Riverbend City Case Study

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The Riverbend City was recently involved in a chemical spill which prompted the Mayor and others within the community to assess the needs of this community. Assessment are geared towards to making change. There are several concerns that were noticed and with the proper needs assessment these concerns can be answered and possibly corrected soon or within the near future. So many times elected official make promised just to get the votes and when the time comes, the promises are not kept. This is the situation that was pointed out by Mr. Maldonado to the Mayor of Riverbend City. Having the Mayor on this committee could be a way for the city to finally get what was promised because of the future elections coming soon. Many communities where…show more content…
Maldonado being bilingual is truly an asset because of those participate that might not be literate in the English language would allow for them to speak in Spanish as he is able to converse with them as well and for a better understanding. All of the above is a strength. Having someone to facilitate this focus group should be someone that is experienced. Because Mr. Maldonado is not experienced enough to be the only facilitator for this group is a weakness. Without having the proper experience can cause this group of participant to steer off track and he might not be able to get the proper information he needs. Having an addition person available to assist would be ideal. The other person would be able to take notes, along with having the discussion taped. For example, having a female to discuss the issues with teen pregnancy where the females of the group would be more at ease discussing the issue. Many teenage females are not willing to discuss this topic with their parents and will not feel any more at ease talking to a man. A better sense of information would come from a female facilitator because she would be able to relate where a man cannot. He would need to not give his own personal opinions as this might influence participants towards other position or opinion in regards to the issues at hand (Morgan,…show more content…
There were no elderly or seniors as they also have issues with the community and they mostly are the ones that need the most assistances and resource information. This aspect is a disadvantage for the focus group. The focus group enables group interaction and greater insight into people's experiences and opinions. The focus group discussion is particularly effective in providing information about why people think or feel the way that they do and who better to inform you of their needs in the community than those elderly and seniors that are living in the community experiencing problems (Morgan, 1992). Survey research can be described as an easy research approach. However, it is easy to conduct a survey of poor quality rather than one of high quality and real value. The survey that is being conduct for Riverbend City is that of a poor quality. Prior to selecting a location and who would be involved, sending out a letter from the Mayor/City Council encouraging residents to participate in the survey would be a great idea. This letter could have been sent to several different ethnic groups within the Riverbend city community (Kelley, K.,
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