6B- Focus Groups

I got together with a group of friends who all teach or have taught before.
It was great to be surrounded by a group of people all with the same interests and willing to share there thoughts and opinions.

I found that within the focus group everybody really bounced of each others conversations. When an idea was brought up to be discussed, once one person started to speak, everyone else got involved and really got into it. Everyone was really honest with what they were saying and I think that was because they felt comfortable and confident because there were other voices around them joining in, agreeing/ disagreeing. This obviously had a major negative point as well because there were times when there was too many people speaking at the same time which made it harder to hear what people were saying and to get an answer to the question being asked.

It would be quite difficult to record this sort of event as it is very easy for people to talk over one another, so although I wouldn't want people to think they were back at school, I think it would be important that they put there hands up before speaking to avoid a collision of conversation's.

If I could get a group of people together all at the same time like I did for my pilot focus group that would be great but I already had one person un able to make it, letting me know just a day before the meeting. This is understandable as work came up that she could not turn down but I think I would consider the time that I  choose to undertake the meeting more carefully next time and plan in advance.  If this happened in the real Inquiry and it was more than the one person un-able to attend this would be a big problem.

The focus group is a great way to collect qualitative data, and I will certainly consider using this tool in my inquiry.