The focus group questions, using an AI approach, were pilot tested by two members of JFSC‘s board of directors and my AR team. Feedback was incorporated into the final version of the questions. Three days prior to the focus group session, all leadership team members of JFSC were emailed a letter of invitation (see Appendix F) and the proposed focus group questions (see Appendix M). The 90-minute session was held in the main JFSC boardroom. Before commencing the session, I introduced my AR team and their roles, explained the process, the purpose of the research, my role as a researcher and facilitator, the role of the participant, and asked if the participants had any questions. Each participant signed a letter of consent (see Appendix N), which outlined confidentiality and the participant‘s right to withdraw from the process at any time. The session was digitally recorded and two members of my AR team took notes; one on a flip chart and one on a laptop computer. Before the session concluded, ideas, comments, and action plans developed by the participants were reviewed with the participants and recorded on the flip chart paper. When the session ended, the data from the digital recorder were transcribed to a Microsoft Word document and all data files were saved on a secure computer drive in a secure location. The data on the flip chart paper were added to the laptop computer file and saved on the computer in a secure location. The ideas, comments, and action plans developed in the focus group session were emailed to the participant group.
Data Analysis
Glesne (2006) stated that action researchers could take different approaches to organizing and understanding what is seen, heard, and read. Palys and Atchison (2008) contended that data gathering and analysis is an iterative process. In the early stages of the research, the data gathered and analyzed were quite broad. As the research study evolved, data were categorized and synthesized to identify overarching themes and subthemes. According to Stringer (2007), the