This presentation discusses planning and conducting focus groups as part of stakeholder engagement for an ongoing Louisiana Sea Grant College Program-sponsored interdisciplinary project. The project involves refining an existing computational model representation of topographic features (e.g., levees) by incorporating current elevation data. Adjustments in real-time forecasting and restoration planning models are crucial given coastal Louisiana’s continual changes to the natural and built environment, and persistent land loss. Stakeholder involvement is helping ensure accurate updates to the real-time computational system and accessible, user-friendly, and visually-appealing modeling results for wide community acceptance. Focus groups are a qualitative social science interviewing approach effective in various environmental research and stakeholder engagement contexts. Through participant interaction, the method can capture spontaneous comments, diverse viewpoints, firsthand descriptions, and contextual detail.

With careful planning, three total face-to-face focus groups were conducted with volunteer attendees (emergency and levy managers, other local officials) at this project’s second annual stakeholder workshops convened at three distinct coastal Louisiana communities. The purpose was to solicit input on the forecasting model updates and related Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment (CERA) interactive graphics visualization tool. Each group was moderated by the same trained social scientist on the team who asked open-ended questions stemming from a flexible interview guide instrument constructed via interdisciplinary team collaboration. The questions gathered insights on local elevation data; input on model modifications and evaluation of CERA (e.g., accessibility, information content, format, features, usability); and suggestions for related scientific product development. Each group consisted of six to twelve participants, lasted about ninety-minutes, and was audio-recorded with permission. For analysis, the moderator used a qualitative interpretive approach involving carefully reading the transcripts; coding data to identify categories, relationships, and themes; and sharing preliminary results with the team. The presentation concludes with a discussion of findings, lessons learned, literature connections, and future recommendations.