CNDLS can help conduct focus groups — structured conversations designed to gather information on a specific topic — with students in your program or department. Because focus groups examine students' feelings, attitudes, and perceptions, they are especially useful for helping you gain a deep sense of how students are experiencing their course of study. Since the spring of 2002, CNDLS has conducted student focus groups at the request of faculty or committees from over eight different departments interested in investigating student attitudes, practices, and opinions in order to inform departmental and curricular decisions.

Why conduct a focus group?
Focus groups allow for in-depth exploration of issues or topics, which can provide information about and deeper understanding of student perspectives. This can be a useful step prior to developing a survey of all the students in a department. However, focus groups are time-intensive and gather feedback from a limited number of people, so the results should not be generalized to a larger group without further assessment (such as a wide-scale survey).

How do focus groups work?

1. Faculty members (or a department team) meet with CNDLS staff for a brainstorming session around the ideas and topics to explore.
2. CNDLS staff members use the results of the brainstorming session to shape, rephrase, and reorder the questions to create a set of open-ended discussion questions and prompts.
3. The faculty members or department team review the discussion questions, and together with CNDLS staff finalize the list of focus group prompts.
4. The department provides a list of potential participants and oversees the contact and coordination of participants (we have found that student response and participation rates are much higher when arrangements are coordinated through the department rather than through CNDLS).
5. CNDLS staff members conduct the focus groups.

What happens after the data are gathered?
CNDLS staff will compile the notes and modified transcripts, as well as a summary and some initial analysis in typewritten form and will email this to the faculty or department team. In addition, we will arrange a meeting to discuss the summary, analysis, and next steps.

Is there a cost involved?
There is no charge to Georgetown faculty for CNDLS focus group services. However, participation incentives, such as food, encourage student attendance and will need to be coordinated and paid for by the department.