Abstract:

Narrative data were collected from six focus groups conducted in communities in south Louisiana, including Lafourche Parish, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and Vermilion Parish. Focus group respondents were drawn from a larger sample of respondents included in the multi-wave RCYC survey-component. All focus groups were audio-recorded. The sessions lasted about 90 minutes on average. A series of questions were used to guide the focus group discussions. Audio recordings for the focus groups were transcribed, and the qualitative data from the narrative transcripts were then coded by three researchers. These transcripts were excluded from dataset to maintain confidentiality and anonymity agreements of participants. Final codes resulting from this process along with a detailed summary of the methodology is included in this data set.

Suggested Citation:

Tim Slack, Jaishree Beedasy, Matthew Lee, Thomas Chandler. 2019. Understanding resilience attributes for children, youth, and communities in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill study, focus group component. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-nv37-sm89

Publications:

Slack, T., Beedasy, J., Chandler, T., Keating, K. S., Sury, J., & Brooks, J. (2020). Family Resilience Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Theory and Evidence. Building Community and Family Resilience, 31–48. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49799-6_3

Keating, K. S., Becker, S., Davis, I. F., Chandler, T., Slack, T., & Beedasy, J. (2020). Families Coping With Financial Loss Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Family Relations, 69(5), 887–906. doi:10.1111/fare.12510

Purpose:

As part of a larger mixed-methods approach, the purpose of this effort is to collect narrative data from six focus groups conducted in communities in south Louisiana. Overall objectives of the project include: Understanding the public health and social impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) with a focus on children and their families and identifying attributes of children and families associated with resilience to negative disaster impacts, as well as attributes of children and families associated with vulnerability to negative disaster impacts.

Data Parameters and Units:

Six focus groups. Units of analysis are individuals. Note: RCYC is the acronym for the project. The acronym DHOS is used for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Methods:

Data was collected using the focus group component from November 15 and 16, 2017. Focus group respondents were drawn from a larger sample of respondents included in the multi-wave RCYC survey-component. Respondents were purposively selected with the intent of capturing people in each community with a range of DHOS experiences, including reported health (yes/no) and economic (yes/no) impacts on their household as a result of the spill. A total of 46 individuals participated across the six focus groups. Participants in this study are parents living in spill-affected areas of south Louisiana who had a child under age 18 at the time of the DHOS. Signed consent was obtained, and participants were offered an IRB-approved cash incentive upon completion of the process. Focus groups were facilitated by a team of three researchers: a lead facilitator, note-taker, and time-keeper. The sessions were held on weekday evenings in centrally-located neutral venues in each community (i.e., public library, community centre). All focus groups were audio-recorded. The sessions lasted about 90 minutes on average. Audio recordings for the focus groups were transcribed, and the qualitative data from the narrative transcripts were then coded by three researchers. As part of the overall mixed-methods approach to the RCYC project, narrative data from the focus group component is intended to complement and provide greater context and depth to the information collected by the multi-wave quantitative survey. Thus, an initial codebook for the focus groups was developed using the RCYC survey as a guide. The survey includes modules such as “child health,” “adult health,” “economic impacts,” among others. These modules were based on theoretical linkages to oil spill exposure suggested by the extant literature. With this codebook as a starting point, grounded theory methods were utilized to analyze the narrative text (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1998). In stage one, three researchers worked independently to code the passages from the narrative transcripts using variables in the codebook while simultaneously employing blind, open coding techniques to create new codes for emergent themes. In stage two, an iterative process of discussion around revisions to the initial codebook was used as new information emerged and all transcripts were coded using the revised codebook. Transcripts were unitized by a lead coder, who identified meaningful conceptual breaks within the text (Krippendorff 2004, Campbell et al 2013). Unitization ensures that all coders were working with the same units of analysis within the narrative transcripts, and is especially useful for conversational transcripts without clear breaks or group discussions where multiple people are speaking (Campbell et al 2013). This method also facilitates the assessment of interrater reliability, and the identification of passages subject to disagreements in coder interpretation. In such cases, the group discussed the discrepancy to reach an intercoder agreement, and when necessary, revised the codebook. Final codes resulting from this process are included in the dataset.

Provenance and Historical References:

Campbell, J. L., Quincy, C., Osserman, J., and Pedersen, O. K. (2013). Coding In-depth Semistructured Interviews. Sociological Methods & Research, 42(3), 294–320. doi:10.1177/0049124113500475 Glaser, Barney G., and Anselm L. Strauss. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. Krippendorff, Klaus. (2004). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.   Strauss, Anselm., and Juliet Corbin. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (2nd Edition). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Individual Files: