Attachment A-8 - Guide to inviting FG participants

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Recruitment GUIDancE FOR Inviting focus group participants




This guidance is provided to grantee program staff, to assist in identifying and inviting focus group participants.

Background. Thank you for agreeing to help identify and invite participants for focus groups for this study. This study aims to improve understanding of the current state of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) practices for same-sex couples and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals (youth and adults) who may become involved in same-sex relationships, and to identify and promote promising approaches for serving them.

We hope to conduct [INSERT SPECIFICS ON FOCUS GROUPS AND TYPES OF PARTICIPANTS FOR THIS PROGRAM]. All focus groups will be conducted at a neutral location, such as an office at your program building. Participants will be offered [INSERT AMOUNT OF APPRECIATION]. The purpose of the focus groups is to learn about applicants’ and participants’ experiences in your program. 

Request. Please invite a diverse range of [INSERT APPLICANTS, PARTICIPANTS, OR BOTH] to participate. While we understand that your program may not serve all of the types of people listed below, if possible we would like to have a mixture of:

    • (Young) Men and women
    • Those who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) and those that don’t
    • Those in romantic relationships and those not in relationships
    • People of different races/ethnicities
    • People of different ages

Once potential focus group participants have been identified, please inform them of the opportunity to participate in the focus group. Please share the flyer we have sent with these potential focus group participants: it gives more information about the study. If they are interested in participating, please ask for their permission to have their name and contact information shared with the research team. 

Next Steps. Please share potential participant information with us through a secure system that we will arrange. We will then follow up and call participants to officially recruit them into the study, address any questions they may have, and schedule the focus groups. 

If you have any questions on this procedure, please contact Maeve Gearing, project manager at the Urban Institute, at 202-261-5356, or [email protected].