Run your pilot group(s).

As explained in Stage A, a pilot group can show you the most glaring problems with your questions or with any logistics. You will discover whether people find the questions difficult to answer or whether they respond to some meaning in the questions that was hidden from you. A pilot group allows you to make adjustments before it really counts.

You should conduct a pilot group after the facilitator training in order to give the designated facilitators some valuable practice time. By this point, you should have already made the necessary arrangements: a room, a site manager, recording equipment, refreshments, a group of participants (drawn either from a random sample or through convenience), facilitators, and any other materials you plan to use in the "real" focus groups. (Refer back to the checklists for recruiters, site managers, facilitator trainers, and facilitator coordinators to make sure you've covered all the bases.)

Just a reminder: Students who participate in a pilot group should not be included in an actual focus group because their pilot group experience could influence how they and other students participate. (Don't be surprised if some students ask to participate again.)

You may want several adults from the work team to assess what happens during the pilot groups. Because the adults may intimidate students if they are present in the room, they must either listen later to audiotapes or run a line out the door to the hallway so that one person can listen through headphones or so that a group may listen through a recording device that has a speaker. We recommend that you bring all of the original work team members back together to discuss the results of the pilot group(s) and make any necessary changes.

Work team members should pay particular attention to how participants responded to the questions: Did they find a particular question difficult to answer? Did they not understand the language of a question? Did certain questions completely fail to generate interest? Were participants unwilling to answer a question? Was the information requested by a question too personal or controversial? Did any of the alternative, nonverbal response questions fall flat? Should the order of the questions be changed? Use the information from the pilot groups to make any necessary revisions to the interview questions.

Work team members should also pay attention to the techniques the facilitators use. Did the facilitators demonstrate neutrality and warmth, in words and tone of voice? Did they make efforts to balance participation among group members? Did they make correct use of follow-up questions (i.e. not asking leading questions or putting words in participants' mouths)? Did they give people ample time to answer the questions? Did they interrupt each other? Did they take turns asking questions?

Spend some time with the facilitators after the pilot group to find out their impressions of how the group went and how the participants responded to the questions. Use this time to provide encouragement, offer suggestions, and make any adjustments in facilitator behaviors. You may also want to reiterate some of the basic facilitation techniques.

Next: Collect permission forms and confirm student participation.