Focus groups

A focus group can be composed of strangers selected from the target population or “natural groups” of people who already know each other from a particular social setting: these might be peer groups in a school, work colleagues, members of a club and so on. “Natural groups” might be selected because of the fact that they have already worked out ways of interaction but, conversely, that might be the very reason they could prove unsuitable for a particular research enquiry.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 510

Focus groups have numerous disadvantages, some of which can also be interpreted as strengths. The larger number of interviewees in each session means that the participants, rather than the researcher, have control over the discussion; a vast amount of data is produced; and group interaction can affect the way opinions are expressed. One of the features of this method that is not seen as a limitation, however, is that the group interaction reveals the way individuals construct, account for and modify their viewpoints in the context of social relationships.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 520-522

Kitzinger (1994, cited on page 512) suggests that there are two main types of group interaction that can be helpful in focus group research. ‘Complementary’ interaction occurs when group members agree and build on each other’s remarks to develop a group viewpoint; ‘argumentative’ interaction occurs when members challenge or criticise each other, which can force people to reflect on and modify their viewpoints in a constructive way. If a group is fairly passive, the moderator may try to stimulate discussion based on one or other type of interaction.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 512-514

Groups will, and do, form in social contexts to work out individual and group objectives. A focus group is an artificial construction of a group for a specific research purpose. Group members could be those with ‘expert’ knowledge of a topic and it might be interesting to hear their discussion. However, in social science research, the tendency is to try to understand what ‘ordinary’ people think. Thus, focus groups in media and cultural studies typically ask regular consumers of mass media to discuss their reception of mass media communications. Bryman cites (p502) Morley’s (1980) research on the British news programme Nationwide. Focus groups of specific categories of people discussed the programme after watching recordings of it and it became clear that reception varied significantly among the groups, “implying that meaning does not reside solely in the programmes but also in the ways in which they are watched” (p502).
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 502

A focus group is a special type of group interview. Most group interviews are carried out to save time and, possibly, money by carrying out a number of interviews at once. This is not the point of a focus group. Here, what becomes interesting is the way the group members interact and develop topics for themselves as a result of their interaction. The researcher is more interested in how individuals express themselves as members of a group, than in the actual content. Therefore, like most qualitative research studies, how many people share a particular point of view is not relevant. How people come to hold the views they have, as a result of social interactions, is the raison d’être of a focus group. Bryman points out that the terms ‘focus group’ and ‘group interview’ are often used interchangeably (p501) but it is important to have a clear understanding of the unique characteristics of a focus group, so that it may be selected appropriately as a research tool.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 501

When transcribing a focus group, it is important to have an accurate record of not only what was said but also who said what. This can be difficult if participants’ speech overlaps or they have similar sounding voices. This means that a lot of extra care must be taken in preparation for the focus group meeting, including the hardware required. It is unlikely that a dictation machine for use in a one-to-one interview setting would work as well for a focus group. In commercial settings, it is now quite usual to use video cameras so that voices can be matched to faces, for example. The main point is that if a proper record cannot be made, an inadequate transcript will be the result.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 503

It is always important to include an introductory preamble at the beginning of a focus group session, in order to provide the participants with all the information they need to contribute. You should take the opportunity to explain why the research is being done, what you will do with the data and discuss certain ethical issues, such as anonymity and confidentiality. In this sense, a focus group is no different to any other method used for qualitative data gathering. Bryman says (p511) that for a focus group introduction, you should also “present some of the conventions” of focus group participation, like one person speaking at a time, that all viewpoints are important and the expected duration of the meeting.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 511

Although it is not the principal aim of the qualitative researcher to obtain a representative sample, they should nevertheless be aware of any “stratifying criteria” that might influence the results, such as the participants’ age, gender and social class. Recruiting a larger sample and conducting more focus groups can be a good way of managing this, especially when there are plenty of people willing to participate. We might also remember, at this point, the concept of ‘theoretical saturation’ (see chapter 18). Diminishing returns set in after a relatively small number of focus group meetings.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 503-505

The moderator or facilitator of a focus group generally takes a non-directive role in the proceedings, asking general questions that will provoke a discussion and making sure that everyone has a chance to speak. They will attempt to keep the conversation focused on the topic in question and guide “rambling” participants back to the “track”. It is true that low structure is necessary to facilitate group discussion initiatives and digressions are inevitable. However, it is also true that the moderator must provide some structure so that the research questions may be addressed within a reasonable time frame.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 506-508

The focus group method has been seen to be compatible with a feminist sensitivity for various reasons. One of these is that this technique recognizes the participants as individuals who are part of a wider social network, rather than abstracting the “respondent” as an object of study. Obviously the focus group meeting is a contrived setting for discussion, even with “natural” groups, but its great advantage is that the individual is seen as operating within a social context, so the study is of the social construction of the self, preferred by many feminist researchers (see Wilkinson 1999, cited p506).
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 520