Facilitator Guide Facilitator Guide

Attachment D

FGD Facilitator Guide

OMB No. 0930-0196

Expiration Date: 09/30/16

Public Burden Statement: An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.  The OMB control number for this project is 0930-0196.  Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 minutes per respondent, per year, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.  Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 15E57-B, Rockville, MD 20857.

FGD FACILITATOR GUIDE

1. Materials to have available on site

• Release and Consent Form (15 copies by group)

• Focus Group Discussion Guide (one for each group)

• Pens, name tags, markers

• Two digital audio recorders and batteries

• Three animatics/storyboards

• Rating exercise (15 copies)

2. Preparation (5 minutes)

• The community-based organization or nongovernmental organization ensures that the room is arranged so that the facilitator has eye contact with all participants.

• Place refreshments within easy reach of the participants (?).

• As participants arrive, give them name tags on which to write their first names.

• Give each participant Release and Consent form. Ask them to complete and return the forms to you before the start of the session. Be sure to answer any concerns.

3. Introduction and objectives of the group discussion (5 minutes)

• Good evening. Welcome! We are very grateful to all of you for taking time to be here with us today.

• My name is _______________, and I will facilitate our conversation today. With me is my colleague _______________, who will help us to take notes about our discussion.

  • You have been invited, because we want to get your opinions, your ideas, suggestions, and concerns about TV public service announcements, also called PSAs or TV spots that are being developing. Your participation in this discussion is of great importance to us, because based on your suggestions we will refine the product to make it more appealing, relevant, and understandable. We want the message to resonate with the audience to increase the probabilities to prompt them to act upon the message.

  • I have nothing to sell today. This is a consumer-opinion project. You are going to review ideas for television public service announcements, or PSAs. A PSA is an announcement developed for radio and/or TV designed to raise awareness of a particular issue – they are not selling a product or service.

  • To clarify, we will not be seeing the final PSA or TV spots. We will show you ‘animatics’. Animatics are a preliminary form of a TV spot consisting of a series of filmed drawings with voiceovers, which were prepared to obtain feedback about the PSA. After we get your input, the PSA will be shot in color with professional actors, showing our diversity and in a special locations.

4. Methodology, disclosures, and guidelines (5 minutes)

• Now, I would like to talk about the structure of this session and to give you some guidelines, to ensure that we have a valuable conversation and that all of you have the opportunity to participate.

• This session will last 90 minutes (1:30).

• You have signed a Release and Consent Form that are telling you that we are audiotaping this session so that the information recorded can be used to reconstruct our conversation; this will ensure that we captured all your ideas.

• Nevertheless, your participation here and everything you say will be kept private. Your names won’t be linked in any manner with your opinions; we won’t use your names in the report.

  • A report will be written, and only opinions, suggestions, feelings, or experiences will be included, not “who said what,” but “what was said.”

• Sessions will be digitally recorded using two recorders, in order to reconstruct conversations and capture all ideas. In order to clearly record the discussion, we ask you to speak clear and that only one person speaks at a time. Please talk one at a time and in a voice at least as loud as mine, and avoid side conversations with your neighbors.

• We also are taking notes. My colleague, _______________, will be taking notes to ensure that we capture the most important information.

• We want to hear about your opinions, comments, and experiences. That’s why there are not right or wrong answers, there are different points of view. So please feel free to disagree with what someone else said; we want to have several points of view. It’s valuable for me to hear all points of view, so it’s especially important to speak up when you disagree with what someone else has said. Also please remember that I did not develop the spots you’re going to see so I won’t be hurt or penalized by any criticism you might have.

• We want both positive and negative comments that will help us improve the PSA.

• I need to hear from everyone in the course of the conversation and to the degree
  possible, let’s have equal “air time,” so that everybody talks about the same amount – nobody talks too much and nobody talks too little.

• I may need to move on to another area of discussion sooner than you are ready, and may have to cut a conversation short in the interest of time. If I interrupt you, it is not personal; I just want to get everything covered on the agenda that is planned. You’re welcome to speak to me after the group so that I can be sure I get all your thoughts and comments.

• I’d like to remind you not to smoke in this room. At any time, you can excuse yourself to go to the restroom or to get more food or beverages. I ask that only one person should be up or about at a time.

  • Before we begin, do you have any questions for me?

5. Group discussion (70 minutes)

1. INTRODUCTIONS

• Let's start by going around the room and saying your name and the two top concerns that come to your mind when I say “IV drug use”.

2. PSAs REVIEW

• I would like to start out by showing you the animatics of three TV spots related with IV drug use. We will discuss each spot individually.

• Please keep in mind that these are just filmed drawings of what might be filmed and are not the actual, final images.

• I would like to know about your thoughts on the spots, but not on the little things. For instance, please don’t be distracted if you don’t like a person’s clothes or expression. The final commercial will be shot in color with professional actors and in a location that we design and develop, which is specific for the ad’s story.

• The final commercial will feature a diversity of individuals.

• Keep in mind that the final PSAs are very brief and last: 30 seconds or less.

Show PSAs in the following order by group
Group	Participants	Order
Group 1	Male dealing with IV drug use	A, B, C
Group 2	Female dealing with IV drug use	B, C, A
Group 3	Family members of people dealing with IV drug use	C, A, B
Group 4	Individuals that are not using IV drugs, but are at risk	A, B, C
A = Include Name of the PSA B = Include Name of the PSA C = Include Name of the PSA

SHOWCASE EACH ANIMATIC IN THE ORDER DRESCRIBED ABOVE.

PRESENT TWICE IF NECESSARY.

DISTRIBUTE THE WORKSHEET 1

EXPLAIN: After watching the first animatic, please write down what do you think the main message is. WAIT A MINUTE TO COMPLETE EXERCISE

1. UNDERSTANDING, RECALL, AND APPEAL

• Please, describe the _______(name PSA) in your own words.

• What do you think is the main idea or message of ____________(name PSA)?

• What do you like about it? What do you dislike?

• Were there any elements that stood out from the story?

• PROBE: is there something that catches your attention? What is it?

Was there anything in the storyboard that was confusing or unclear?

Is anything that would make the spots more interesting?

2. IDENTIFICATION AND RELEVANCE

• Who do you think this ad is for?
  PROBE: PROBE FOR DESCRIPTIONS OF THE AUDIENCE: DEMOGRAPHICS, LIFESTYLES, WHERE THEY LIVE, ETC. Is it talking to people like you? Different than you? Anybody who has children? The general public?

• What makes you think that? Explain?

• How do you think [the main audience] would react?

• (For the second and third spots): Is the audience different from the audience for the previous ads?

3. CALL TO ACTION

• Why do you think the sponsors made this spot? PROBE: Is there any action that this spot asked to you to do? What is the action? What are they trying to achieve with it?

• Do you think this ad is trying to get the audience to do something? If yes, what is it?

• Would you do what it was asking you to?

(Refer to the call to action as respondents stated it, not the true call to action.)

4. ACCURACY

• Was there anything in ________(name of PSA) that is especially realistic?

• Was there anything else in ________(name PSA) that isn’t realistic?

• Was there anything in ________(name PSA) that troubled you in any way? What? Why?

PROBE: Any particular words or phrases?

PRESENT AND DISCUSS THE SECOND CONCEPT/ANIMATIC PSA ____________ (NAME OF PSA) IN THE SAME WAY.

PRESENT AND DISCUSS THE THIRD CONCEPT/ANIMATIC PSA _______ _____ (NAME OF PSA) IN THE SAME WAY.

COLLECT THE WORKINGSHEET 1.

3. EVALUATING THE SPOTS (15 minutes)

DISTRIBUTE THE RANKING FORM (WORKINGSHEET 2).

• Let’s analyze and evaluate all three spots. REVIEW EACH SPOT BY NAME SO PARTICIPANTS CAN CORRECTLY IDENTIFY EACH SPOT BY NAME.

• There is only enough funding to one of the three spots.

• I will provide you few minutes to complete the form. Then we will discuss your choices. Please be prepared to explain the reason for your choice.

• If you were the agency, which one of these three spots would you fund?

• Gather the ranking forms. Take a quick look at the first and second places. (Keep the forms for the report.)

• Is there anything that you would add to make it better?

4. CLOSING AND ADJOURNMENT (5 minutes)

• Thanks for coming tonight and providing your opinions.

• Your comments have been very helpful and insightful.

• Goodnight and have a great day tomorrow.

[BE SURE TO GATHER ALL FORMS FROM PARTICIPANTS.]

WORKINGSHEET 1

WHAT IS THE MAIN THEME/POINT OF THE PSA?

NAME A

NAME B

NAME C

WORKINGSHEET 2

EVALUATING THE CONCEPTS

Please rank each PSA

PSA	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Very Good
NAME A
NAME B
NAME C

My vote for finding is:

	PSA NAME (Write the name of your choice.)	REASON (Explain why in a few words.)
FIRST PLACE:		Why?
SECOND PLACE		Why?
ELIMINATE		Why?

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