Focus Groups

What is a Focus Group?

A focus group is a form of qualitative research (Bhattacherjee, 2012; Leung & Savithiri, 2009).
A focus group is a variation of the personal interview (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 87).
It essentially involves bringing in a small group of subjects (typically 6 to 10 people) at one location and having them discuss a phenomenon of interest for a period of 1.5 to 2 hours. (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 49).
In this technique, a small group of respondents are interviewed together in a common location (Bhattacherjee, 2012; Leung & Savithiri, 2009).

When to employ the design?

Use of Focus groups is recommended when initial and additional qualitative research is required to understand important topics through asking questions, recording, and analyzing responses that are not yet known/understood by society (Katz-Buonincontro, 2022).

Examples of Focus Groups

Review results in health care treatments:

o To assess satisfaction after a total knee replacement (Zacharia et al., 2021).

Effective ways of gathering participants with similar backgrounds/experiences to understand a topic of interest:

o Evaluating UK consumers beliefs about fortified foods (Embling et al., 2023).

WWII American Metal Helmets of United States Army Infantry Solder at WWII. Near a camping tent. (Flickr, 2023).

History of Focus Groups

In-person focus groups have long been the norm for qualitative market research (Richart et al., 2021).
Focus groups have long been used in marketing, urban planning, and other social sciences. They were first employed in the early 1940s in an effort to move away from interviewer-dominated research methods and were extensively employed when trying to explore issues of morale among American troops during World War II (Leung & Savithiri, 2009).
Focus groups have become increasingly popular in health care, especially in the realm of needs assessment. The focus group format has also found favour with those doing pilot testing for curricula, program improvement, organizational development, and outcome evaluation (Leung & Savithiri, 2009).

How do Focus Groups Work?

The discussion is moderated and led by a trained facilitator, who sets the agenda and poses an initial set of questions for participants (Bhattacherjee, 2012; Richard et al., 2021)
The moderator makes sure that the ideas and experiences of all participants are represented and attempts to build a holistic understanding of the problem situation based on participants’ comments and experiences (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 49).
A focus group involves the gathering of a group of people who are asked about their attitudes toward a concept, product, or idea (Leung & Savithiri, 2009).
The interviewer is essentially a facilitator whose job is to lead the discussion and ensure that every person has an opportunity to respond. Focus groups allow deeper examination of complex issues than other forms of survey research because when people hear others talk, it often triggers responses or ideas that they did not think about before (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 87).
A set of open-ended questions initiates focus group discussions. The facilitator can steer the participants back to the focus group questions or go along with the direction of the
Focus group discussions, depending on the research questions posed (Leung & Savithiri, 2009).
Focus groups concentrate on a clearly defined topic, and efforts are made to gather information and opinions from group members. Participants are free to talk with other participants—the setting is intended to be interactive (Leung & Savithiri, 2009).
Interpretive Data Collection Data is collected in interpretive research using a variety of techniques. The most frequently used technique is interviews (face-to-face, telephone, or focus groups). Interview types and strategies are discussed in detail in a previous chapter on survey research (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 115).

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