Contents

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1
JOURNALS ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
FOCUS GROUPS ............................................................................................................................................. 2
What are the Limitations? ........................................................................................................................ 3
Key points of using focus groups .............................................................................................................. 3
EXAMPLES ................................................................................................................................................. 3
THE SUCCESSFUL FOCUS GROUP .......................................................................................................... 3
THE FOCUS GROUP DISASTER ............................................................................................................... 4
Use of Focus Groups in the Development of Place-Specific Materials for a Community Enviromental
Action Campaign ................................................................................................................................... 5
PICTURES ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................. 7
E-GRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................................... 7

INTRODUCTION
JOURNALS
A journal is a daily record of events and it is personal in nature, similar to a diary. During the
learning process a journal used for reflective writing has the potential of giving the learner a
systematic approach to the development of learning. Through reflective writing it is possible to
catalog experiences, thoughts, questions, ideas, and conclusions that mark the learning
process. These journals in order to be effective do not need to be scholarly document, although
those would work well, they can also be varied using cartoons, scrapbooking, be online or as
letters we write to ourselves.

These journals in order to be very effective must be used daily, or quite regularly, as a diary
would be. They could also be used or kept up by a community of learners.
The advantage of using journals is that it is easy to do and easy to keep, almost any entry that
reflects thoughts, events, ideas reflective activities is a valid one.
The disadvantage of using a journal is that it is something that needs to be worked on regularly,
daily if possible for it to be of any real use or value. In terms of community journals, there needs
to be some research done into understanding the ethics behind the creation, use, and sharing of
joint journal material.
What this means is that people who will be participating in the creation and keeping of the
journal need to agree on how the info will be written down, preserved, and used in the longterm mostly they need to understand that the information placed there becomes public and
will be seen and used by others.

FOCUS GROUPS
A focus group is a group of pre-selected individual in a structured discussion or participation
which are meant to collect information or gauge public opinion on a specific issue, topic or idea.
At the head of this group is a facilitator who must be impartial to the activity of the group, and
must only push them forward.
As an advantage for focus groups we can mention that they provide deliberate venues for
learning, trust-building, creative problem solving, and ultimately it can serve as a platform for the
learners to get actively involved in their community in terms of planning and development.
A focus group lasts for about two hours of discussion on specific issues and has 5 to 15
members who have been chosen for their relationship or standing on the selected issue; they
should also be representative of their communitys demographic characteristics.
This kind of activity is used when it is necessary to understand a complex issue which cannot be
understood with surveys or large meetings. In this kind of grouping, each member is given to
express their views in detail, hear the opinion of others, and then work together towards a
solution. They are specifically apt for discussion of technical and anecdotal evaluations.
The one thing to really keep in mind and consider when building a focus group is which
members to choose and integrate into a focus group. The participants really do need to
represent their community demographics well, as well as selecting the group questions with
care to make sure that the discussion will be valid. The facilitator must in turn be someone who
can make the most of the members contributions and guide them into reaching positive
outcomes that fulfill the pre-established goals for the group and not let the group succumb into
mass thinking.

What are the Limitations?

There are several limitations to using a focus group.
First, focus groups can require a great deal of time and other resources in preparation,
information processing and reporting.
Second, selection of the participants, creation of the discussion guide and choice of an effective
facilitator can be significant challenges.
Third, focus group findings are often difficult to capture, analyze or accurately summarize.
Finally, because focus groups involve such a small number of participants, it is often difficult to
generalize the findings to the larger population. Additional research techniques using multiple
choice or open-ended surveys directed to a larger sample are excellent follow-up methodologies
to focus groups.

Key points of using focus groups

Get consensus on the focus group goals, purposes or objectives. Check with the group
before you begin so that all involved are aware and confortable with the goals.
Develop a discussion guide. This allows for questions to be carefully considered before
the group meets and for consistency and comparability between more than one focus
group.
Ensure a neutral environment; pay close attention to the location and time.
Find an effective facilitator who is seen as neutral by all participants.
Ensure adequate representation of all interested or affected parties.
Clearly record, identify and summarize themes, topics, and actions items and verify
accuracy of the information reported.
Report back to the group and community with an evaluation and summary that is clear
and succinct.

EXAMPLES
THE SUCCESSFUL FOCUS GROUP

We put together a focus group to talk about how to improve housing for people living with HIV
and AIDS. All the group members were HIV-positive themselves; some had an AIDS diagnosis.
Of course, we didn't call it a "focus group." That would have scared people off. We just called it
a "group discussion," something like that.

We invited about a dozen people who had been working to improve local policy and improve
local AIDS services. We knew them ahead of time. They knew us, which was good. And we
offered to pay them, $10.00 for coming to a one-hour meeting -- not all that much, but mainly a
gesture of respect -- not that they couldn't use the money.
Well, they came. I think out of about a dozen we asked, 11 showed up. And, believe me, we
didn't have to work very hard to get them to speak up. You say, "What do you think...?" and start
writing. We hardly had to ask another question for the whole next hour.
These focus group members, "consumers," with poor education, low incomes, lots of drug and
jail histories, were very passionate, very articulate, and generally right on target on housing
issues. Should I have been surprised? No, but I was anyway, a little. They didn't need any
prompting from me, and hardly any guidance, except to serve up a new question at the right
moment, and maybe to steer them back to the question every once in a while, because some of
them tended to get so heated up they would swerve off the road.
I didn't have a recorder with me. So I took notes myself, which was probably a mistake, since it's
always hard to write and lead at the same time. But I think I got the main points down. I sat
down to fill out the notes soon after the meeting, so I wouldn't forget.
The group had a long list of good ideas. We were able to put one or two of them into practice
locally. Is that a good batting average? No. Why wasn't it higher? Because people with HIV and
AIDS don't have political power. And because the social service bureaucracy, even the AIDS
bureaucracy, is slow to change. But I still think the experience was worthwhile....

THE FOCUS GROUP DISASTER

This focus group was supposed to talk about health needs in the community. There were
supposed to be eight of them, one for each ward in the city. The city council representatives,
one per ward, were supposed to help get their constituents out. But only two meetings actually
got off the ground, which tells you that community health needs were not exactly a council
priority.
The meeting I went to was held in a function room at a popular local restaurant, on one of the
coldest nights of the year, as it turned out. I'd say 20 or so souls wandered in. The room was
very big and dark. People scattered themselves around -- you could hardly see some of them.
The local city council rep did show up, and a couple of other familiar faces. And a lot of them
were talkers, so for the few citizens that happened to be there, you could see that they were not

going to get into a talking contest with the city council reps, so they gravitated to dark corners
and kept quiet. I don't think they really knew much of what was going on anyway.
The meeting was sponsored by the local hospital, though they brought in an outside facilitator.
But in this community, the reputation of the hospital was not the greatest (which, to the
hospital's credit, was why these groups were occurring in the first place.) But people didn't seem
very trusting of what was going on. They didn't talk easily. At least a couple of them looked
intimidated; they weren't going to stand up and tell the hospital what to do.
The facilitator did a pretty good job, but probably worked harder than he should have had to.
The members in this focus group weren't exactly forthcoming. To get ideas and opinions out of
them wasn't quite like pulling teeth, but close. A couple of ideas did leak out. You couldn't say
the meeting was really bad, yet it wasn't exactly warm and cozy. You can't overcome all the
history and distrust in a single meeting....

Use of Focus Groups in the Development of Place-Specific Materials for a Community

Enviromental Action Campaign

We examined the relevance of five strategies to reduce the risk of exposure to environmental
hazards for African-American and Hispanic children living in Northern Manhattan in New York
City.

Researchers conducting a community-wide intervention to increase awareness of

environmental health hazards identified five strategies for keeping children healthy, preventing
asthma, and promoting childrens growth and development. These strategies were based on
current scientific knowledge of environmental health and were tested and refined through a
series of focus groups. The 14 focus groups were conducted with women of childbearing age
living in the communities under study.

The purpose of the focus groups was to test the

relevancy of the five strategies and to obtain data to inform the interventions social action
campaign. Here authors discuss the process of identifying strategies for risk reduction and
incorporating community residents perceptions of risk into health risk messages. The authors
argue that broader social and historical contexts are important in shaping community members
interpretations of risk and subsequent response to health education campaigns.

PICTURES

CONCLUSION

E-GRAPHY
http://www.lga.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=2421
http://www.ands.org.au/guides/ethics-working-level.html
http://www.joe.org/joe/2008december/rb3.php
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-andresources/conduct-focus-groups/example
http://store.msuextension.org/publications/BusinessandCommunities/MT200807HR.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241172/pdf/ehp110s-000265.pdf