Defending Dignity A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 7.4.3. Conducting the focus group Strong facilitation is crucial for running a successful focus group. A skilful facilitator will engage with the participants and make them feel comfortable with the topic. A good moderator is an active listener, who can ask probing questions – such as “could you tell me more about …” or “could you please clarify …” – to obtain clear and detailed responses. He or she should remain neutral and avoid asking leading questions (such as “don’t you think that …”). Exploration of the topic should be encouraged but it is important to not stray too far from the set questions, as they have been designed to address the specific research objectives of the study. It is important to recognize that focus groups are susceptible to facilitator bias. They can also be sidetracked or dominated by a few vocal individuals. This can undermine the validity and reliability of findings. As such, it is critical for the facilitator to remain neutral and ensure that a broad range of views are expressed. It is also important that the facilitator is sensitive to gender dynamics. Community leaders are often men. Every effort should be made to include the views of women. It is not enough that they are present; they may feel intimidated and not speak up. A good facilitator should do everything he or she can to make it easier for women to express their views. Depending on the topic, it may be useful to hold separate focus groups for women and men. 7.4.4. Analysing the data Once the focus group is finished, the notes and data collected during the discussion must be analysed. Responses can be “coded” according to common categories or themes for ease of analysis. This allows researchers to determine gaps in information or things that were missed during the focus group. It can also help identify avenues for future research. See Chapter 8 for a further discussion of analysing data. 7.5. HOW TO CARRY OUT A SURVEY Collecting data through a survey can turn qualitative data, or stories, into quantitative information and allow for comparison. Careful research design is key when collecting data through surveys. Surveys can collect many types of useful data; for example, they can be useful for perception studies (how a population perceives or feels about something), information related to respondents’ income and expenditure, or information related to how a population accesses services. In the OPERA framework, surveys are most helpful in assessing policy efforts and analysing policy processes. For example, communities might be surveyed about how actively they participated in the design and implementation of particular policies or programmes, or whether there are avenues available to them to seek remedies for human rights violations. There are several steps in the survey process: 76 Define research objectives What do you want to know? Define population sample Who do you want to know about? Design survey questions How do they relate to research objectives? Conduct the survey Record responses Pilot the survey Test and retest Choose an interview method How are you going to obtain the data?