Focus groups

Size and frequency

Focus groups comprise no less than seven people and no more than 15. Participants come from as many different groups of stakeholders as possible e.g. Managing Authorities, implementing bodies, beneficiaries, independent experts, etc. For wider coverage of an area or topic, several focus groups can take place with different participants at a time.

Facilitation

Facilitation is key in running a focus group. It should be carried out by an external moderator with knowledge of the topic(s) covered by an evaluation. A good facilitator ensures a participative approach stimulating the involvement of all participants in the discussion and helping balance conflicting or contradictory opinions. Good facilitation also helps redirect the discussion towards the objective of the focus group in case there is any deviation from it. 

Triangulation

Focus groups are valuable to triangulate evaluation findings when they complement other methods. They can be used to collect contextual information to support the findings of quantitative methods or to exemplify their results, as well as to collect opinions of stakeholders in relation to evaluation questions or further explain the findings from other methods.

Collective learning

The emphasis of focus groups is on the participants discussing among themselves rather than the facilitator. Through a semi-structured discussion with questions posed by the facilitator, participants exchange ideas and experiences to generate information that is different from what is obtained in one-to-one interviews. In doing so, they can generate collective learning on the evaluation topic covered by the focus group.

Focus groups should be used whenever it is important to verify collected quantitative and qualitative evidence with various types of stakeholders and thus triangulate evaluation findings. 

Focus groups are used to obtain more in-depth information on perceptions, insights, attitudes, experiences or beliefs as regards the achievements of an intervention, measure or policy. They are useful for gathering subjective perspectives from key stakeholders involved in the implementation of CAP interventions and understanding the differences in perspectives at a deeper level.

Preconditions

Step 1 – Set the objectives of the focus group. This is the starting point and helps to maintain the focus of the discussion. The objectives may include answering a specific evaluation question, obtaining additional information on a certain evaluation topic or validating evaluation findings gathered through other methods. 

Step 2 – Identify and analyse potential participants. This step aims to identify relevant people who have either participated directly in the implementation of the intervention, are affected by it or have deeper knowledge of it.

Step 3 – Develop the structure of the focus group. This is a critical step as it concerns the design of questions that will drive the discussion in the focus group. It should consist of a mix of closed and open questions allowing for a semi-structured discussion amongst participants. This step often involves the development of tools that support the discussion and help visualise the answers or main points discussed. For example, tables and graphs may be used to illustrate or collect findings.

Step 4 – Analyse the results of the focus group. After running the focus group, the results should be analysed by: a) transcribing the focus group discussion (from a recording or from notes); b) identifying key themes to organise the collected information and to group the answers; and c) interpreting the information in the context of the evaluation question(s). Any tools developed to run the focus group can be used to analyse the findings and generate patterns and groupings of opinions, for instance tables and graphs.