Investigation of the public opinion regarding a particular question can be a complex issue because of the numerous aspects that should be considered to ensure the credibility of findings and relevance of data used to provide a conclusion and suggest one or another option to people. For this reason, there are specific tools designed with the primary aim to guarantee the success of the procedure and the in-depth investigation of the factor that should be analyzed. Regarding the need to select the activity or events that will be interesting for students living on the campus, the practice of discussion groups and methodology associated with it become appropriate options (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Utilization of the Group Discussion Guide will help create the basis for the comprehensive research of any of possible activities or events and decide which should be introduced to interest students and increase their satisfaction levels.
Group Discussion Guide
Personal Form of Activity Drivers
- Intro (15 min)
- ALL ABOUT ME – name, family, course, activities, interests, friends, hobbies. SHOW ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS IN THE MONTH COLLAGE
- ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: How often visit various events?
- Visit popular events or not?
- What kind of activities prefer? Why?
- Forms (1 hour)
- LISTED ON A SPECIAL BOARD “FORM OF ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS WE WANT TO SUGGEST”
- There are multiple activities and events we want to investigate and understand your perspective on them.
- How many times have you ever visited every suggested form? Do you still visit events like this or not?
- B. RESPONSES Show and explain your list of events visited during this month or activities performed lately. Are there similar activities on our list?
- What else activities?
- What do you like about___? Why not visiting or doing more often?
- Why are some activities more interesting than others?
- What can make these forms more interesting/ perfect/ fascinating?
- What wishes for this form___?
- Why visited it firstly?
- What remember about the last visit of___/ doing___?
- How discovered this event/activity? Why it attracted? What peculiarities advertising had? Who recommended?
- REPEAT FOR ALL FORMS
- C. COMPARE ALL FORMS OF EVENTS. When you think about these mentioned forms of events, do they have the same effect on you, just a variety of forms to entertain and contribute to developing the same skills, or do you consider the different activities with different results? Explain your opinion
- D. EXPLAIN CHART – Line these aspects of events in the order that shows the most important one and the most unneeded.
- FUN/INFORMATIVENESS/POPULARITY/TOPICALITY/PUBLIC INTEREST/COMMUNICATION/SKILLS DEVELOPMENT/PRACTICAL USE
- Why put all aspects in this very order?
- What experiences impacted your choice?
- What forms possess these aspects?
- How much do you care about these elements?
- To what degree they impact your choice?
- What other factors impacted the selection?
- E. SUGGEST EVENTS COMBINING SOME OF THE ASPECTS MENTIONED IN THE LIST
- Exhibition/scientific conference/sport competition/family holiday
- What would you expect to be the difference between these events (regardless of the fact you have ever visited them or not)?
- What aspect preconditions your choice?
- How these events make you feel after visiting them?
- LISTED ON A SPECIAL BOARD “FORM OF ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS WE WANT TO SUGGEST”
- Favorite Activities
- A. Let us discuss activities you like most of all.
- PROVIDE EXAMPLES OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY VISITED EVENTS OR PREFORMED ACTIVITIES
- B. How many have you visited__? How often (once per week, month, year)?
- Why visit them? What is special about one or another form?
- Why no visit (stopped visiting)?
- C. How often do you visit your favorite events?
- What fillings/skills associate with (activities mentioned above)?
- What differentiates them from others?
- What preconditions the choice?
- A. Let us discuss activities you like most of all.
- Summary (20 min)
- A. Three basic aspects are impacting the choice of the event – interest, skills, popularity. Rank them from the most important to the most insignificant one. For instance, you are selecting an activity to perform. What factor among the three mentioned above will impact your choice?
- B. Consider benefits associated with one or another event. These are communication and socialization, generation of knowledge and acquisition of skills, amusement. Rank them. What is the most important for you? Explain your choice.
- Why is___ more important than___?
- Misc – Time Permitting
- C. How often you visit events because of your friends’ invitation?
- What ads attract your attention more than others? Why?
- Would you rather believe your friends or ads speaking about the event?
- How you plan your activities or events?
- Do you want more activities?
- C. How often you visit events because of your friends’ invitation?
Conclusion
Instructions
Investigation in focus groups should start with the preliminary work to create settings beneficial for the discussion. First, all thirteen campuses affected by the planned change should delegate their representatives to participate in debates regarding the would-be activities and events. For this reason, at least five students from each campus should take part in a group discussion. They should represent various groups with different interests and from different courses. The use of this pattern is explained by several aspects. First of all, this sample will help to avoid a one-sidedness of judgments and discussions (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
All campuses might have their own preferences regarding one or another activity. For this reason, all representatives should be included. Second, there are significant variations in interests within a campus, which means that there is a need to include students from various groups or societies.
Before meeting with all these groups, every student should be provided with the task to prepare a list of events they visited last month and the activities they performed. It should be a detailed list including a short description and impressions about it. This list will later be used in discussions to determine the most popular kind of activity students prefer to visit during their free time. Another form should provide a detailed description of every visited event with impressions associated with it and the skills acquired. These two lists will help to create the basis for the discussion and selection of the most popular kind of activity that should be held on the campus.
After completing these two lists, all participants should be given specially designed blanks (see above) with questions regarding the activity they prefer, its impact on their moods and skills, and desires for further participation in different kinds of events. These filled blanks should be given to an investigator to process data provided by students and outline the most topical activities suggested to the discussion groups. As soon as the list of the most popular and interesting forms is created, it should be presented to the audience with the primary aim to discuss every point and note students’ reactions to them (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). During debates, the most compromise options should be selected and included in the list of events that can be held on campuses and will obviously interest students.
Types of Data
The application of this approach to selecting the most appropriate events and activities can be considered an advantageous method. It helps to collect various types of data regarding the discussed issue. First of all, qualitative data about students’ preferences will be collected. This task can be accomplished through the investigation of lists provided by members of discussion groups in which they have to outline events they like most of all (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
The introduction of specific ranks also simplifies this task. The final table encompassing information from all students shows that the highest ranks will indicate the most popular events that interest students and guarantee their participation and active role in them. This qualitative data is critical for the investigation as it demonstrates what spheres should be given special attention to attain high satisfaction levels among students living on the campus.
If speaking about qualitative data, factors preconditioning the high level of interest toward one or another event will also be collected. Preliminary work in terms of group discussion includes the creation of interest lists. Later, they will be explained in blanks with a detailed description of all aspects that impact choices. These include fun, communication, the ability to master skills, interest, topicality, popularity.
It is fundamental to understand the most influential factors and their ability to impact students’ decision-making to ensure that all suggested events will also have the same characteristics (Cozby & Bates, 2014). All qualitative data related to participants’ choices will be included in tables to prove the significance of certain motifs statistically and include these credible pieces into the research to guarantee that only events with the requested features will be presented to students. This approach is the key to the final success and credibility of findings.
Using the suggested approach, we will also be able to collect qualitative data demonstrating the peculiarities of students’ choices and their preferences. First, by analyzing lists provided by the participants of discussion groups, we will be able to outline events that were chosen more than others. In such a way, a special rank of the most frequently performed activities will be created. This statistical data will serve as the basis for the discussion as it reflects the existing tendencies towards visiting a particular sort of event and their popularity (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Moreover, this qualitative data is important for the creation of efficient models required to investigate the suggested issue and provide a credible conclusion about options that will meet students’ requirements and contribute to the preservation of the high level of their interest towards the suggested events or activities.
One more sort of data that will be collected is the numerical reflection of the most popular motifs for visiting one or another event by the participants of discussion groups. The given information is essential for the research as investigators should know central drivers impacting students to organize events that will attract their attention and become popular with them. For this reason, the blank suggested for the discussion contains questions about the participants’ motivation to perform one or another kind of activity and the key factors preconditioning their choices (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Analysis of these data pieces will demonstrate statistical information about preferences and frequency of particular events regarding the existing interests and tendencies.
Altogether, the mentioned sorts of data that will be collected through the utilization of the suggested approach will contribute to the enhanced work in discussion groups. It will create the basis for the efficient analysis and reveal the current moods and preferences in all campuses that participate in the research. Additionally, by combining both qualitative and quantitative data, researchers significantly contribute to the credibility of the findings and the relevance of suggested forms of activities.
Statistical Analysis
The final stage of work on this project includes a detailed and comprehensive analysis of collected data using statistical tools to outline existing tendencies and select the most appropriate options that should be suggested to students. For this reason, there are several aspects of data processing concerning the outcomes of focus groups’ work. First of all, all participants’ answers should be grouped regarding the sort of data they offer and elements that are discussed in them (Yin, 2017). It means that tables including forms of events, motifs for their visiting, aspects that attract students, and ways to get to know about them should be created. The use of this approach will simplify the work with data and help to increase the relevance of data because of the visual representation of the central concerns.
The given tables should provide the overall number of a particular events’ choices by the participants with the percentage rating regarding all other options, their selection, and popularity. Additionally, all ranks given by the members of discussion groups to various activities should be considered to calculate an average rank and build a particular hierarchy of choices demonstrating the prevalence of one or another form (Adams & Lawrence, 2018).
Moreover, statistical analysis of the acquired data should include the comparison of choices made by representatives of different campuses. Finally, both qualitative and quantitative data should be utilized to find statistically the most popular kind of activity that includes all of the biggest numbers of aspects appreciated by students. It will help to select the most appropriate sort and offer it to individuals.
With the primary aim to promote the offered activities, information about the ways students get to know about events should also be processed. The diagram with the percent representation of the most efficient methods should be built; the given chart will contribute to the selection of advertising or other means that will definitely attract students’ attention and make them visit suggested activities (Patten & Newhart, 2017). At the same time, it will create the basis for the preservation of the high level of interest in the planned events because of the use of the most popular tools to inform individuals and ensure their presence.
Conclusion
Altogether, the choice of activities and events that should be held on campuses can be a complex issue because of a significant difference in preferences and interests among students. For this reason, it should be proceeded by the work in discussion groups aimed at the collection of data about all existing tendencies and preferences regarding various forms of activities. This information should be used for the creation of the list of the most popular types that should be suggested to participants representing all campuses that will be affected by choice.
With the discussion used as the potent tool, the most desired events will be selected and offered to all students. This approach will help to ensure a high level of interest in students and their participation because of the factors that will motivate them and stimulate their desire to perform one or another activity.
References
Adams, K., & Lawrence, E. (2018). Research methods, statistics, and applications (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2014). Business research methods (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.
Cozby, P., & Bates, S. (2014). Methods in behavioral research (12 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Creswell, J., & Creswell, D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Patten, M., & Newhart, M. (2017). Understanding research methods: An overview of the essentials (10th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Yin, R. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.