History of Focus Groups

1
History of Focus Groups

• According to Edmunds, focus group interviews ...
  are either guided or unguided discussions
  addressing a particular topic of interest or
  relevance to the group and the researcher.

2
History of Focus Groups

• The use of focus groups existed before World War
  II.

3
History of Focus Groups

• Sociologist Robert Merton, was introduced to the
  focus group in the years following World War II.
  He wrote a book titled, The Focused Interview in
  1956.
• In the 1950's, focus groups became common-place
  among marketers.
• It was not until the 1980s that focus groups were
  rediscovered by social scientists. Sociologists
  called this technique group interviews, but
  were essentially focus groups.

4
History of Focus Groups

• Focus groups became known in popular culture in
  the 1990s. President Clinton research teams
  extensively used focus groups.
• Characteristics of the first focus groups
  included 1) Six to 10 participants. 2)
  Focused on the effects of film and television
  programming, advertising and product consumption,
  and probed public understanding of health issues.
  3) Researchers sought to understand the
  motivation of the participants.

5
Research and Focus Groups

• Focus groups are considered a qualitative method.
  
• Qualitative methodology had been embedded within
  cultural anthropology and in the early years of
  sociology.
• In sociology, emerged as a powerful critique of
  quantitative methodology in the 1950s.

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Research and Focus Groups

• Qualitative research strategies is acknowledged
  to render insight into how people attribute
  meaning and interpret their life world.
• Basch (1987) claims that focus groups may be
  defined as a qualitative approach to learning
  about population subgroups with respect to
  conscious, semiconscious, and unconscious
  psychological and sociocultural characteristics
  and processes.

7
Strengths and Weaknesses of Focus Groups

• Focus groups can produce a wider range of
  information than other research strategies.
• Focus groups can generate new ideas or
  connections from what might be viewed as random
  comments.
• Able to glean how people attribute meaning to the
  subject matter.
• Excellent preliminary tool or as an adjunct to
  other methods.

8
Strengths and Weaknesses of Focus Groups

• Consistent with other qualitative methods, it is
  difficult to generalize results to larger
  populations.
• The skill of the facilitator is crucial to the
  dynamics of the group, and ultimately to the
  utility of the data.
• The use of such data must be clearly understood.
  The use of the data often out-paces the limits of
  focus group data.

9
Types and structure of Focus Groups

• In recent times, the use of focus groups has
  expanded from its original conception.
• Most researchers want to know something from
  the participants. These are simply referred to
  as instrumental focus groups. These groups can
  probe
• attitudes or opinions
• behavioral patterns
• cognition or knowledge inquiry.

10
Types and structure of Focus Groups

• Another type of focus group, less common among
  academicians, is the expressive focus group.
  People in the helping professions often rely on
  this type of group, in which the primary goal is
  the welfare of the participant.
• Structures vary from very formal (Networks focus
  groups during a campaign season, for example) to
  informal. These are typically referred to as
  structured, semi-structured, and unstructured
  focus groups respectively.

11
Designing a Focus Group

• Clearly define the research problem or topic. In
  other words, do you want to understand
  participant behavior, attitudes, or knowledge of
  a subject.
• Is it being used as a stand-alone method, or in
  conjunction with other research strategies? If it
  is the former, typically it functions as a pilot
  project or exploratory research.

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Designing a Focus Group

• Creating the group can be the most difficult
  task. We cannot generalize to the target
  population, but you want the composition to
  resemble the varying interest in your target
  population.
• Size of group- Researchers disagree on this
  issue.
• Many claim 7 to 9 members
• Others suggest 12 to 15 members.

13
Basic Tips for a Successful Focus Group

• It is important for facilitators to nurture an
  atmosphere which encourages subjects to speak
  freely.
• When conducted correctly, interactions between
  members stimulate discussion.
• Some have called this the synergistic group
  effect. This is a state in which one member
  draws from another, or a condition in which the
  collectively performs better than its constituent
  parts.

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Basic Tips for a Successful Focus Group

• Introduction and introductory activities-
• It is important that facilitators explain the
  purpose and how a focus group operates.
• It is also appropriate to develop an introductory
  activity such as having the members say something
  about themselves (e.g., their favorite hobby,
  occupation, etc.).

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Basic Tips for a Successful Focus Group

• Statement of the basic rules- you should explain
  that you expect an open, polite, and orderly
  environment where everyone in the group is
  encouraged to participate.

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Basic Tips for a Successful Focus Group

• Short question-and-answer discussion- you may
  choose to ask a question with an open forum, or
  you can ask each member the same question and
  then allow for group discussion.
• Special activities or exercises- while many focus
  groups restrict their data collection to
  responses from questions, some (especially those
  with children) may include role-playing or other
  innovative types of activities.

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Basic Tips for a Successful Focus Group

• Dealing with sensitive issues- facilitators
  should be aware of sensitive issues such as drug
  use, deviant behaviors, and certain mental health
  issues.
• The rule here is to approach the subject in broad
  terms to provide opportunity for more specific
  issues and responses.

18
Basic Tips for a Successful Focus Group

• Documenting the session- there are a number of
  issues at stake.
• First, you may inform the group that the session
  will be recorded.
• The recording device should be operational.
• Second, the placement of the recorder is a
  problem. If it is centrally located we found it
  very difficult to transcribe the tapes, mainly
  because the sociology of conversation is
  ostensibly overlapping.

19
Facilitator

• Kitzinger (1995) suggests that the amount of
  explanation, listening, and addressing issues is
  the facilitators utmost concern.

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Facilitator

• Initially, the facilitator may choose to take a
  back seat and assume a structured eavesdropping
  posture.
• Later, the researcher may take a more
  interventionist position, encouraging groups to
  discuss the inconsistencies within the group or
  within their own thinking.
• The facilitator should not shy away from
  disagreement within the group.
• Facilitators can utilize the interaction to
  explore topics in more detail and draw out the
  feelings of each participant based on their
  reactions to what others in the room have said.

21
Facilitator

• A competent facilitator will utilize non-verbal
  cues, which may be more important than oral cues
  in determining reactions to different ideas.
• Sometimes it is beneficial to present each
  participant with a brief questionnaire that
  allows them to respond in private after the group
  session is completed.

22
Analyzing the Data

• The thematic approach is the most widely used.
• You sift and sort through the responses for each
  question and find similarities and cleavages.
  You are looking for emerging themes or
  narratives.
• Once you have identified the themes, you can
  quantify and address the question of how many.
  Who is advocating what theme. The question of
  why. It may be affective or ideological or
  practical.

23
Potential Personality Obstructions

• There are many obstacles in the form of
  personalities or individual dispositions to a
  successful focus group. These are listed in no
  particular sequence or manifested frequency

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Potential Obstructions

• The facili-tator

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Potential Obstructions

• The dic-tator

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Potential Obstructions

• The agi-tator

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Potential Obstructions

• The commen-tator

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Potential Obstructions

• The spec-tator

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Potential Obstructions

• The hesi-tator

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Potential Obstructions

• The imi-tator