PANEL VERSUS NOVICE FOCUS GROUPS - REACTIONS TO CONTENT AND DESIGN-FEATURES OF PRINT MATERIALS

This study describes the second of two phases of research in the forma tive evaluation of a nutrition education booklet. In the first phase, focus group participants provided feedback on a set of existing nutrit ion education materials. That feedback was used to develop content sam ples and design mockups that were then submitted to focus group partic ipants in phase two. The objectives of phase two were 1) to determine whether or not the translation of reported preferences into prototypic samples and mockups was acceptable, and 2) to collect feedback that w ould help refine the most promising samples and mockups for inclusion in the booklet. Subjects were 28 non-pregnant, non-nursing homemakers between the ages of 20 and 50. Twenty of the subjects were sequentiall y assigned to one of three ''novice'' groups, each of which were inter viewed only once. The eight remaining subjects served as a panel that was interviewed three times. Content samples and design mockups were u sed to stimulate focus group discussion through a special triad techni que. Results provide a basis for decision-making with respect to 1) th e design and content of nutrition education brochures for household fo od managers, and 2) the use of panels versus ''novice'' groups in futu re focus group research.