Dear colleagues, 

The Society of American Archivists’ Committee on Research, Data, and Assessment (CORDA) will be hosting a virtual workshop on “Creating and Conducting Focus Groups for Archivist Researchers” on March 19, 2025, led by Elliott Kuecker (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Information and Library Science). Please see below for more details. 

Title: Creating and Conducting Focus Groups for Archivist Researchers

Start date: March 19^th 1pm Eastern

End date: March 19, 2:30 Eastern

Location: Virtual (Zoom)

Workshop description:

This workshop introduces how to design and conduct focus groups on topics relevant to archivists who are interested in conducting research. The workshop helps participants understand qualitative research basics with an emphasis on what kinds of research projects benefit from the focus group method. Participants will learn how to design a focus group, conduct it, and the basics of analyzing the results. There will also be time for participants to brainstorm the kinds of research questions that the focus group method can reasonably help answer, getting them started on their own paths of inquiry. 

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the purposes of the focus group method as a form of dialogic qualitative research

• Understand the process of designing a focus group in an archival or archive-adjacent setting

• Review tasks and skills needed to conduct an effective focus group

• Compose and brainstorm research questions that could inspire participants' future focus group research 

This virtual workshop will be limited to a total of 50 participants. Registration is free and SAA membership is not required. Please note that the lecture portions of this workshop will be recorded and made available for viewing through SAA's Committee on Research, Data, and Assessment's (CORDA) microsite. Auto-generated Zoom captions will be provided. 

You can register for CORDA’s Creating and Conducting Focus Groups for Archivist Researchers using this link: https://tulane.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ld9Jny_oRxi0nwSjMGYLxA

Please contact CORDASAA@gmail.com with any questions about the workshop or if you encounter difficulties when registering.

Instructor Bio:

Elliott Kuecker is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches in the Archives and Records Management Track and directs the Masters of Professional Science in Digital Curation and Management. He spent over a decade working in libraries and archives in preservation, digitization, stacks maintenance, instruction, and management. He publishes on topics in archival studies, academic librarianship, childhood studies, and qualitative research methods. He is a member of SAA's Committee on Research, Data, and Assessment (CORDA).