Focus Group Discussion
On a Tuesday in June, the field students held a focus group with six women of Ark
City in the venue of the beloved Burford Theater, located
on Summit Street in historical downtown, with which all the women are associated.
The women are all retired and spend their time wanting
to better their town. The field students presented questions on topics of interest
they had prepared beforehand, while encouraging an informal atmosphere for the women.
Refreshments were set by the students offering coffee, pastries, fruit, and brownies
to promote this setting.
Through this exercise, the students underwent a fundamental setting for academic exposure:
Learning how to coordinate a multi-layered,
semi-structured conversation between multiple participants in a focus group discussion
(FGD). This technique allowed the students to gain
insight into the town and its people from a specific group in the community. Many
routes were made available based on the information
provided, including a route for further immersion (participant-observation) that the
students could then utilize and capitalize upon.
including jobs, people, and events––were considered. Ties formed between the present circumstances of the town and its past settings introduced a new avenue of scrutiny into the way the students considered their object of study; in particular, after the women described major
events of the town during their lifetimes, the students could then include the impact an extreme flux in the economy causes for its present
and future citizens. Contributing holistically, the women added another layer of depth for the students by presenting a historical perspective.
Not only did the students receive a historical image of the town, an up-close and
personal perspective of its citizens was also naturallygranted by the topics of conversation, and the dynamics between the FGD participants. The women’s relationships and familiarity with each
other, particularly extending to mutually known citizens outside of the group, led to a more perceptive understanding of the inner workings
of the community—the deep interrelatedness of a small town and the town pride possessed by citizens who are involved in the community.
the older generation’s mind in Ark City. Comparatively focusing on the past and present perspectives, this FGD offered the students opportunities to design lines of inquiry for other research techniques such as semi-structured and structured interviews, as well as observation
exercises soon to be practiced. Additionally, new ways of engaging with future interview sources in relevance to topics discussed in this
FGD will allow opportunity for information to be expanded upon, which will help the students perceive a holistic representation of Ark City
going forward.