Middle Level Teachers Using Focus Group Research

Abstract

Found for years in marketing research, focus group use in edu-cation is a rather new but increasingly used research method. Middle school students and teachers, as experts about their schools, will actively participate in focus group discussions. This article describes how graduate students in education planned and conducted focus groups and then reports the results of their focus group research. Most middle school students enjoy gathering in groups to discuss their thoughts on topics important to them. Jack-son and Davis (2000) comment, "Middle grades students are mature enough to engage in thoughtful, sustained analysis and problem solving, especially on mat-ters that clearly affect them " (p. 145). Focus