Did you know that the DIGNITY project is now at the halfway stage? Yes, you read that correctly! Which means it is time to conclude DIGNITY’s framing the digital gap phase. For the final part of this process, we have organised a focus group in every pilot region.
A focus group is a well-known qualitative research method with many proven merits. This exciting and valuable process provides an opportunity to discuss and validate data and stories with vulnerable-to-exclusion groups, collected over the last year and a half through the digital gap self-assessment exercise, the DIGNITY survey and our customer journey mapping.
These vulnerable-to-exclusion groups vary for every pilot region. In Barcelona, low income workers in industrial areas are targeted, while Ancona focuses on people with disabilities. In both Flanders and Tilburg, we look at elderly people living in rural areas. Tilburg also focuses on families and migrants with low income living in urban areas. Given the digital vulnerability of our target groups, these meetings will take place in person.
The focus groups will provide an important extra layer of information to the research that DIGNITY has already conducted. The interactive nature of the groups provides rich context and a deeper understanding of how specific vulnerable groups experience the digital gap in mobility in their region. These face-to-face dialogues will enable each pilot region to pinpoint specific needs and challenges to consider when developing targeted mobility strategies, helping to shape our future transport system as inclusively as possible.
Supporting the pilot cities in the organisation process, DIGNITY partner, Mobiel 21, drew up an extensive set of guidelines, with recommendations on logistical arrangements and content. Each focus group will be slightly different, depending on the city’s current results on framing the digital gap.
DIGNITY has created three possible outcomes to shape the structure and content of each focus group:
- The results of the digital gap self-assessment exercise and customer journey mapping overlap and concur with one another.
- The results of the digital gap self-assessment exercise and the customer journey mapping overlap to a certain degree, but the cause and effect of the results are not entirely clear.
- The results of the digital gap self-assessment exercise and the customer journey mapping do not overlap or concur.
When will the focus groups be held? Our pilot teams in Ancona, Flanders, Barcelona and Tilburg are preparing to kick-start after the summer – in autumn 2021. Keep following our social media and website news posts for updates on the results!
