Focus Group Questions on the Low Student Graduation Rates at Glendale Community College

FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS 4

Low Graduation Rates at Glendale Community College: Focus Group Questions

Central Research Question

How can the problem of low graduation rates among black (non-Hispanic) students at Glendale Community College be addressed?

Focus Group Questions

What do you like best about campus life at Glendale Community College?

This question may not have a significant contribution on the overall research question. However, it serves three crucial purposes in the focus group discussion. First, as the first question in the focus group discussion, it seeks to help the participants feel comfortable and at ease with each other (Bergen & Labonte, 2019). Moreover, it helps build rapport between the participants and the moderator, who is an outsider, which consequently provides an effective environment for the former to share their views openly and freely (Bergen & Labonte, 2019). The authors caution that failure to address the power difference between the moderator and participants would increase the risk of social desirability, which is the tendency to answer a question to please the moderator rather than demonstrate truth (Bergen & Labonte, 2019). The primary disadvantage of social desirability is that it prevents fair and open deliberations with other participants and limits the accuracy of collected data.

According to Bergen and Labonte (2019), it is important that the moderators in a focus group discussion use a variety of strategies to support participants so that they do not view the activity as an audit or evaluation of performance. Participants are less likely to answer freely and truthfully if they perceive the discussion to be an investigation or performance audit. The question’s design seeks to get every individual participant to give their personal view on what they like about Glendale without necessarily seeking the validation of other participants or the moderator.

2. Glendale College only has a graduation rate of 31 percent. In your view, what are some of the factors associated with student success?

Studies have shown that the collegiate environment has a significant influence on students’ transition. In assessing the collegiate environment, studies have investigated the institution’s vision and mission, the interactions between students and faculty, the availability of alternative learning programs outside the classroom, physical infrastructure, and the nature of peer interactions, among other things (Fleming et al., 2005). This question seeks to obtain first-hand accounts from participants on the specific factors that drive academic success at Glendale Community College. The question is designed to focus on the positive drivers of success in the college and to determine how well the students believe these actually contribute to the realization of success.

It requires participants to limit themselves to positive elements, resources, or programs currently available at Glendale. The researcher will be keen to observe participants’ facial expressions and attitudes to obtain a view of whether they feel that college is doing enough to drive students’ success. As participants engage and discuss, the researcher will identify what the students believe is already in place at Glendale versus what they would love to see or what they have experienced from interacting with their peers in other colleges. The insights obtained from this question will be crucial in building a case on the effectiveness of Glendale collegiate environment in fostering students’ success and whether what is offered aligns with students’ expectations. The researcher opts to frame the question to focus on the positive elements that are already in place rather than focusing on the challenges or what the students lack in their academic life. Participants in the focus groups will be drawn from diverse backgrounds and the researcher reckons that using the word ‘challenges’ may raise issues since the challenges that say white students face may not the be the same ones that their African-American peers face in their campus life. On the other hand, students are more likely to agree on the specific programs that are already in existence to help students realize academic success.

3. If you were given an opportunity to meet the Glendale College managing board and recommend one change to increase students’ retention rates. What change would you recommend?

Studies have made many recommendations on what institutions could do to increase retention and graduation rates based on the available infrastructure. Possible responses to this question from the available studies could include: increasing financial aid, fostering faculty-student interactions, and introducing out-of-class support programs for at-risk learners (Scott et al., 2008). This question, however, seeks to identify specific recommendations for Glendale based on the unique problematic factors at the institution. The researcher will ask respondents follow-up questions to dig up the underlying challenge they are seeking to address with their recommendation. They will limit participants to a single response to allow all participants to give their recommendation and respond to the follow-up questions that will follow.