Analyzes the experiences of 15-16 year-olds in England focusing on how the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) constitutes a source of stress in young people. Argues that when doing GCSEs in year 10 and 11, the stress experiences can be linked to the social conditions of late modernity. (CMK)

Describes the uses of focus groups (i.e., a form of qualitative research involving a small group of respondents and moderator in an unstructured group discussion) in community college research. Discusses what can be learned from focus groups, focus group projects conducted in several community colleges, and problems researchers may encounter.…

Explains how personnel at the College of Business and at the Career Center at Colorado State University utilized focus groups to discover the skills that regional employers seek in new hires. Results show that the 21 employer-representative participants look for technical skills, communication skills, and personality characteristics/attributes.…

An analysis of transcripts from focus groups of service providers and parents of children diagnosed with autism found convergence in the areas of collaboration, family support, financial issues, equity, early identification, advocacy, training, and inclusion. Divergent themes included access, home programming, the law, best practice, and…

Describes a focus group exercise used with advertising creative- and strategy-development students that was designed to cultivate awareness of the ethnic consumers' purchase-decision process. Offers an overview of the project's stages, describes the assignment, and notes that members of the original-product focus group also reviewed students'…

The Greendale (Wisconsin) School District uses sophisticated, two-way communication and marketing strategies to find out community concerns, gain a better understanding of all the groups in the district, create trust, and put constructive criticism to good use. "Relationship" marketing actively seeks out input from both supporters and…

A program evaluation was conducted to provide formative information for improving the Ontario (Canada) Course Teacher In-Service program. Data were collected through 683 teacher-completed questionnaires, focus groups, and document reviews. Twenty-five recommendations were constructed for development and redesign of a similar program. (SLD)

Explores young children's and adolescent's views pertaining to alcohol. Videotaped focus groups discussions revealed that approximately 75% of the primary school-aged children and almost all of the high school students report they had encountered alcohol. Data suggest there is an urgent need for research addressed to the development of…

Three portraits of adolescent students with Asperger's syndrome include descriptive details about the students as young children, their schooling experiences, their interests, and their social life experiences. Portraits were developed through interviews with the students, their parents, and focus groups with professionals providing services to…

The 1998 presidential address for the Association for the Study of Higher Education shares comments of graduate students in higher education. Suggests that both students and faculty desire a learning community based on an ethic of caring and love in a classroom context. (DB)

Discussion of service learning for gifted adolescents offers a service learning typology based on degrees of student involvement and reviews the research findings on service learning. Focus group interviews with three gifted adolescent participants highlighted the importance of service learning to them and identified the following themes:…

Analyzes the results of using focus groups for the evaluation of a safety manual for a large chemical company. Discusses the main advantages and disadvantages of focus groups. Describes how this method was applied in the specific situation and discusses the value of the method. (SG)

Examined 10 early childhood teachers' views regarding curricular trends for young children, their teaching practices, and systemic constraints affecting their teaching. Teachers were identified as advocates, resistors, or traditionalists. Systemic constraints identified included early academics, reading wars, and standardized testing. Teachers…

Explores the desconstructive view of disability through an analysis of stories using criteria derived from constructivist principles of narrative therapy. Parents' narratives define and deconstruct the dominant discourse about being the parent of a child with disabilities and reveal insights about the impact of stereotypic views of disability.…

Outlines a course in Digital Terrain Analysis taught at Michigan State University (Lansing) during the 1997 spring semester. Explains that focus groups were conducted with enrolled students about the usefulness of the course material and with geography majors and non-geography majors to determine any barriers they might have in taking the course…