Whilst searching for public opinion and the views of the community, we decided to visit venues that would be used by a large demographic of the community, mostly those who may not have the opportunity or be willing to give their views. The following list shows the locations we have been placed in, how successful they were and the main contacts for each resource.
The gateway was quite a good spot as it has a large influx of people using the building, due to the resources included e.g internet, doctors and dentists, library, so we were able to meet both young and old people and have a nice varied group of ages and people. We found that people where quite friendly and willing to stop, both the questionnaire sheets and the focus group questions went down quite well. We generated a large amount of completed questionnaires at each visit and had some good dialogue with members of the community and they felt at ease to discuss any issues they were having.
I may sway more to questionnaire sheets as it enables people to elaborate further and you can develop a rapport quicker as it will be part of the conversation you’re having with them, as opposed to just leaving them to fill out the questionnaire. On the 1st Thursday of every month there is a coffee morning, which is quite a good time/place to get a focus group together as people are quite relaxed and open to discuss topics.
