A short, practical course on Focus Group Research in Academic and Corporate Settings: The Whys and Hows

Instructor: Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D., who is co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media at MGH, and splits her time between academic research and real-world consulting. She’ll use her own focus group studies with teens and parents about video games as teaching examples.

Content includes:

• When and why to consider focus groups (qualitative studies) in academic or corporate research.
• Using focus groups for media research.
• Planning your research (from research questions to human subjects paperwork).
• Designing a focus group protocol (questions and procedures).
• Budgets and practical concerns.
• Recruiting participants.