frontier. Once you learn some themes from focus group participants, you can use those themes to build a survey for the next evaluation round.

• Time and confidentiality: When led by an external expert, focus groups save you time while keeping confidentiality for participants. The focus group facilitator handles all coordination. You receive a streamlined, visual report of results with example quotes.

• Value for money: If you are leading a large grant project, focus groups would cost a small percentage. For example, $15K for a set of focus groups is 1.5% of a $1M project budget. (On the other hand, if you have a small grant project, focus groups would likely not be the most cost effective evaluation tool.)

• Real stories: Compared to simple "agree/disagree" surveys, focus groups allow you to dive deeper and gain more meaningful stories than you could have written into a survey question. These meaningful stories are especially helpful for funders and other stakeholders!

Want to partner with me for focus groups?

I'd love to talk more! Please reach out, and we can check my availability to lead focus groups in the next few months to a year. Looking forward to hearing your ideas!