learnability matters

At Kern, we dedicate every Saturday to learning; updating ourselves with the latest developments in the field, refreshing our understanding of known concepts and getting a fresh perspective from colleagues. However, this Saturday was no ordinary day!

A mail was circulated at the beginning of the week informing all not acquainted with the details of setting up equipment, to brace self and dive into the quagmire of wires! We were to conduct a mock focus group session, complete with all the equipment set up, an enquiry questionnaire and all. “Gulp!” We wrapped our brains around the thought and did indeed brace ourselves into setting up the equipment. We decided on Friday being the said day to get our hands dirty!

Setting Up Equipment

Post lunch we enthusiastically un-wrapped all wires, and displayed the equipment for all to see and to show that indeed we do know what we are doing! What’s the big deal! Stick a socket here; join a wire there and Voila! We are set to go! urrrrr…NAH!

Let me explain what goes into setting up a focus group session. One needs to set up the room where the participants will be asked questions and their responses recorded. To ensure that their responses are recorded clearly and coherently, and to validate a response against each participant, one has to ensure that there is video and audio recording. This is clear enough. How does one make it happen though!

This being our first challenge, we set up individual microphones for each participant and set up video cameras to capture images of the participants. Well, our major challenge was to get the audio attached to the amplifier and mixer and the video attached to the mixer which would attach these connections to the television screen.

This took us close to 4 hours to figure out (with prompts and nudges from colleagues of course!). Having worked out how to connect the wires to their respective slots in the respective equipment (I hear you snigger! let me see you try looking at kilometers of wire and setting shop for a session!), our next semi - challenge was to make the room look less wired and more appealing. In plain words, hide wires!

The wires seemed to be in place, it was time to let electricity to run through the wires to either work its magic or… Prayers said… power switched on…and well! Success! We seemed to have done everything right. Thanks of course to everybody at Kern who tolerated the melee and could in fact direct us out of our own wired confusion.

Setting up equipment is an important part of a focus group session indeed, but what good is the equipment if your moderator isn’t successful in expressing the questions clearly and getting the right response from the participants. Boy! if you thought the wires were a challenge, try managing a room full of charged up, opinionated people. But, that was for Saturday.

Mock Session

The mock session was conducted the next day. Since it was a dummy session, Kern’s employees were the participants while two others took turns to moderate the session. The session went well considering both moderators were first timers. What is of importance is what one learns from the session.

1. You have to know your stuff! Each question should be thought over and the nature of the response expected from the participants, discussed. This is important; should the participant stray from the required response, the moderator can then guide the participant back on track.
2. Body language; how much warmth and friendliness can one display without losing authority and control over the session? Express that you are actively listening. Also, sometimes a gesture one thinks is friendly may be interpreted as rude by another. The challenge here is not to alienate participants even subliminally.
3. Controlling participants who dominate the session, interrupt fellow participants and hog sound bytes. To do this without sounding rude is a challenge.
4. Probing. People are sometimes in the habit of drawing from other’s experiences, be it family, friends or the media. To keep pushing participants to answer the question right and expressing their own opinion is one important skill of a good moderator.
5. To be able to control the time spent discussing each question. To let participants talk without keeping an eye on the time would in fact come to bite you in the end.

I believe that this session has been more than enriching; it has been an edifying experience. While it was fun interacting and working with colleagues, we became each other’s teachers while being each other’s learning companion. What fun it was!

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