Introduction

International focus group research is often conducted in contexts where the research investigators do not speak the language of the study participants, for example, research conducted in another country or in regions of the country with different linguistic traditions. In these situations it is necessary to train a field team to conduct the focus group discussions. In many instances those who become part of the field team will have the necessary language skills for the research, but may have limited research experience or exposure to qualitative methods. The ultimate goal of training the field team is to transfer the skills of conducting focus group discussions to individuals with the linguistic proficiency to communicate with the study participants. Training the field team is essential, however it is often a forgotten element when planning focus group fieldwork, and research proposals often neglect to include time and resources for in-country training of field staff. This chapter describes the components of a training schedule for field staff, which includes role-play sessions to enable experiential learning of the various roles of the focus group team.

The importance of training

The importance of providing training to the field team cannot be overstated. In an ideal situation field staff would be proficient in the language(s) of the study participants and have experience in qualitative research and group facilitation.