How to use Focus Groups to Win Friends and Influence - PowerPoint Presentation

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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

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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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Slides online at profgarrett.com

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Woodbury 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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Questions 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

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Methodology/Process

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What is a focus group?Guided discussion

Understand new or complex issuesOriginally used in marketing researchWoodbury University

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May-August ’

13August-September

October-February

Process

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Developed Policy

Interviews

Focus

groups

Under the radar

Data

Gathering

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Use 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

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Use 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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Use 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

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Privileged data over participant voices

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Ideal 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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Focus 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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What we did wrong

IdealNeutral Facilitator

Gather participant voices

Getting data

Reality

Data-driven

facilitator

Build proposal & consensus

Building/displaying

data

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The Result

1 Paragraph proposal3 Page explanation15 Pages of Q&A

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Why not use the SAT?Woodbury University

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Concerns and Questions

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Did we make the right choice,

is this a good fit?11/20/2014Woodbury University

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How 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.

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Is there a difference between studio and non-studio programs?11/20/2014

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How 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

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How 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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How 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

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How 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

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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

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Why not offer more assistance to these students?Remedial math courses

Remedial writing coursesWriting CenterTutorsPeer mentorsCounselors11/20/2014

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Why 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

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Conclusions & 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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