Week 4: Focused Group Discussion (Case Studies)

The focus group is a special qualitative research technique in which people are informal “inter-viewed” in a group discussion. Focus group research has rapidly grown in the past 20 years. The procedure is that a researcher gathers together six to twelve people in a room with a moderator to discuss issues, generally for about 90 minutes. The moderator is trained to be nondirective and to facilitate free, open discussion by all group members (i.e., not let one person dominate the discussion). Group members should be homogeneous but not include close friends or relatives. A typical study uses four to six separate groups. Focus group topics might include public attitudes (e.g., race relations, workplace Providing very clear instructions and carefully selecting participants for focus groups can greatly shape their outcome.