A combination of focus group and Nominal Group Technique

What is it about?

This article is based on our work as educational developers. On request, we acted as focus group facilitators to programme or course team at our university to explore student experiences on various learning/teaching related topics. We have developed a two-stages 'Nominal Focus Group' method: stage 1 - doing a focus group discussion; stage 2 - followed by an individual, voting stage in which students prioritise their suggestions. The outcome of such a sessions are the focus group discussion report and the prioritised list of suggestions. This combined method is more than the sum of its parts. Benefits (beyond the benefits of focus groups, or Nominal groups) include: - rich data - suggestions are voted on by each individual, more democratic and less potential for participant bias - students have more ownership of their data - outcomes are easily actionable by those who commissioned the focus group.

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Why is it important?

In an era of student voice, it is useful to have methods for curriculum evaluation or the student experience that promote ownership of the student participants. We found the combination of focus group and Nominal Group Technique methods useful for this purpose. Students are able to propose and vote for priorities to take forward based on their focus group discussion. So the outcomes of the focus group are more credible and reduce potential participant bias. This article will be of interest to anyone who evaluates the curriculum or students' experience.

Perspectives