Competencias profesionales, personales y sociales del ciclo formativo y del

Focus groups were used initially to understand the level of comprehension towards heating use and heating system terminology by members of the general public. By gaining a better appreciation of how people interpreted questions on heating use and behaviours it allowed the design of the interview questions to be more informed and structured.

Three focus groups were arranged to be held within Loughborough town library and advertised via a poster which was placed in local cafes, museums, shops and the

128 library itself. The advertisement asked participants to book a place on a session due to the limited capacity of 8-10 people per focus group to ensure that they were successfully facilitated. Before undertaking the focus groups, ethical approval was sought, a script was made with relevant discussion topics and prompts and a short questionnaire to gain information about the types of demographics represented was produced. Due to a poor response rate of participants (even with a token of gratitude being offered) only one of the three focus groups occurred. However this lone focus group was still extremely beneficial and due to it being carried out at full capacity it resulted in a thoughtful discussion. The focus group demographics are summarised in Table 4.3:

Table 4.3 Focus group demographics covered

Participant Gender Age Group Household composition Tenure

1 Female 60 - 69 2 adults Buying with mortgage

2 Male 50 - 59 2 adults Buying with mortgage

3 Female 30 – 39 2 adults 2 children Own outright

4 Male 50 - 59 Only occupant Own outright

5 Male 50 - 59 Only occupant Own outright

6 Female 60 - 69 3 adults Own outright

7 Female 60 - 69 Only occupant Renting

8 Male 20 - 29 Shared Renting

The focus group demographic spread matched up reasonably with the Phase 1 study sample. Sole or two person households made up 75% of the focus group sample and 66% of the main study sample. The split in tenure was similar also with the focus group having 25% in rented accommodation compared to the 20% of the Phase 1 sample, and the remaining being owner occupied. Not so well matched was the fact only 1 participant in the focus group was from a household with children, which made up 30% of the main Phase 1 study sample. The focus group

129 was made up of 75% of participants falling into the 50-69 year old age band which was higher than the representation of those ages within the Phase 1 study.

However, the match between both samples meant that the focus group findings gave a good indication of what sort of findings may have been uncovered within the main Phase 1 study.

The following topics were discussed during the focus group with the use of open ended questions being directed towards the group as a whole with encouragement given to ensure each participant had an equal opportunity to contribute their views and experiences to each point;

• most important factors for heating a home;

• influences on heating use;

• heating control strategies;

• supplementary heating use;

• heating use negotiations;

• different heating use for different parts of the home; and,

• heating used for other reasons aside from providing warmth.

Occasionally prompts were used to ensure that the participants understood the questions. These occurrences were then noted as being issues concerning the level of comprehension that question had with the participants, which was vital

regarding the development of questions for the main study interviews, ensuring that there was no ambiguity with what the questions regarded and therefore ensuring the responses gained were not as a result of misunderstandings.

130 Initial analysis of the data gained during the focus group uncovered intriguing quotes relating to the topics being discussed, some of which are included below:

“I’m a cold blooded person so heating is important to me. I’d stint on food before I’d stint on heating” – Participant 7

“It’s just all on the thermostat and that’s in the hall so I’m probably just under 15˚C at night as the kids don’t like it hot and then you’ve got all the duvets so don’t really

need it warmer” – Participant 3

“I love to be warm I really hate to be cold so I probably live in an overheated house but that is just how I like to live” – Participant 4

These quotes of interest led to the desire to include questions within the interview which covered priorities in relation to heating i.e. cost, comfort or health. The findings also resulted in a probe being included within the interviews relating to the temperatures which participants felt comfortable with or typically set their

thermostats to. Interview questions were then formatted using the same topics covered for the focus group and with any additional topics that may have been covered or raised from the responses during the focus group. The final interview script can be found in Appendix 4-B.

4.3.5 Piloting

The interview script was piloted in two separate test interviews with participants from a non-academic background. During this pilot phase, if questions were not clear enough, alternative options were given to see what the participants felt to be the clearest and easiest question format to understand. The ordering of the questions was also changed following the pilot phase to ensure that the interview flowed well and that participants did not feel like they were being asked the same question twice. Prompts used during the pilot interviews were also noted down on

131 the interview script so that those which resulted in participants successfully

answering what the question initially aimed for could be used again. Finally the pilot interviews allowed for the time taken to complete the interview to be

measured so that interested participants for the main interview could be informed of the expected duration of the interview.