Doing Focus Groups

Introducing Focus Groups

Generating Data

Underpinnings of Focus Group Research

Research Design

Planning and Running Focus Groups

Ethics and Engagement

Introducing Focus Groups

• Many sectors in the research community use focus groups

• Broadcasting, marketing and public relations • Organisational research and development • Community development and participatory approaches • Health Services and Social Science research

• Not used in the same way by each group

Framework Use

Group Work

Client/Interviewee Relationship

Many

More…

• Can be brutal for your self-esteem

This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen!

I’d never be able to use that!

LOUD NOISES!

Accessing Narratives

Shouldn’t be used for

Accessing Attitudes

Shouldn’t be used for

Attitudes are performed not pre-formed

Access hard to reach groupsCan be used to

Focus groups can be carried out more quickly and more cheaply than other methods!

nope…sorry.

1. Travel 2. Room Hire 3. Refreshments 4. Transcription 5. Telephoning Time 6. Logistics of group composition and

participant availability

Great for answering difficult “why-not” questions

?Why do you not go to the dentist every 6 months?

Immunisation Behaviour Smoking whilst Pregnant Asthma Management

Great for getting feedback on questionnaires early within a research study!

Underpinnings of Focus Group Research

Focus groups excel at providing insights into process rather than outcome

Focus groups excel at providing insights into process rather than outcome

We can look at how attitudes are formed and how views are formed and modified

Focus groups excel at providing insights into process rather than outcome

We can look at how attitudes are formed and how views are formed and modified

Illuminates the insiders perspective

People lie.

“We will never know what respondents might have revealed in the ‘privacy’ of an in-depth interview but

we do know what they were prepared to elaborate and defend in the company of their peers.”

• Focus groups are not the time-pressed researchers substitute for ethnographic field work

• Should be used as a mainstream method to address topics in groups which are less open to observational methods

• Should be used to to document the processes through which group norms and meanings are shaped, elaborated, and applied.

Research Design

Focus Group IntervieworMore comfortable talking 1-to-1

Safety in numbers

approach

What’s your setting?

• There’s no such thing as a neutral setting for a focus group.

• It is important to anticipate the effect of different locations on the content of the data generated

Who’s your facilitator?

• It is important to acquire background information about the group being studies, either through preliminary fieldwork or by accessing the knowledge held by local organisations

Using a Gatekeeper

• Try to be created regarding potential recruitment sources bet be alert to the emphasis and gaps in coverage that may result from involving gatekeepers in recruitment of your sample

• There are positives and negatives to using both top-down and bottom-up approaches

How many focus groups should you

run? 2+

How many people in each group? 3-12

Planning and Running Focus Groups

• Visit your venue in advance • Refreshments?

• What sorts of foods • Will anything influence people? • Is 1 room enough

• If not, is 1 facilitator enough?

Recording and Transcribing

• What sort of things can you use to record your data? How advanced do you want to go?

Transcribe your sessions yourself!

• Best way for you to learn about the data • …but you will find this very boring!

• Lots of tools out there to help you do this • Amazingly…YouTube caption engine is one of the

easiest!

Starting your Focus Groups

• Introduce yourself • Give the purpose of the session (briefing) • Do ethics forms • Let participants introduce each other

Managing Difficult Situations

Developing a Topic Guide

• Developing your questions is only the first part • Also want to look at developing follow on

items

xa

b

y

z

c

d

Thinking about question order

• Start with non-threatning (easy) questions and build up to sensitive ones

• Semi-structured approach is good, but you’ll need to know a lot about the topic yourself

Stimulus Material

• Useful in breaking the ice and injecting humour • Can stimulate discussion • Can afford comparisons across groups

Ethics and Engagement

• Give careful consideration to the reasons participants may have for taking part in your study and be as open as possible regarding implications for them as individuals and the outcome of the project

• Try to anticipate potential difficulties and be as clear as possible about the role of boundaries

• Debrief is very important for focus groups, so give ample time for this

• Pay attention to all of the other ethical issues that we have discussed in lecture up to this point.

Generating Data

• Focus groups can generate lively discussion and rich data, as participants reformulate their views, engage in debate, and express and explore shared cultural understandings

Stories Stimuli(Making)

Sense

?

Ask the same thing again and again

• Sometimes you want to be very concrete in the questions you are asking

• Sometimes it’s better to ask the same thing in a very “elaborate” way

• Guide responses and ‘head off trouble’. • Especially useful when asking questions likely

to be unfamiliar in the context of everyday interactions

• Ask questions flexible and provide a range of alternative items to which participants can respond

• Coach participants in the kind of responses that are appropriate

Use your own summaries as signposting for how the session is going

It’s ok to theorise tentatively and to invite participants to join in. But be careful to explain or rephrase terms

Remember - you are not the expert in this scenario, participants can join in and theorise too

Introducing Focus Groups

Generating Data

Underpinnings of Focus Group Research

Research Design

Planning and Running Focus Groups

Ethics and Engagement

Information in this presentation was

based on…