GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING A FOCUS GROUP

I. Purpose
The data obtained from the survey will be beneficial in formulating policies and determining
the program thrusts and priorities for consideration in the NC Meeting and, later, for the
approval of the GA.

II. Guide Questions

You may complete this survey by filling out a survey form or online via the links provided
below:

• Guide Questions for Local Churches:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13OivsjykUlvuvjX1qMXW_JjjuZHWmD7T/view?usp=
sharing
• Guide Questions for Conference Council:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V6waHGQ20iOR2SOQarrMBr6CYU19jXDO/view?u
sp=sharing

The respondents are expected to answer questions according to their category.

III. Respondents
Respondents are grouped according to the following categories:

● Local Church Council Members

● Conference Council Members
● National Executive Council (NEC)
● Council of Bishops (COB)
● Commissions and Boards
● Church Education Institutions
● Church Service Centers
● Church Recognized Organizations
● National Secretariat

Each category has a distinct set of questions relevant to the roles and responsibilities of the bodies
they represent.

We want to have as much information as possible before crafting recommendations to the NC

Meeting and GA.

Sampling:

Conference Council: As is or interested members. Note: Ideal number for a Focus Group is a
max of 12 pax.

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 Local churches:
Minimum of five (5) and maximum of (10) local churches per conference. Please note to
consider the balance of the following in establishing selection criteria for FGD, especially for
local churches (if applicable):
1) Small and big number of members
2) Rural and urban
3) Tribes, indigenous minorities, etc
4) Local church, worshipping congregation and mission outreach

IV. Process

Local and Conference Levels

a) The JAMCO (Jurisdictional Area Ministries Coordinator) shall designate moderators to
conduct the survey through a Focus Group (FG) in conference councils and local churches.
b) The moderators shall randomly select local churches and conference councils as
respondents.
c) Consider the balance of the following in establishing selection criteria for FGD, especially
for local churches:
1) Small and big number of members
2) Rural and urban
3) Local church, worshipping congregation and mission outreach.
d) The moderators must accomplish the following:
i) Set a schedule for each local church and conference council session in coordination with the
jurisdiction and conference offices.
ii) Send out the questions along with the instructions and timeframe.
iii) Facilitate the entire process for each session. Each conference council or local church has the
discretion on whether to conduct the FGD in virtual, blended or face-to-face modes. However,
each respondent and moderator must take precautionary measures considering the COVID-
19 pandemic. He or she must be assisted by assistant moderator/s for documentation.
iv) Collect the accomplished survey forms.
v) Submit the data and their analysis in a timely manner (see time frame below) to Organizational
Ministries at uccporgmin@gmail.com, cc’ing their JAMCO.
vi) See “Annex A – Specific Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group”

National Level
For other recommendatory and legislative bodies of the church (Commissions, Boards, NEC,
COB, et al.), recognized organizations, service centers and institutions, the survey will be
facilitated by Organizational Ministries.

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V. Time Frame
Hereunder is the time frame of the entire survey:
Activities Dates Remarks

Submission of the list of June 30, 2021 Juris to OrgMin and

moderators and proposed Finance
budget

JAMCO Orientation June 23, 2021 at 2:00PM List of schedules from

JAMCO

Survey period and July 1 – August 20, 2021 Local and Conference
collection of data levels

Submission of data August 21-25, 2021 From conference

collected moderators to
organizational ministries

OrgMin and JAMCO September 1

validation

Presentation and September 10, 2021 Consultant & OrgMin

consolidation (first draft)

Submission of final September 24, 2021 Presenter: Consultant

presentation/report

NC Meeting October 11-15, 2021

Annex A: “Specific Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group”

Surveys assume that people know how they feel. But sometimes they really don’t. Sometimes it takes
listening to the opinions of others in a small and safe group setting before they form thoughts and
opinions. Focus groups are well suited for those situations.

Focus groups can reveal a wealth of detailed information and deep insight. When well executed,
a focus group creates an accepting environment that puts participants at ease allowing then to

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thoughtfully answer questions in their own words and add meaning to their answers. Surveys are good
for collecting information about people’s attributes and attitudes but if you need to understand things
at a deeper level then use a focus group.

Outlined here are the details for conducting a high quality focus group. Also included are step- by-step
instructions for making sense of all the information you collect in the groups.

In this guide you will find checklists for:

I) Defining a FOCUS GROUP

II) Designing FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS
III) Preparing for PARTICIPANTS
IV) Conducting the FOCUS GROUP
V) Analyzing the data

I. Defining a FOCUS GROUP

• A small group of six to ten people led through an open discussion by a skilled moderator.
The group needs to be large enough to generate rich discussion but not so large enough
to generate rich discussion but not so large that some participants are left out. Thus, if a
conference council or local church council members attending is more than the ideal no.
of participants, the moderator in coordination with the Conference Minister or Admin
Pastor concerned, may set another schedule to accommodate everyone by batches within
the given period of time.
• The moderator nurtures disclosure in an open and spontaneous format. His or her goal is
to generate a maximum number of different ideas and opinions from as many different
people in the time allotted.
• The ideal amount of time to set aside for a FOCUS GROUP is anywhere from 45 to 90
minutes. Beyond that most groups are not productive and it becomes an imposition on
participant time.
• Focus Groups are structured around a set of carefully predetermined questions, but
discussion is free-flowing. Ideally, participant comments will stimulate and influence the
thinking and sharing of others.
• It takes more than one focus group on any one topic to produce valid results – usually
three or four (but for the survey we shall be conducting, it’s more than that). You’ll know
you’ve conducted enough groups (with same set of questions) when you’re not hearing
anything new anymore, i.e. you’ve reached a point of saturation.
• A Focus group is NOT:
o A debate
o Group therapy
o A conflict resolution session
o A problem-solving session
o An opportunity to collaborate
o A promotional opportunity
o An educational session

II. Focus Group guide questions

Guide questions can be accessed via the following links below:

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 • Guide Questions for Local Churches:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13OivsjykUlvuvjX1qMXW_JjjuZHWmD7T/view?usp=
sharing
• Guide Questions for Conference Council:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V6waHGQ20iOR2SOQarrMBr6CYU19jXDO/view?u
sp=sharing

III. Preparing for Participants

List of Participants
Once the groups have been established, call each one to confirm interest and availability. Give
them times and locations of the Focus Groups and secure verbal communication. Tell them you
will email them a written confirmation and call to remind them two days before the scheduled
group. See Annex B “Focus Group Confirmation Letter Template”

Tracker Form
Devise a form to track invitation phone calls. Include “comment” box.
See Annex C “Confirmed Respondents”

Organize the times, locations and people involved for all the groups you have scheduled.

Pre-work
The moderator will send the Focus Group questions to all respondents in advance (minimum of
one week notice) to give them enough time to answer individually the said questions. The Focus
Group team (main and assistant moderators) will collect their responses in advance via online or
written ones.

Tell participants that the Focus Group will take about one and half to two hours. Give them a
starting time that is 15 mins prior to the actual start of the Focus Group to allow for filling our
necessary paper, having a bite to eat, and settling in to the group.

Arrange for a comfortable room in a convenient location. The room should have a door for privacy
and table and chairs to seat a circle up to 12 people. You can have more than 12 pax but make
sure to cater and document their responses.

IV. Conducting the Focus Group

Once the moderator has received all their responses and accomplished forms, the Focus Group
will now be conducted as will serve as validation.

The Focus Group is conducted by a team, consisting of a moderator and assistant moderator.
The moderator facilitates the discussion; the assistant takes notes and runs the audio recorder.

The Focus Group moderator has the following traits:

• Can listen attentively with sensitivity and empathy
• Is able to listen and think at the same time
• Believes that all group participants have something to offer no matter what their education,
experience, or background
• Has adequate knowledge of the topic

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 • Can keep personal views and ego out of the facilitation
• Can appropriately manage challenging group dynamics
The assistant moderator must be able to do the following:
• Run an audio recorder during the session
• Take notes in case the recorder fails or inaudible
• Note/record body language or other subtle but relevant clues

Both moderator and assistant moderator are expected to welcome participants, and direct them
in completing pre-individual paperwork.

At a minimum, all participants should complete a consent form. See Annex D “Consent to
Participate in Focus Group template”

It may be important to collect demographic information from participants if age, gender, or other
attributes are important for correlation with Focus Group findings. Administer it before the Focus
Group begins. See Annex E “Sample Participant Demographics”

Once consent forms and demographic surveys are collected and reviewed for completeness, the
questioning begins. The moderator may use a prepared script to welcome participants, remind
them of the purpose of the group and also sets ground rules. See Annex F “Focus Group Script”

The Focus Group moderator has a responsibility to adequately cover all prepared questions within
the time allotted. S/he also has a responsibility to get all participants to talk and fully explain their
answers in the validation. Some helpful probes include:

“Can you talk about that more?”

“Help me understand what you mean?”
“Can you give an example?”

It is good moderator practice to paraphrase and summarize long, complex or ambiguous

comments. Thus, it is very important to carefully read in advance the collected answers from the
participants to demonstrate active listening and clarifies the comment for everyone in the group.

Because the moderator holds a position of authority and perceived influence, s/he must remain
neutral, refraining from nodding/raising eyebrows, agreeing/disagreeing, or praising/denigrating
any comment made.

A moderator must tactfully deal with challenging participants.

Here are some appropriate strategies:

Self-appointed experts: “Thank you. What do other people think?”

The dominators: “Let’s have some other comments.”
The rambler: Stop eye contact’ look at your watch; jump in at their inhale.
The shy participant: Make eye contact; call on them; smile at them.
The participant who talks very quietly: Ask them to repeat their response more loudly.

When the Focus Group is complete the moderator thanks all participants and provide further

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reminders.

Immediately after all participants leave, the moderator and assistant moderator may debrief while
the recorder is still running and label all audio record and notes with the date, time (if more than
one group per day), and name of the group.

Data Compilation

In order for all participant comments to be understandable and useful, they must be boiled down
to essential information using a systematic and verifiable process. Begin by transcribing all focus
group recordings and inserting notes into transcribed material where appropriate.

Clean up transcripts by stripping of non-essential words.

Each line is then entered into an Excel database as follows:

1. Use a separate excel data base spreadsheet for each group.

2. Within each spreadsheet, use one sheet per question.
3. Label three columns on each sheet.
a. One column for coding
b. One column for the participant ID#
c. One column for responses
4. Enter each separate response or idea on a separate line with participant ID attached. The
coding column may be filled during the next phase – ANALYSIS.

See Annex G: “Excel database template”

V. Analyzing the data – c/o Organizational Ministries