Focus Groups - Volunteers & Classroom Teachers

Some of the richest data emerged during a series of Focus Group interviews where small groups of classroom teachers and small groups of volunteers met with the researchers to discuss a common set of questions about their work in Project L.O.V.E.

Six focus groups were held with 30 volunteers. The sessions were held in schools and church halls in five major geographic areas across the province. The sessions were held during professional workshops set up by the Project L.O.V.E. Executive Director and participants could freely choose to attend our focus group session or not. Each session lasted about one hour and was audio-taped.

Questions in the focus groups for volunteers included four main prompts:

1. What goes on in a typical session?
2. What are you getting out of working with Project L.O.V.E.?
3. How could Project L.O.V.E. be improved? and
4. Tell us about one session that was particularly meaningful for you.

These questions really got the conversation going and helped bring it back to the focus topics. The situation was very relaxed, a group of people gathered with tea and cookies to talk about working with Project L.O.V.E.

Five focus group sessions for classroom teachers were held in elementary schools from five different regions of the province with a total of 29 teachers involved in the sessions. Procedures were very similar to the volunteer sessions; we enjoyed a relaxed conversation over coffee at the end of the school day. Questions in these focus groups centred on:

1. How does the program work in this school?
2. Why do teachers get involved with Project L.O.V.E.?
3. What are the benefits for students and volunteers?
4. How could Project L.O.V.E. be improved?

Classroom teachers also had many positive stories to tell and the sessions were guided by them. This inevitably led to a broad range of ideas shared through a lively discussion.