Focus group/phone interview questions for our participants
Parental Participant Questions:
We asked our parental participants questions regarding their hopes and dreams for their child especially in regard to their education. Another thing we inquired about was how schools fit into their student’s daily routines. This was then followed up by asking about the student’s responsibilities, the roles that the parents hold in this scenario, and how they plan appointments/trips around the school. We then asked how we can address the issues that prevent students from attending school which gave us a variety of responses. It was then discussed the parent’s experience with the current efforts that the schools and district have made to support their child’s attendance. On top of that, we asked the parents to reflect on how families could be more involved in improving attendance. Lastly, we wrapped up the conversation by asking parents what was most important to them out of everything w have discussed that day.
Student Participant Questions:
When conducting focus groups and phone call interviews with our student participants we catered our questions to their experiences with absenteeism. We asked them about their current and future goals and how they impact their engagement. We asked the student participants questions geared toward their routine and its impact on their attendance. On top of this, we inquired about the issues that prevented the participants from going to school. Specifically, we discussed issues regarding mental health/health, transportation, childcare, and work responsibilities. Just like with the parents, we asked the students their opinions on the initiatives that the schools and districts and implementing. We concluded the discussion by asking students what incentives would encourage them to come to school and what stuck out to them the most from our conversation.
Coding Process
While conducting each focus group or phone interview we acquired consent to record this process. We then uploaded each transcript and highlighted repetitive findings. With each highlight, we would comment on a word or two that summarized the finding. As we did this we would start to notice recurring themes and patterns. We would also combine coded groups in order to create more broad findings.