Focus Group

Focus Group

Introduction

The topic that is discussed with the group under study in this paper is 'Change'. The dynamics of the group that was chosen for this study are: Seven people from different ethnic backgrounds, all of whom are single parents. The name of the group was 'SPU', Single Parents United. Two were African Americans, One member was Asian, Three members were white and one was Mexican. These people were then asked to discuss the topic of change and what importance does change have in their lives, being faced with the most important change in their lives: the moment when they started to raise their kids as single parents. They were asked to discuss previous experiences as well as their thoughts on the matter.

Group Dynamics

The focus group gathered for an entire month, two times in a week. The purpose of keeping four meetings was to see who displays what characteristics and how the answers and attitudes of people from different backgrounds changed over time (Henderson, 2009). Two techniques were focused upon, during the meetings. One was the drawing out technique where questions were invoked in the meeting and people who did not speak too much were addressed directly so that they would speak up. The other technique involved discussion of ethnicities and culture, so that each group member would have something to say and add.

Stages of Group Development

The stages of development are divided into the four weeks because significant progress was noted during that time. During the first week, we noticed that the pace was much slower than expected. Since the Asian member did not have any other person from the same ethnicity, he did not find himself in a very comfortable stop. To help overcome this issue, we focused most of the questions towards him. The African American members (one male and one female) seemed to feel comfortable in each other's presence and started speaking comfortably in a little while. They actually provided the ice breaker for the session. The female started discussing her life and how she went through a major change after her divorce. The male seemed supportive and kept nodding his head from time to time. Although the Asian did not say much, he also nodded his head frequently and seemed to maintain healthy eye contact with the group. The Mexican seemed eager to talk and started discussing the change that he encountered when moving to the ...