Final Focus Groups: Lessons Learned

We held our final focus groups for youth and parents today. Now my research team faces hours of transcribing and translating so I can read the actual responses. Even without having all of the data yet, though, I have learned a few lessons about doing this type of research:

1) Word travels quickly - If you give sodas and transport money after focus groups (and if they're fun), people start inviting their friends and neighbors to attend. Some people even come twice. So much for random selection...but it's nice that people want to come!

2) Hold on to your digital recorders! A purse was stolen from a research assistant yesterday with her pay for the week, her cell phone, and the recorder. It was really terrible for her, but someone spotted the digital recorder being used in the center of town. Apparently the person took it to the cell phone store asking how to use it. The Chiefs of the village found him, and the recorder was returned - luckily no data lost and no confidential data were released. When the recorder was returned, I pressed play and found 27 songs that had been recorded in a matter of hours. The Chiefs and the police are still searching for the person who stole the money...I will write an update if there's any progress.

3) If you see dark clouds, go home immediately. It is not fun to ride on a motorbike in the rain in the dark with lightning. After one bad experience, I just end the interviews early now and send everyone home!

4) Trees are great interview spots. I was very worried about privacy for our interviews before I arrived, but I quickly realized that people feel most comfortable around their homes and they know where to find private spaces that others will respect. Some of the best interview spots actually seem the most open and beautiful - big shady trees, rocks overlooking the lake.

Next time I write, I hope to have an update on what we are learning from the qualitative data!