Content Analysis of Focus Group Data by Jeff Zacharakis, Marie Steichen, and Gabriela Diaz de Sabates 

Student retention in Adult Education is of constant concern to educators and policy makers alike. Jeff Zacharakis, Marie Steichen, and Gabriela Diaz de Sabates address this issue in Understanding the Experiences of Adult Learners: Content Analysis of Focus Group Data, Adult basic Education and Literacy Review (2011) because they want to investigate the experiences of adult English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) learners and in turn affect strategic changes in Adult Education centres (p.84). Their research sought qualitative data through focus groups that attempted to answer the following four questions:

a)     Why do participants attend adult education classes?

b)    What elements of the program do the participants believe promote success?

c)     What are the barriers to their participation and success?

d)    How might their adult education programs be improved? (p.84)

Data was analyzed with an iterative method that employed “constant comparison, mutisource and multipass strategies, and triangulation of data sets” (p.86) in order to “inform development of programmatic and strategic changes in individual adult learning centres to increase student retention, persistence, and success” (p.84).

Consideration of the Study’s Literature

Understanding the Experiences of Adult Learners: Content Analysis of Focus Group Data (Zacharakis et al., 2011) references 33 American or British sources in their study that address focus groups, qualitative content analysis, or ABE or ESL learning. It cites three articles, Beder & Valentine, (1990); Hand, (1965); Kegan Broderick, Drago-Severson, Helsing, Popp, & Portnow, (2001) that “confirm what ABE and ESL teachers have observed  — the educational trajectories of adult learners are frequently complicated by negative personal experiences and social barriers” (Zacharakis et al., 2011, p.84) The scope of the publishing dates of the articles referenced in this quote reinforces its enduring truth.

Further studies by Hayes (1988); and Coming, Parrella, & Srcione (1999) are referenced to provide foundational information about the challenges ABE and ESL student face in enrolling and persisting in an educational program. Work by Scotland, Tett, & Maclaughlan (2007) establishes a co-relation between engagement and achievement.  Zacharakis et.al. (2011) also refer to existing research by Kegan et.al.(2001) to assert that the change that occurs in successful adult ESL and ABE students promotes learning: “adult learners change in a variety of ways that allow them to consolidate and elaborate their skills, knowledge, perspectives, and beliefs” (Zacharakis et al., 2011).

The findings of these cited, peer-reviewed sources are employed logically, support the validity of the research questions, inform the methodology, and clarify the context of the research by describing the learning environment of adult learning centres. In doing so, the study asserts that learning and personal growth are desirable achievements for adult students and reveals the assumption that this development is best achieved in adult education centres offering ABE and ESL programs.

Research Design

Zacharakis et al. (2011) gathered qualitative data through focus groups in order to “gain a better understanding of group behaviors and motivations and differences and similarities among groups….and tap into other forms of knowing such as personal stories, anecdotes, and cultural practices” (2011). Focus groups are a natural extension of the classroom dynamic. Because the group members were accustomed to facilitation, flip charts, and speaking in a group, focus groups were an appropriate and effective method of research because they honor the subjects’ experience and do not distract them from their task by creating a new social situation.

Zacharakis et al. (2011) have posed four qualitative research questions. They have also and asserted that personal and intellectual growth are intertwined. Dynamic questions and dialectic approaches to seeking knowledge are best served by content analysis. Despite the limitations of focus groups (p.86), I believe it is the most appropriate and accurate method of investigation.

The contextual data collected in the focus groups was balanced by the study’s rigorous analytical approach. Zacharakis et al. (2011) employed the SARA method (Steichen, 1996) which “involves constant comparison, multisource and multipass strategies, and triangulation of data sets for more robust findings” (Zacharakis et al., 2011). By repeatedly analyzing audio recordings, researcher observations, and intentional debriefings taken after each focus group, researchers “constructed themes and dimensions to identify messages the data gives or omits” (2011). In this manner, the data of the individual response was sorted to reflect that of the group.

Zacharakis et al. (2011) only discuss the SARA method in enough detail to describe its approach and thereby clarify its significance. Further study would be required before reproducing this method. The study does not clarify whether it gave a script for the focus group facilitators. If the research questions were the focus group questions, the literacy of the participants would need to be taken into account. The ESL learners spoke Spanish and had a Spanish speaking facilitator. This would increase the impact of culture on the findings and raises the question of whether this cultural difference had a significant impact and whether the findings would be the same with a group with a different first language. Students with low literacy skills whose first language is English will be limited in their expression and interpretation of information. The facilitators were charged with not directing the discussion. I assert that the line between facilitating and directing is wide and grey. Despite these limitations, I believe that this study could be reproduced with different populations of ABE and ESL learners with equally accurate results.

Benefits of Study

“Understanding the Experiences of Adult Learners” (Zacharakis et al., 2011) is a thorough consideration of qualitative information. The researchers have thoughtfully gathered and methodically analyzed data describing the challenges of being an adult student learning at a level below high school leaving. The participants’ day-to-day realities were honored with the arrangement of convenient times and locations to conduct research, and the focus group dynamic encouraged frank and explorative discussion. The research questions were answered, and the data compiled was logically classified, and the findings were clearly conveyed. The question remains, however, of the value of the data.

The research was run with a convenience sample of students who had not dropped out.  This means not only is the data skewed, but the study’s goal “to use the resulting understanding to impact organizations through policy change” (Zacharakis et al., 2011, p.87) has not been fully met.  If, as the study claims, the “research highlights personal, institutional, and program barriers to student success” (p.93) data must be gathered from students who succumbed to those barriers. Zacharakis et al. “hope that the voices of [the students] will impact organizations through policy change” (p.94) This is a laudable goal, but the research has not fully considered that there is no compelling reason to change policy for students who are already successful.

Zacharakis et al.(2011) identify four assets the ABE and ESL programs offered students:

(a)   teachers who are dedicated and passionate about helping their students achieve their goals and become productive citizens,

(b) the positive consequences of forming new friendships and support networks,

(c) reinforcement of the participants’ tenacity, and

(d) a sense of empowerment from participating in

of forming new friendships and support networks, (c) reinforcement of the

participants’ tenacity, and (d) a sense of empowerment from participating in

and building on their adult education success (p.93).

These qualities seem self evident in any teaching practice, andragogy or otherwise. It is of note that there is no mention of quality or degree of student learning. I wonder if the goal of education has not been lost in the feel-good sea of student empowerment. I don’t doubt that removing barriers to education is an admirable aim that profits society at large as well as the students. I just think that if your main goal is to change policy at a school, the quality of academic achievement should be at the heart of your discussion, not merely assumed as a result of student participation.

Conclusion

Zacharakis et.al. (2011) have thoroughly analyzed and discussed the circumstances of adult students of ABE and ESL programs. In so doing, they have identified the significant barriers many adult students must overcome in order to persist in school. These findings do not reveal but rather reinforce experience and knowledge commonly held by adult educators and administrators working in adult education centres, so it is unlikely that the study would influence their contributions to policy. Adult students may be interested in the findings, but it is unlikely that a person with low literacy skills would read academic literature. The study may be of interest to out-of-centre policy makers, but it does not necessitate or influence policy change because it only investigates successful students. This work does, however, lend credence to the anecdotal experience and observation reported by adult students and their direct educators. By shedding an academic light on the challenges of being an ABE or ESL student, the study accents the significant barriers that adult students face and may thereby prove influential by educating any policy makers or academics who have little direct experience with adult education. The study successfully clarifies the experience of adult learners, but its goal to affect strategic change has not been met because it researches successful students instead of those that need more support to complete an ABE or ESL program.

References

Zacharakis, Jeff, Steichen, Marie, and Diaz de Sabates, Gabriela (2011). Understanding the

Experiences of Adult Learners: Content Analysis of Focus Group Data. Adult basic Education and Literacy Journal, Vol. 5, No.2, 84-96