Barrow Borough Council
Forum 28
Focus Group
July 2007
Prepared by
Tony Pearce
CN Research
The White House
Dalston Road
Carlisle
CA2 5UA
Tel: 01228 612335
Fax: 01228 612601
Email:
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council: Forum 28 Focus Group
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION Page 2
METHODOLOGYPage 3
SUMMARYPage 4
INTRODUCTION
Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council commissioned CN Research to conduct a focus group with members of the citizens panel who were aged between 20 and 40 and described themselves as ‘not regular users’ of Forum 28.
The aim of the focus group was to elicit perceptions and attitudes to the venue and suggestions which would make it more attractive to this audience. Reactions to the Autumn programme, café and refurbishment were also explored, together with any perceived barrier to attendance.
The question frame can be seen in Appendix 1 (Page 20).
METHODOLOGY
The purpose of the focus groups was to provide qualitative evidence of the views and feelings of members of the public, who do not regularly use Forum 28.
One focus group of 9 participants was conducted on 17 July 07. Participants were aged between 20 and 40 and included 4 males and 5 females. All participants lived within the Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council District. Participants were recruited from the Community Voice Citizens Panel.
Participants were encouraged to be open and relaxed during the discussions.
No attempt was made to discourage participants from giving personal views, indeed the value of focus groups is that they get beneath the superficial responses often given to written questionnaires and shed light on the feelings, priorities and attitudes of the participants.
In keeping with the promise given to participants, the report avoids making references which could lead to the identification of individual participants. This includes the use of the grammatically questionable pronoun ‘they’ to hide an individual respondent’s gender.
Throughout the report direct quotes from participants appear in italics.
SUMMARY
The group’s initial responses focused almost exclusively on the legionnaire’s outbreak of July/August 2002. (Page 5)
The majority of the participants said that they did not feel well informed about the events programme. Many of the participants said they had received the seasonal brochure through the post, others said they had seen advertising in the Evening Mail and a few had seen posters around town. (Page 8)
Three respondents said they were keen to see more bands performing at Forum 28 while others suggested beer festivals and more original acts. The general consensus of the group was that there were too many tribute bands. (Page 9)
Eight out of the nine participants said they had seen the programme brochure before.
(Page 11)
Many of the participants said that they felt the content of the Autumn programme was interesting but that the format of the brochure was confusing. (Page 12)
Participants felt that the vast majority of the events and shows were aimed at ‘old people’ or ‘kids’ and that the young adult age group wasn’t being catered for. (Page 12)
Although participants generally felt that there was more on offer than they had first thought, price still seemed to be the biggest barrier to visiting more often. (Page 13)
Many of the participants said that they didn’t visit Forum 28 more often because of its image and/or because they didn’t know they could actually use the facilities without attending a show or event. (Page 15)
Cost was the most frequently mentioned barrier to attending shows and events. With almost all of the participants mentioning this as an issue at some time in the group session. (Page 15)
Only two of the participants were aware that Forum 28 had undergone refurbishment. (Page 17)
Price was an issue for several participants regarding the café menu. (Page 18)
1