Our evaluation study has its theoretical underpinnings in social constructionism,
or the study of the everyday ‘life world’ of subjects and their definitions
and interpretations of this reality. Social constructionism theory posits that there
is no one single reality, but many possible ways to understand and interpret
behaviors and interactions (Rodwell, 1998). This strand of constructivism also
emphasizes an interactional view of human behavior, which assumes that individuals
are intricately connected to their social environments and that relational,
social and psychological factors are interrelated (Berger and Luckmann, 1966;
Franklin, 1995; Witkin, 1999).
Recognizing the influence of the social environment and interaction with
others, we elected to use focus-group interviews to obtain in-depth knowledge
about the beliefs, attitudes and motivations of participants regarding the SEI
Program (Linhorst, 2002). Focus groups allow for the reciprocal shaping of views
among participants, as their ideas are shared, adjusted and shaped through group
dialogue. During this process, communication, insight and self-disclosure
commonly occur, which in turn affect how participants make sense of their
experiences (Rodwell, 1998). In this study,group discussions allowed us to explore
participants’ interpretations of their realities (i.e. changes in their lives from the
SEI) as well as their interpretations of the intersubjective interactions that
occurred among the participants.