title: Focus groups: a useful tool for curriculum evaluation.
abstract: Focus group interviews have been used extensively in health services program planning, health education, and curriculum planning. However, with the exception of a few reports describing the use of focus groups for a basic science course evaluation and a clerkship's impact on medical students, the potential of focus groups as a tool for curriculum evaluation has not been explored. Focus groups are a valid stand-alone evaluation process, but they are most often used in combination with other quantitative and qualitative methods. Focus groups rely heavily on group interaction, combining elements of individual interviews and participant observation. This article compares the focus group interview with both quantitative and qualitative methods; discusses when to use focus group interviews; outlines a protocol for conducting focus groups, including a comparison of various styles of qualitative data analysis; and offers a case study, in which focus groups evaluated the effectiveness of a pilot preclinical curriculum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. pfrasier@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Frasier
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Slatt
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kowlowitz
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Kollisch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mintzer
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation