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Focus Group Methodology: Adapting the Process for Low‐Income Adults and Children of Hispanic and Caucasian Ethnicity
Author(s) -
Keim Kathryn S.,
Swanson Marilyn A.,
Cann Sandra E.,
Salinas Altragracia
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
family and consumer sciences research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 1077-727X
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x99274005
Subject(s) - ethnic group , focus group , low income , focus (optics) , psychology , group process , process (computing) , gerontology , sociology , social psychology , medicine , socioeconomics , anthropology , computer science , physics , optics , operating system
Focus group discussions are being used more often during the formative phase of nutrition education program development. This article discusses focus group procedure adaptations to increase effectiveness with low‐income Caucasian and Hispanic audiences for adults and thirdgrade children. Recruitment is more effective if the target audience knows the recruiter. Methods such as posters and letters do not work. The facility needs to be considered safe and easy to get to. Some children need focus group discussions of less than 1 hour in length or some type of activity to break the monotony of the session. The use of a “talking stick” is also helpful to allow all children to be heard. It was observed that the Hispanic participants were not as verbal as the Caucasian participants. More Hispanic focus groups needed to be conducted to obtain the same amount of diversity in information as was obtained from the Caucasian groups.