Trenkner L L, Achterberg C L
Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
J Am Diet Assoc. 1991 Dec;91(12):1577-81.
Focus groups were used to study public reaction to the nutrition education material, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, US Department of Agriculture bulletin HG232. Respondents were asked to comment specifically on the content and format of bulletin HG232 and to compare it with several other commonly used nutrition education print materials. The focus group discussions were recorded on videotape and the information was analyzed by two independent reviews of the tapes. The focus groups produced good information on perceived usability of a variety of nutrition education print materials and made specific suggestions for improving HG232. Although there are limitations to using focus groups as a data collection technique (data are not quantitative, making data analysis difficult; responses are influenced by group dynamics; and some suggestions made by the group are not appropriate), the richness and innovativeness of the data collected make focus groups a worthwhile evaluation method for nutritionists.
焦点小组被用于研究公众对营养教育材料《美国人膳食指南》（美国农业部公告HG232）的反应。研究人员要求受访者具体评价HG232公告的内容和形式，并将其与其他几种常用的营养教育印刷材料进行比较。焦点小组讨论被录制在录像带上，信息由两名独立的录像带审查人员进行分析。焦点小组提供了有关各种营养教育印刷材料可感知可用性的良好信息，并对改进HG232提出了具体建议。尽管将焦点小组作为一种数据收集技术存在局限性（数据不是定量的，数据分析困难；回答受到群体动态的影响；并且小组提出的一些建议不合适），但所收集数据的丰富性和创新性使焦点小组成为营养学家值得采用的一种评估方法。
