American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

 Issue: Nov/Dec 2006

Focus Groups: Before Writing a Grant, Know Your Constituents’ Needs and Desires
M. Elizabeth Verner & Jennie A. Gilbert

Abstract:
The Winning Grants Workshop, sponsored by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and held in July 2005, underscored the value of having constituents articulate their own needs and desires instead of grant writers assuming constituent needs. As a means of responding to the “needs” section of the PEP grant application, the authors chose a focus group whose purpose was to determine current barriers to accomplishing state physical education standards and barriers to advocating physical education needs to state legislators. The purpose of this article is to explain what a focus group is, identify reasons for using a focus group, help readers determine whether a focus group is right for them, and offer ideas for how to conduct a focus group.

Article category: Professional Issues