If you want to learn more about the success of your program without restricting participants answers, you can do a focus group or needs survey. These approaches may also be useful to understanding populations of students, faculty, or staff that have not been engaging with your programming.
Focus Group
If you have launched a new program and want to hear generally about how it is working or get ideas about what might need to be done differently, a focus group is a way to get a broad picture of how a program is received or perceived on campus. This is also a helpful approach if you don’t yet know what questions you should be asking about your program. Themes may emerge from conversations that give you a better idea about what information to follow up on or track over time.
For example: These focus groups questions were used after an immersion experience at the University of Dayton:
- How might you see this immersion as an opportunity to explore your vocation?
- What are your core values and how might that relate to your gifts?
- Where do your values come from and how do they impact your decision making?
- How do you envision the immersion program impacting your values and decision making?
- Upon reflecting on your values, what does success mean to you?
Most focus group data are treated as individual comments and reported in much the same way as in-depth interview data, which involves presenting comments from individual participants, often grouped under specific topics. This approach is often sufficient to meet the objectives of most research projects.
Additional vocation-related focus groups questions that would work for students or faculty and staff come from the evaluation of the Program for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV).
Needs Survey
A needs survey is a way to ask a group or cohort what they see as the most important needs of that group. The results of the survey can then guide future action. Depending on your resources (time, money, and people) a needs assessment survey can be done by personal interview or written response. Besides getting information that will be helpful, needs surveys have the added benefit of increasing the likelihood that the actions you take will be supported by surveyed groups on campus.
Good times to do a needs survey:
- When your program is just starting.
- When there is doubt as to what the most important needs of your students are.
- When your group members disagree on how to move a program forward.
- To understand why some students are not participating as programming as expected.
Example questions:
- How has the institution supported or not supported your experience as a student in this program?
- What can the institution do moving forward to further support your experience in this program?
- What have you heard from students about why they are (or are not) participating?
- Do you participate in our vocation programming?
- What is your preferred method of participation?
- What issues related to vocation are most important to you?
- What are the things that prevented you from participating in the programming?
- Did any of the following barriers prevent you from participating in our programming?
- Caring for a family member
- Need transportation
- Needed to work
- Didn’t seem like it was for me
- Other (specify)
Follow Up
Are you grappling with what to do next or how to move vocation efforts forward on your campus? You may want to consider a campus consultation.