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College Alcohol Policies   

Focus Group Discussion Data

Two focus groups were held with college staff who had been involved in

writing their own colleges' alcohol policies and who, in many instances, had

also served on the Working Group which drafted the national framework

document.  A total of fourteen college staff   including student service

administrators, nursing and medical staff from student health centres,

health promotion workers, chaplains and academics   participated in these

focus groups, each of which lasted for an hour and a half.  The aim of the

focus group in social research (Bloor et al., 2001) is to create a group

dynamic so that participants do not just respond as individuals to issues

raised by the group moderator but spark off one another spontaneously,

thereby generating richer and more detailed data than might be

forthcoming from individual interviews. In this instance, the focus group

worked well in that participants were happy to have an opportunity to

discuss their own individual and institutional experiences in creating college

alcohol policies and to compare notes with colleagues from other

institutions.  Again, analysis of transcribed data from these discussions is

guided by the main themes of the framework document.  

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