If you plan to organize a focus group discussion with school children what are the factors that one should keep in mind?
Or if any of you have any experience of conducting a focus group discussion with school children (age : 11-18) what are the difficulties you encountered? In retrospect, what could you have done that could have drastically reduced your chances of encountering those problems?
It is important to set it up in an environment in which they feel comfortable, have two facilitators and also another person to record information. Use talking/discussion but also large pieces of paper and sticky notes where they can present answers in different ways. You may also want to encourage drawing and small group discussion.
Thank you so much for your valuable suggestions Ma'am. Means a lot.
Here's just two points.
i) Time. It can take a lot longer to elicit children's views, compared to adults. Have a few trial runs so you know how much time you need.
ii) Minimising disruption to the school day. Consider how FGDs are going to affect the work of others in school. Even if the FGD has been cleared by the principal or someone in senior management, if the FGD involves withdrawing students from lessons (or other activities) then it's important to talk in advance to teachers/others who may be affected. What can you do to minimise/ameliorate any disruption? As a guiding ethical principle, it's probably best to assume that the work that teachers and students are doing in class is more important than anything an external researcher is doing.
These are good points and reminded me to say that when we did some focus groups we actually did them around one of their sports and arts activities and the leaders made the research focus groups an activity they could join if they so wished for that day (that dealt with the consent issue and we had parents' permission prior to the group) and this then dealt with the time issue as we were not taking them from classes at school. Go well.
FGDs are sometimes biased - where one respondent is influenced by others. Also, respondents have a tendency to say what they like to say rather than reality. For kids, may be they will be more imaginative in FGDs. I think questions should be more structured. In addition to listening to answers, obserbation will play a vital role.
For any discussion for children group should be at the initial stage providing information for the guideline & children group should face & entertained discussion with the happy & environment .
The discussion should not be serious so that children form may attend to it but without any interest .We have therefore to make children for in a manner which not only offer them guideline but also may receive a new ideas & inspiration for their individual growth & development .
This is my personal opinion
Hi Miss Shilpa,
In my view, while conducting FGDs with a group of children, the participants should be ensured that their parents are somehwere around, as it may play a psychological role in getting them opened up while in discussion.
Also, the ambience should be such that it make the participants feel as if they are at a place of leisure and entertainment, rather than being in a class-room atmosphere. This may help them to stay away from hesitation in expressing their likes/dislikes/views.
Another thing that could play a major role is incentives to those child participants. The incentives if any, should be in terms of what they appreciate the most. For example: chocolates, cakes, etc.
Moreover, one should try not to extend the focus group session beyond the stipulated time, as it may cause fatigue to the participants, and thus degraded discussion.
There can be many more points which may add to the quality of results, if taken into consideration.
with regards
Ashu
Dear Miss Shilpa, dear all,
I am looking also for advice in these topics. Maybe you know some reports about succesfull FGDs with children? Especially I am planning to have FDG sessions in settings of inclusion, so the chidren might be characterised with a variety of (dis-) abilities.
Thank you for the ideas so far.
@Miss Shilpa, here is an example as a report in German language:
Kallinich, Daniela (2014): Fokusgruppen und Interviews mit Kindern: Diskussion und Praxisbericht. In: Yvonne Blöcker und Nina Hölscher (Hg.): Kinder und Demokratie. Zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Schwalbach/Ts.: Wochenschau-Verlag (Wochenschau Wissenschaft), S. 57–77.
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