Student SPHere 2008-09

OK, so I’m not on a white, sandy beach somewhere, sipping a frosty drink with an umbrella. Spring “break,” for me, is not turning into much of a break at all. But that’s OK – sometimes it’s just nice to change things up a bit, even if it means sitting in Minnesota while friends are in Mexico. Sigh. The life of a busy, broke grad student.

When my alarm went off on Monday morning, I won’t lie, I was wondering what in the world had made me sign up for a two-full-day, one-credit class. Over spring break. But in the first five minutes of PubH 7250 Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews, I knew it had been the right decision. Widely known, from what I hear, as The Man of focus groups, Dick Krueger did not disappoint in the slightest. For two days straight, the guy went totally off the cuff and imparted more perfectly versed, detailed knowledge than I will ever collect in my lifetime. It was a great mix of lecture, sharing experiences, practicing and talking in small groups, and – don’t tell anyone, but – I’m actually excited to do the final assignment: writing out a focus group introduction and questioning route.

When we practiced introducing participants to a focus group, explaining the goals and procedures and logistics and asking an initial question, my small group told me I was a natural. “I think we would tell you anything about anything,” one person said. I take that as a compliment, which is great because I could really see myself doing it one day, maybe even for my master’s project. There’s just one problem: I would NOT be able to be a quiet, objective observer! I love interacting with people and am, surprise, surprise, very chatty, so I can’t imagine sitting there nodding when I would surely want to tell people I understand, I’m so sorry for what they’ve been through, that’s a great idea, that happened to me once when I was traveling abroad, etc. Sooo maybe conducting focus groups isn’t a realistic career move for me, but I'd at least like to try one out. Maybe I shoud be in focus groups instead?

I’ll be at the Star Tribune and World Refugee Day planning meetings for the rest of the week, working on various school stuff in between. And it’s The Boyfriend’s birthday on Thursday, so of course I have to sneak around and set up some things to make sure it’s a happy one!