Evaluating an undergraduate unit using a focus group

Describes a small research project designed to assess the contribution to this process of focus group research in the context of one undergraduate unit on a Business Studies Programme. Problems with the delivery of this unit prompted a request to the Centre for Business Education Research (a small research centre within the School of Business and Finance) by the unit leader for a review and, as a consequence, the establishment of a focus group. The process of setting up and running the focus group and an assessment of its potential contribution as a supplementary source of information about the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in higher education represents the core of the paper. There were compelling reasons for choosing a focus group methodology and the results tend to confirm the validity of this choice. Nevertheless, a number of issues surfaced during the research.