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Maria,

Lorrie Beaumont does a very good workshop at VSA about interviewing younger 
children, and she really is the one to ask on that. My opinion is that you 
are better doing one-on-one interviews with children under 7 or 8. But 
others may disagree.

I have done focus groups that were productive with children between 8 and 
17, and here are some guidelines I would suggest.

Remember you need parental consent before the visit to interview kids.

Organize groups in the age cohorts of two or three years so that you have 
groups of somewhat similar developmental level. Read and understand the 
child development theory so you have a good conceptual framework through 
which to interpret their answers.  Children really aren't just "little 
adults." They are moving through some important developmental tasks, and 
those tasks shape their responses.  Age cohorts I have found that work would 
be:

7--8
9--11
12--13 young adolescents
14--15 mid-adolscents
16--17 later adolescents

Consider the location--if you conduct these in an area of high stimulation, 
such as a gallery or classrooms with a lot of neat stuff, the younger 
children will respond as much to those items as to your questions or 
stimulus materials (e.g. objects, pictures, models).

Think about what you want to ask outloud--remember that answering 
right/wrong content questions is potentially embarassing in focus groups, 
even for adults. Asking questions about "What you think about. . ?" and 
"What you remember from . . . " and "What did you do . . . ?" work better in 
focus groups. If you want to assess content consider drawing pictures, using 
concept maps, or one-on-interviews.

Having something for everyone to do as people arrive sets a good 
tone--making their own table name cards and decorating it, drawing a picture 
of their first museum visit, etc. That way they are looking for "doing 
something with you" all through the time period and you have them busy and 
interested right away.

Carefully explain the "rules of the road" -- only one person to talk at 
once, wait for me to give you to go ahead, no wrong answers, and be polite.

Make sure the first question that calls for a oral response is something 
everyone knows and requires several sentences to answer. This establishes a 
"long answer" response set. For example, "Tell me about your favorite thing 
to do after school." Jot these down. It lets you personalize questions as 
the group continues, e.g. "Michelle, you said you ride your bike in the 
park. What things did you see today that remind you of the park?"

Make sure it is not "all talk" -- plan the focus group in short segments 
(start at 15 minute units for younger groups and gradually move up with 
their age and attention span with longer segments). Use stimulus materials 
and activities. For example--responding to pictures or models, drawing a 
picture, drawing a concept map (if they already know how to do this--it 
takes practice). Remember in all but the oldest of the groups above, these 
young people are not dealing with abstract concepts. One of the things I 
have found is to be very clear about context--yes, even younger children can 
and will respond to artifacts but they need to have a context for the 
response.  I have had good success with teenagers drawing pictures--they 
loved it.

They love to be listened too so remember to keep your eye-contact right on 
the speaker with lots of positive reinforcement for response--but staying 
neutral on the content of their answer. I take notes--even if I am audio 
recording because I want to remember important comments and it communicates 
that what they are saying is interesting and important.

Have fun, but take them seriously. They will have some very thoughtful and 
meaningful things to say.

Hope that's not too general, but those are things that occur to me right 
away. I think these focus groups can be absolutely fascinating--but 45 
minutes is the max for little ones and an hour and a quarter for the oldest 
groups.

Carey

Tisdal Consulting
St. Louis, MO
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