Focus Groups and Citizen's Workshops

Focus groups are an in-depth discussion, led by a facilitator, of a small group of invited participants (typically 8-12 people) based around a particular topic. There are normally one or two facilitators and an observer/recorder. The group may meet only once or a number of times.

Groups may be built around a group of service users or a group united by an interest in a topic. Members can be drawn from the County's Citizen's Panel.

Citizens’ workshops of between 15-30 people meet to explore the themes, issues and topics related to a specific issue, they normally have a broader remit than a focus group. However breakout sessions may be set up to explore aspects of a theme or issue before coming back to the group. This approach is being used in a growing number of consultations, in particularly with stakeholders (e.g. voluntary and business sectors)

They allow for the exploration of people’s views, motives, desires, aspirations, ambitions, values and behaviours. They are useful for acquiring large tranches of open-ended information, and are often used to clarify and identify issues prior to implementation. They can help to increase understanding of people’s motives and behaviour, and can help with prioritisation e.g. Leicestershire Community Strategy

We will use a focus group or citizens’ workshop when we are: