People CAIR San Diego CA November 1921 2014 Scheduled at 300345 Thursday in Salon A Nathan Garrett PhD Assistant Professor of IT Assistant Dean Schoo l of Business NathanGarrettWoodburyedu ID: 810745
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How to use Focus Groups to Win Friends and Influence People
CAIR, San Diego, CA. November 19-21, 2014Scheduled at 3:00-3:45 Thursday in Salon A
Nathan Garrett, PhD
Assistant Professor of IT
Assistant Dean, Schoo
l of Business
Nathan.Garrett@Woodbury.edu
Bruce Feinstein, MOL
Institutional Researcher
Woodbury University
Bruce.Feinstein@Woodbury.edu
AbstractMore than just getting input, we used focus groups to build a policy, grow support, and fast-track implementation. For our small tuition-dependent university, admissions standards are a politically charged topic. A small team began by creating data-driven admission criteria. We then used focus groups to engage with stakeholders campus-wide. Each focus group began with a brief presentation, and then quickly transitioned into a guided dialogue. The meetings allowed the team to find and address points of opposition. By the time the proposal went to the full faculty body and administration, most of the potential critics had already been engaged. This session will present the focus group methodology used to build consensus.
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Slide3Slides online at profgarrett.com
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Slide4Woodbury University, Burbank CA
Private, non-profit, grad/ug professional degrees
1500 FTE,
6m Endowment, 74% acceptance rate, HSI/
FirstGen
Why are we here?
Timeline
Summer ‘13: Began Process
Fall ‘13: Approved Faculty
Spring ‘14: Approved Cabinet/President
Spring ’15: Implementation
2.75 GPA Admission Policy Proposal
Domestic freshmen entrants need a minimum High School GPA of 2.75.
SAT ignored, and Scholarships based on HS GPA.
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Slide5Questions welcomed at any time
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Outcomes
Understand
our
focus group methodology
Recreate useful data displays
Describe ways to overcome resistance with data
Agenda
Methodology/Process
Concerns & Questions
Slide6Methodology/Process
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Slide7What is a focus group?Guided discussion
Understand new or complex issuesOriginally used in marketing researchWoodbury University
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Slide8May-August ’
13August-September
October-February
Process
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Developed Policy
Interviews
Focus
groups
Under the radar
Data
Gathering
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Slide9Use a traditional focus group to generate quick, rich, and slightly-biased data
Advantages
Low cost & fast
Messy or unstructured problems
Authentic participant voices
Disadvantages
Groupthink/dominant voices
Non-quantifiable/statistical
Biased selection
Poor for sensitive topics
Can be shallower than interviews
Woodbury University
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Slide10Use a traditional focus group to generate quick, rich, and slightly-biased
data and agreementAdvantages
Low cost & fast
Messy or unstructured problems
Authentic participant voices
Disadvantages
Groupthink/dominant voices
Non-quantifiable/statistical
Biased selection
Poor for sensitive topics
Can be shallower than interviews
Woodbury University
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11/20/2014
Slide11Use a traditional focus group to generate quick, rich, and slightly-biased
data and agreement
Advantages
Low cost & fast
Messy or unstructured problems
Authentic participant voices
Groupthink
Non-quantifiable/
statistical
Disadvantages
Groupthink
/dominant voices
Non-quantifiable/statistical
Biased selection
Poor for sensitive topics
Can be shallower than interviews
Woodbury University
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Privileged data over participant voices
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Slide12Ideal focus group elements
LocationNeutralRound tableParticipants6-10 peopleSampleAvoid power differentials,
Homogeneity for comfortable discussions.
Diverse to avoid groupthink
Confidential
Sessions
Continue until saturation
Moderator
Starts with open-ended questions
Probes into responses
Neutral
Data
Note-taker
or a/v recording
Coded for analysis
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Slide13Focus Group Participants
Build initial dataset Bruce/NathanAdmissionsVP Enrollment, Dir. EnrollmentAll admissions staffStudent Support VP, Dean, Director
Academic Leadership
Chairs
Deans (one-on-one)
Faculty/Community
Colloquium presentationEducational Planning CommitteeSenate/WUFACabinet/President
Cross-disciplinary meetings
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Design Faculty critical
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Slide14What we did wrong
IdealNeutral Facilitator
Gather participant voices
Getting data
Reality
Data-driven
facilitator
Build proposal & consensus
Building/displaying
data
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Slide15The Result
1 Paragraph proposal3 Page explanation15 Pages of Q&A
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Slide16Why not use the SAT?Woodbury University
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Slide17Concerns and Questions
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Slide18Did we make the right choice,
is this a good fit?11/20/2014Woodbury University
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Slide19How will this affect enrollment?11/20/2014
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Year
Freshman class who would be excluded
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Average
Woodbury is approx. 2/3 transfer, 1/3 freshmen.
Slide20Is there a difference between studio and non-studio programs?11/20/2014
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Slide21How will this change affect my program?
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College
Program
Would have been admitted
Would have
been
denied
Would have been denied %
Unknown due to lack of HS GPA
Total
Architecture
Architecture
Interior Architecture
Overall
Business
Accounting
Fashion Marketing
Management
Marketing
Overall
ITS
MCD
Animation Arts
Communication
Fashion Design
Filmmaking
Game Art and Design
Graphic Design
Psychology
Overall
(blank)
Grand Total
Slide22How would this change affect our student population?
% Pell recipients among Domestic Freshmen Average high school GPA average SAT compositeDemographics:
Asian –
Black or African American –
Hispanic –
Native Hawaiian –
White – Two or more – International – Unknown –
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Slide23How would this change affect our student population – HSI status for example?
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Gender
Ethnicity
Would have been admitted
Would have been denied
Would have been denied %
Unknown due to lack of HS GPA
Total
Female
Overall
Asian or Pacific Islander
Black, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
White, non-Hispanic
Male
Overall
Asian or Pacific Islander
Black, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
White, non-Hispanic
Overall
Slide24How does Woodbury compare nationally?11/20/2014
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Woodbury
HERI
Range
n
Grad?
n
Grad?
No SAT
600-699
2,688
39.8%
700-799
800-899
6,309
45.2%
900-999
9,583
52.3%
1000-1099
9,150
63.2%
1100-1199
8,707
68.0%
1200-1299
6,772
73.1%
1300+
5,685
76.5%
Avg
Graduation rates by SAT
Source:
http://www.heri.ucla.edu/PDFs/pubs/TFS/Special/Monographs/Degree
AttainmentRates
AtAmericanCollegesAndUniversities.pdf
Woodbury
HERI
Range
n
Grad
?
Range
n
Grad?
No GPA
2.0-2.5
<C, C-, C
1,212
20%
2.5-2.9
C+
2,582
33%
3.0-3.4
B-
4,527
40%
B
11,434
48%
3.5-3.9
B+
12,090
59%
4.0+
A-
12,261
68%
A, A+
12,112
78%
Graduation rates by GPA
Slide25Why not offer more assistance to these students?Remedial math courses
Remedial writing coursesWriting CenterTutorsPeer mentorsCounselors11/20/2014
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Slide26Why not offer more assistance to these students?11/20/2014
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HS GPA
Population of students
Number of students sampled
Average number of years each student was at WU
No enrollment after
Woodbury?
Reverse Transfer to Community
College?
Went to a different 4 year school after WU &
CC?
Came back to WU after a
CC?
< 2.5
2.5 - 2.75
Total
Source: National Student Clearinghouse.
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Did we make the right choice,
is
this a good fit
?
For the StudentFor the University
Slide28Conclusions & Take-aways
Focus groups are a social/qualitative methodology
We used the methodology to:
Create
useful
data displaysDiscover and address peoples’ issues
Effective in our context
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