Use of Focus Groups in Program Development

Abstract

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is one of the largest nonprofit organizations and one of the largest membership organizations in the United States. This article describes the development of a new volunteer program at AARP and illustrates the role that focus group research played in that program development. Although the development of a new program is a relatively rare phenomenon at AARP, the use of focus groups described here is fairly typical of the role they play in the broader evaluation research efforts of the Association.