focus group planning is driving me nuts!

ali-t

This is a really stupid question (even to me as I ask it) but I have got to the point that I am so immersed in this I am starting to doubt myself.

Just before I completely lose the plot, can anyone help me out here.

I have the results from a questionnaire survey I sent out and the focus group is planned with a view to expanding on those results to get a greater depth of data. So, the question is....

Am I asking the focus group participants about their views on the topic or am I asking them their views on what other people think?

I am coming at this from a social construction perspective i.e. that everyone has a different reality and therefore 'fact' isn't fixed as perspectives vary.

I have drafted my questions from a 'what do you think...' perspective but then had a thought it should be the other way around.

Can anyone with a bit of commonsense help me out here? I am sure it would be crystal clear if I wasn't up to my neck in data but things are a bit foggy just now....

The_One_Who

You could run it either way. They should be a sort of discussion group, so that could be discussing their own views or focussing on one specific view. If you know what you are wanting out of the session (more detailed answers on one specific question?) then focus on that.

ali-t

I think everyone who attends the focus group will have already completed the questionnaire so it is seeming a bit daft to reask them the questions but the data would come from the interaction between different professions and potentially challenging each others views.

The other option is to pull together summaries of the data gathered and either have it presented generically or by profession. This would then be presented as X thinks Y, A thinks B - discuss...

Perhaps a mixture of the two is the way to go. hmmm.

What I am trying to find out from the research is to what extent, if any, a particular phenomenon has on the way professionals respond to their client group.