The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute coordinates and facilitates focus groups to collect in-depth descriptive information for governments and business. Focus groups can be used to gain greater understanding about why and how people hold certain opinions about a topic, program, or organization. The group dynamic of focus group discussions can help individuals explore the nuances of a topic in a way that differs significantly from the one-on-one nature of survey research and in-depth interviews.
Focus groups can be a successful tool for a variety of projects, such as determining program needs, evaluating program outcomes, assessing customer satisfaction, exploring areas of concern within an organization, brainstorming potential policy reforms, and developing better questionnaires for survey research.
Focus groups are used to better understand:
- The feelings and concerns of employees within an organization
- The experiences and backgrounds of individuals with relatives who have cancer
- The needs, questions, and suggestions of individuals regarding a newly established organization in a community