Project Overview
The goal of this collaborative community-focused project was to conduct a qualitative assessment of the community needs in a rural community. The participants were asked about social and safety issues they prioritize in their community and were encouraged to imagine solutions. This needs assessment offered multiple insights: ranging from providing a baseline for evaluating the residents’ perceptions of resources currently available, to planning for the community resource center. The long-term goal for this project is to create a sustainable Community Center that will address the community's growing needs.
Data and Data Collection Overview
We organized and conducted focus groups for adult participants to address social and safety issues they prioritize in their community and encourage participants to imagine solutions. Residents were invited to participate in one of the available focus groups using personal contact of the study consultants, via locally distributed posters, Facebook post on the community page and community outreach by the researchers. Those who could not participate in person were offered access to an online Microsoft form with the same questions, which they could address as they saw fit.
Thirty-six participants, all over 18 years old, joined the project, evenly distributed between in-person focus groups and online respondents. Each focus group consisted of approximately 2-6 participants, representing a mix of different relevant community groups: healthcare professionals, clergy, school teaching and administrative staff, small business and tourist industry representatives, community youth (18- 24-year-olds), community seniors (self-identified), general community members, and law enforcement.In-person focus groups lasted approximately one hour, while the online form completion took about fifteen minutes. The data were collected over two weekends in May and June 2023.
The data from focus groups and online responses were transcribed with the help of the Scribie automated tool and organized into analytical data units. The data units informed the phenomenological themes that emerged.
The research team collaborated on extracting data units and themes and engaged in ongoing reflexivity activities to increase credibility of the study. Demographic data were collected during in-person interactions and via Microsoft Forms, however, no link between the data and the personal information was drawn. The transcripts include numbered speaker tags (e.g., Speaker1) in order to capture each participant’s voice without a direct link to their identity or demographic data.
Selection and Organization of Shared Data
The data files consist of six de-identified focus group transcripts from the in-person conversations. Each file is labeled alphabetically. A codebook with illustrative codes, which combines data and analysis from the research team, is also shared.
The documentation files consist of the recruitment letter and Facebook recruitment post, the focus group questionnaire, copy of the informed consent used, a summary report from the project (which also contains some aggregate demographic and other data), this Data Narrative and an administrative README file.
