Very often, you will need your participants to discuss a very specific issue or question for a few minutes only. One difficulty with group discussions is that they often go on longer than you expected. So, give clear instructions to the group on the output of the discussion and how long they should take.
Examples:
— Group of 5 persons, produce 4 answers, take 10 minutes
— Group of 3 persons, produce 5 answers, take 8 minutes
— Group of 6 persons, produce 3 answers, take 7 minutes
Tip for trainers
You can form the groups in different ways (see Group formation on page 128). As for the other methods above, always make the question(s) as clear as possible.