Focus Groups for Libraries and Librarians.

The focus group interview is a research method used to elicit qualitative data in order to understand people's ideas, feelings, perceptions, and beliefs. A moderator—leading a small group of six to ten people who share common experiences, characteristics, or knowledge—uses a carefully prepared script to ask open-ended questions. The questions and focus group method are designed to draw out the participants' thoughts through the interaction and free expression of ideas, rather than forcing those participants to respond to the researcher's way of thinking. Focus groups were first used by marketing organizations as a way of gathering opinions from consumers about products and services. Social scientists discovered the usefulness of the method during the 1960s, and today focus group interviews have become a recognized part of research projects, especially in the health care field. The technique is used to understand attitudes and behaviors regarding a wide variety of health-related issues, especially in the development of successful patient health education programs and interventions. By understanding the perceptions, beliefs, and motivations of patients, educators can tailor programs to meet the needs of the clients as well as improve the success rates of interventions. Because focus groups have proven successful in evaluating services, their use has become an important research tool for librarians. While usage has been predominantly in college and academic libraries, the technique has also been used in school, state, public, and special (law, medical, and corporate) libraries. Investigated topics include assessment of collections, continuing education needs of staff, effects of organizational change on staff, patterns of Internet use by patrons, strategic planning, patron evaluation of library services, information-seeking behavior of patrons, reactions of patrons to new services, and evaluation of instructional programs. Librarians themselves have been the subjects of focus groups organized by publishers and vendors seeking to understand the library market and need for new products. Glitz highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this research method for the library setting. Benefits include a simple and flexible methodology, low cost, ability to use in-house staff, and easily understood results; disadvantages may lie in the reliability of the participants' perceptions, personality conflicts, controlling or inept moderators, and small sample sizes in the groups. Selection criteria for choosing a professional or layperson moderator are nicely detailed, as are necessary qualifications, skills, and characteristics. The planning and implementation of a focus group—including identification of the problem or question to be researched, formulation of questions, selection of moderator and participants, and final analysis of data—are nicely covered. The importance of developing appropriate, open-ended questions to encourage discussion is emphasized through examples of phrasing, terminology, and effective (versus ineffective) questions. Concrete tips for moderators on setting room ambiance, building rapport, encouraging discussion, focusing the discussion, and closing the group are excellent. The final steps of analyzing, reporting, and using the results through debriefing, transcribing tapes or notes, categorizing the garnered information, and reviewing and analyzing the categories for interpretation are delineated. Case studies of two focus group projects, one at an academic library and the other at a small hospital library, illustrate the concepts presented in previous chapters. Focus groups hold great potential for all librarians interested in evaluating their facilities' services and resources. While more complete information on the process can be found in The Focus Group Kit (Sage Publications, 1998), Glitz provides an excellent basic user's manual specifically for librarians.