Mentor Worksheet
The Community Interview Process
Through the process of conducting a focus group, I noticed a lot of things about our interviews that I hadn’t thought about yet. Many of my peers raised points and areas of focus in their interviews that I didn’t relate to at all, and it really revealed a different perspective of Alton from the one I had heard from my interviewee. At the same time, however, a lot of concepts I heard from my interviewee were echoed by my fellow interviewers.
The concepts of the Alton community that my peers resonated with from their interviews focused around Alton and its future. A lot of us heard from our interviewees about how excited they were for Alton’s future and their contributions to it. We all were told about their experiences during the flood in 2019 or the lack thereof, and how that affected them personally and occupationally.
Alternatively, some new points I heard that I didn’t hear from my interviewee was that some interviewees were directly affected by the flood and are still in the process of building back their lives and occupations. My interviewee seemed pretty past the event and focused on the future mostly, whereas some of my peers’ interviewees were obviously affected so heavily that they are still dealing with the effects of the flood. Some of these contrasting points from separate interviews were obviously compelling; however, most of us had already expected quite a bit of information on people’s experiences with the flooding so no one really changed their mind on anything. We all were in agreement that the community was affected heavily by the flooding but is building itself back up even better than before.
If I moderated a focus group on my own, I’d use things I learned from this assignment such as:
- Create questions that are very open-ended and able to be interpretated in many ways.
- Review and edit the questions before and even during the session.
- Get a group of people that work well together.
- Select a relevant topic.
- Make sure the topic can resonate with the focus group.
- Make sure to record audio on top of taking notes.
- Pick a location that won’t distract the group members easily.
- If the group is in a flow, let them continue and try to adjust questions to fit the topic.
- Don’t shut down ideas.
- Be somewhat part of the group while also clearly being a moderator and listener primarily.
Goals
1. Organizes information well and is capable of presenting high quality presentations in front of others.
2. Work together with research teammates to accomplish goals in a timely manner while creating quality work.
3. Shows intent to work within the community and follows through with efficacy to achieve a main goal.
Reflection
This second semester with my research team has been beyond enjoyable. There were definitely ups and downs, but by the end of it we all came together as the family we are and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can definitively say that there is no one else I would rather be in a group with than these 8 people. I can’t wait for what’s to come and I’m so glad to call them not only my friends but my family here at SIUE.