2.2.2 Focus Groups

Eight focus groups were conducted at each site during the baseline and the intermediate site visits (six focus groups with youth and two with parents). Groups comprised 4th-6th grade students (referred to in this report as elementary school students), 7th-9th grade students (referred to as middle school students), and 10th-12th grade youth (referred to as high school students). Focus groups were held in the central city area as well as in a nonurban area. Focus groups included persons of minority groups, although researchers documented ethnic group status only through their observations and did not query participants about their ethnicity. Care was taken to follow established lessons from the focus group literature by not including youth of disparate ages in the same groups (e.g., 7th and 8th graders were together but not 7th and 9th graders). The report uses the term "youth" to refer to young people of all ages, and where there are age differences to report, a distinction is made (e.g., "elementary school youth" or "middle school youth).

A deliberate effort was made not to recruit youth from treatment programs or rehabilitative facilities because the focus of the Media Campaign is to prevent youth from beginning to use drugs. Therefore, the questions explored through focus groups centered around prevention rather than issues related to persons who were "known users" and who could bias the findings. Local Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America representatives and State prevention coordinators helped identify local organizations to contact for assistance in organizing focus groups and recruiting participants (local Boys and Girls Clubs, Scouting groups, local YMCAs and YWCAs, and afterschool programs were particularly helpful). Two researchers were present for each focus group; one staff member moderated the group discussion, while the other served as notetaker. All focus groups were tape recorded. Stipends were paid to parents in the amount of $25. High school students were paid a stipend of $10 provided in the form of cash or gift certificate, depending on the preference of the organizing agency. Refreshments were provided for all focus groups. Local community members who organized the logistics for the research staff also were compensated with a modest stipend.

The focus groups were not intended to be nationally representative samples of youth and parents. Local community contacts "pulled together" youth and parents who were in some way affiliated with a group or organization. In a few cases, groups were organized through schools, but care was taken to ensure that youth were not drawn from the same schools participating in the survey research component of the evaluation. Sometimes site visits needed to be scheduled with only a few weeks' notice, resulting in local coordinators having limited flexibility in being "selective" in recruiting youth and parents.

In order to avoid having any youth or parents who were already predisposed to questions about drugs and the media, none of the participants in the baseline focus groups were recruited for participation in focus groups conducted during intermediate site visits. However, the researchers maintained continuity in terms of the particular area of the site included for the focus groups. For example, if a particular suburb was selected for all of the youth and parent nonurban focus groups at baseline, that same suburb was used again for the intermediate site visits.

The focus group data reported here reflect discussions with approximately 384 focus groups comprising more than 2,300 youth and parent participants.