Immunization and child health materials development guide pdf

. Recruiting for Focus Groups. Each focus group should include people who share similar
characteristics such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, and literacy and educational
levels. People are more relaxed among others with the same or similar backgrounds.
Avoid putting participants in a focus group with people whose presence may keep
them from saying what they truly think or feel about a topic. In addition:
• To help ensure that responses are spontaneous and uninhibited, participants should
not know each other. How to recruit participants whom you do not know, who do
not know each other, and who fit your participant description may require some
creative thinking.
However, in some circumstances, participants will need to have had prior contact.
For instance, if you were developing materials to try to standardize knowledge about
immunization practices in a hospital, then FGD participants would need to be
colleagues from the hospital.
• Remember to invite extra participants for each focus group since, as a general rule,
three to five of those invited will not show up.
• To avoid having someone who does not fit the criteria arrive for the discussion,
administer the screening questionnaire when recruiting, then administer it again just
before the discussion begins. This is especially important if you relied on others to
recruit participants. If people arrive who do not fit your criteria, you may invite them
to another group, interview them separately at another time, or simply explain that
you cannot include them in the current focus group.
• Often, officials or influential people will assume that they should be involved in
recruiting for or attending a focus group. You can tactfully avoid this situation by
explaining to the officials or community leaders the importance of inviting neutral
participants and allowing them to speak freely, without an influential individual
listening in.
• If circumstances have forced you to include participants who do not match your
selection criteria, be sure to document these recruitment drawbacks or shortcomings
in your research report so that the reader does not misinterpret the findings.
c. Using a Screening Questionnaire. Use a screening questionnaire to make sure your
participants represent your intended audience. The form shown in Figure 15 and also in
Appendix 2 is an example of what PATH uses to screen potential participants. This form
may be adapted to suit each project.
d. Conducting the Screening. Your introduction should be brief. Describe who you are
and the general purpose of the research—for example, “We want to learn more about
the health care services available in the community.” To be sure that you can get
spontaneous responses, don’t tell participants the exact subject of the discussion before
the IDI or FGD. Include questions that apply to each criterion or characteristic of your
intended audience—for example, age, parental status, and experience with
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