Focus group planning and moderation

Focus groups are a method of qualitative data collection used by researchers for a variety of purposes, including planning and assessing needs, guiding questionnaire development, and evaluating programs and services.

The ISRC offers support for researchers conducting focus groups, ranging from recruiting participants to analyzing and reporting on qualitative results. Our recruitment options include traditional methods such as working with sample vendors to build representative and/or stratified samples, and recruitment through the University’s mass email system. We can also use non-traditional methods of recruitment, like targeted social media campaigns. The ISRC provides consultation for focus group instrument development and design and facilitates work with the Human Subjects Office by offering full support with new project applications using HawkIRB. We offer full moderation and co-moderation services, which can include focus group planning and participant communication. Our skilled staff can provide full project management (purchasing, incentive management) and data services (data management, transcription, coding, and qualitative analysis). The ISRC research facilityhas space available to conduct focus groups, as well as available technologies to conduct remote/on-line sessions. Our focus group staff will travel! We can come to you or your participants.

For more information on working with the ISRC to assist with your focus groups, please contact ppc@uiowa.edu