As a public health professional, it is likely that you will conduct focus groups as part of community health assessments. Focus groups are useful when exploring community issues and developing good survey questions. As with all research, planning the focus group is important so that the data you seek can be easily and reliably collected and will yield valid results. A focus group protocol is created to describe all planned procedures. It serves as a road map to the public health professional detailing what he or she plans to do when conducting a particular focus group. For this week's Assignment, review the readings on qualitative research skills to help you develop a focus group protocol.

The Assignment (4-6 pages):

Submit 5- to 6-page paper outlining a focus group protocol:

Describe a subgroup from your community (include relevant demographics such as gender, socioeconomic status, age).

Restate the public health problem in the community health profile you created in Week 5.

Create six questions for the focus group related to the identified public health problem (e.g., contributing factors, potential solutions, assets available to solve the problem).

Describe methods you would use for recruiting participants and collecting and managing the data. Explain why these methods would be effective.

Create a brief (two-paragraph) consent form that summarizes the reason for the focus group, procedures to be followed, participants' rights, and procedures for maintaining confidentiality.