Evaluating an undergraduate unit using a focus group
| Published date | 01 March 2001 |
| Date | 01 March 2001 |
| Pages | 23-31 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880110381300 |
| Author | Ann L. Wall |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Evaluating an
undergraduate unit
using a focus group
Ann L. Wall
Context
Evaluation of courses in higher education is
now a critical and universal concern:
.tutors wish to know how their courses are
received in order to inform curriculum
development;
.students have the right to express their
views and to have their concerns acted
upon if appropriate;
.managers are concerned to know about
the attractiveness of courses from the
point of view of student recruitment and
retention and for purposes of resource
allocation; and
.employers have to make judgements
about the relevance and suitability of
courses for actual and potential
employees ± for which evaluative
information is helpful.
All this takes place in the context of formal
monitoring of standards in higher education
by external bodies which are also responsible
for advising government on the allocation of
resources and the provision of support.
At Sheffield Hallam University, three
methods are commonly used to elicit
feedback from students. First, there is a
formal, University-wide review of each unit,
based on a survey administered at the end of
each semester by unit leaders to whom the
results are submitted. Second, there is a
system of Staff/Student Consultative
Committees that meet once every semester
and to which students are required to elect
one or two representatives. Arguably these
both have limitations which can be
summarised as:
.a pre-determined agenda;
.little opportunity to explore issues in
depth;
.uncertainty about the degree of shared
understanding of the meaning of terms
and processes; and
.inhibition of critical comments.
Third, there are not inconsiderable
opportunities for informal feedback from
students to staff during the course of a
The author
Ann L. Wall is Senior Lecturer in the School of Business
and Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Keywords
Higher education, Undergraduates, Evaluation,
Quality assurance, Focus group
Abstract
Describes a small research project designed to assess the
contribution to this process of focus group research in the
context of one undergraduate unit on a Business Studies
Programme. Problems with the delivery of this unit
prompted a request to the Centre for Business Education
Research (a small research centre within the School of
Business and Finance) by the unit leader for a review and,
as a consequence, the establishment of a focus group.
The process of setting up and running the focus group
and an assessment of its potential contribution as a
supplementary source of information about the quality of
teaching, learning and assessment in higher education
represents the core of the paper. There were compelling
reasons for choosing a focus group methodology and the
results tend to confirm the validity of this choice.
Nevertheless, a number of issues surfaced during the
research.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at http://www.emerald-library.com/ft The author wishes to thank the eight members of
the focus group without whose cheerful,
conscientious and committed support, the research
would not have been possible: Emma Bonell,
Andy Fisher, Katherine Greaves, Clare Hardman,
Karen Houghton, Jon Jeffery, Katie Mannion and
Andy Murphy.
23
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 9 .Number 1 .2001 .pp. 23±31
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0968-4883
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