Focus Group Discussions

Friday night we went to Murahuay where we organized a focus group discussion with 6 women. The focus group discussion’s purpose is to get the women to discuss in what months there is the greatest lack of food, sickness, migration, and income. We use five beans on a grid to indicate the greatest lack of food or sickness during that month and one bean indicating the least amount of sickness, etc. in that month. After all the beans are laid out, we analyze the relationships between the different categories. There are obvious correlations like the direct relationship between lack of food and income. But there have been other interesting correlations, for example between sickness and lack of food.


We did another focus group discussion last night in which we discussed who are the different groups in the community here in Tarma. We used beans as well to divide up the community. After all the beans were divided up, the groups ranged from extrema pobreza (extreme poverty) to los ricos (the wealthy). We talked about each group and what defined them with regards to health, social status, income, work, spirituality, and education. The most interesting part of the discussion for me was where the group of women saw their own status. They did not see themselves as extremely impoverished but rather just poor. I love being in charge of the focus groups because they are so much more interactive than just giving surveys one on one. And the women think that I’m funny for some reason (probably just funny looking with blue eyes and white skin)