4. Uses
• Learn from the audience you’re
communicating with
• What do they need to improve their lives?
• Learn from your collaborators
• What information do you believe needs to be
shared?
• Learn from people you’re training
• What do faculty members know about
communicating?
6. Questionnaires – Basics
• When you can’t reach all the people in
one place
• Pen and paper AND/OR online
• Good for close-ended questions
• Yes/no, agree/disagree, etc.
• Maximum 15 minutes worth of questions
7. Questionnaires
Pros
• A lot of people in
one
implementation
• You’re not
interpreting
individual
responses
• Over more
quickly
Cons
• Lose
nuance/depth
• Bad
questionnaire
could ruin the
information
9. Focus Groups – Basics
• Typically 6-12 people around a table
(excluding moderating team)
• 1- to 2-hour discussion
• Depth of information but not a lot of
questions can be asked
• 10 good questions over 2 hours is basically
the limit
• Good for open-ended questions that
foster discussion
10. Focus Groups
Pros
• More depth
• They’ll ask each
other questions
you never
thought to
Cons
• Not as many
responses for
equal amount of
effort
• Difficult to get
participants to
show up
12. Roundtables – Basics
• Have an intact group in one location
that’s too big for a focus group
• Good for straightforward questions and
allow for expanded discussion later
• I like to ask about 5 basic questions
15. Roundtables – Implementation
• Break the group into round robin tables
• Each table needs two people per
question
• Half take notes as the other rotates
answering questions
• After that half answers, they become
note-takers
• Everyone gets a chance to answer every
questions
17. Roundtables – Implementation
• Break the full group into smaller groups
by question
• Don’t let people pick their question
• Each smaller group summarizes the
responses for their question
• Then they share the summary with the
full group
• This is when discussion occurs
• Watch time so you give all questions equal
time
18. How do I choose?
• Questionnaires
• 30+ people, need a wide range of info
• Focus groups
• Unaffiliated individuals, 6-12 people, depth
needed
• Roundtables
• Intact groups, groups too large for focus
groups, still need depth