A focus group is used in usability and user research to collect the opinions of a group of users. Focus group interviewing richard krueger 4 beginning the focus group discussion the first few moments in focus group discussion are critical. Focus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an in. The focus group fg has been actually employed by marketing, and is becoming importanct also in other areas. It is a form of qualitative research where questions are asked about their perceptions attitudes, beliefs, opinion or ideas. Preparation for a focus group can be broken down into two key areas. Focus groups are dynamic group discussions used to collect information. Toolkit for conducting focus groups this manual has been provided to assist you in conducting focus groups.
It provides detailed guidance on the practical and theoretical considerations in conducting focus group discussions including. There is dearth of literature on the evaluation of social research. Pdf focus group discussion in built environment qualitative. Focus group discussion report for the civil society. The analysis sequence continues after the focus group with an immediate debriefing with the moderator and assistant moderator. How to conduct focus groups interaction design foundation. In this chapter, i will focus on the importance of the focus group method, its history, and its benefits and pitfalls. The information from this discussion would be used for analysis as a whole. Effect of group work on efl students attitudes and. Focus group implies a group discussion in order to identify perceptions, thoughts and impressions of a. Breen faculty of education, university of technology, sydney, australia abstract this article guides readers through the decisions and considerations involved in conducting focus group research. A qualitative framework for collecting and analyzing data. If the facilitator is anxious, this may make the participants uncomfortable and limit discussion. The materials that you will need for focus groups are.
A practical guide to focusgroup research rosanna l. Evaluating the efficacy of focus group discussion fgd in. A case study of nsaabwa village, mukono district, has been prepared and submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the maksphcdc fellowship program and has not been submitted for. Results revealed that group work writing helped international. A focus group is, in essence, a large scale interview. Code of conduct focus group sessions introduction this guide is designed to aide in the conduct of employee focus group. Focus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an indepth. The first few moments in focus group discussion are critical. The method aims to obtain data from a purposely selected group of individuals rather than from a statistically representative sample of a broader population. Depending on the research objective, the focus group can. There will likely be times in your life when you will be working in a group, possibly many times. Focus groups are guided conversations among a number of customers or potential customers to help you learn about various aspects of your business, such as your marketing efforts, quality or customer service. He looked at their thesis writing process in australian university. The shared characteristics may relate to a particular problem, livelihoods occupation, age, social group, place of residence, experience of.
Focus group discussions are becoming an increasingly popular methodology in primary health care research. This is by no means a complete how to guide but a snapshot of some of the key issues to be considered when using this technique. A focus group discussion fgd is a good way to gather together people from. The interviews are conducted in form of a panel and group discussions are held. Abstract in recent years an extensive body of literature has emerged on the definition, measurement and analysis of poverty. Tbe bulk of tbese sessions were conducted by tbe autbor, otbers were mn by colleagues on tbe project. The critical appraisal of focus group research articles e vermeire, p van royen, f griffiths, s coenen, l peremans, k hendrickx background. Focus group, qualitative research, group interview, data collection. Taking focus groups as controlled group discussions, with their hallmark. One of the essential conditions for a rich and informative discussion is that participants bring diversity of viewpoints and of experiences to the group.
Partway through the focus group sessions, just before question 4 in table 1, each participant was provided a worksheet outlining the kinds of information that might be collected by a registry. They used classroom observation, a questionnaire and focus group discussion to get feedback from students. Fgds are used in studies that aim to understand healthrelated issues in a particular social, cultural. It consists of a carefully selected group of participants between 5 and 10, in a comfortable environment with a skilled moderator facilitator who uses a script to ask questions of the group, the answers are recorded and then analyzed and reported to enable further decision making. The purpose of this focus group is to obtain information about a group s belief and attitudes on female cosmetic products. The critical appraisal of focus group research articles.
A focus group discussion fgd is a qualitative research method and data collection technique in which a selected group of people discusses a given topic or issue indepth, facilitated by a professional, external moderator. Preparing for discussion adapted from chapter 5 getting started with literature circles. Sound conversational use words participants would use are easy to understand are clear are short. The moderators job is to progress the discussion and to facilitate it and not to participate in the. A focus group discussion fgd is a qualitative research method and data. Focus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an indepth understanding of social issues. In focus group discussion participants are free to. In a brief time the moderator must create a thoughtful, permissive atmosphere, provide ground rules, and set the tone of the discussion. Please look for signs once you arrive directing you to the room where the focus group will be held. There are no guidelines for best practice for the application of the technique in conservation literature. The discussions on the important topic are done by the experts in the focus groups. At this time, the moderator makes a quick check to ensure.
Implementing literature discussion groups in classrooms enhanced. The unit or department at the university of arizona is conducting a program assessment under the supervision of insert responsible party, director, etc. A qualitative framework for collecting and analyzing data in focus group research anthony j. They can be used to understand peoples beliefs, opinions and attitudes about the topic of inter. Focus group interviewing in the library literature. Once the focus group discussions have been transcribed, analysis can begin. Some focus group discussions were taperecorded with the permission of the participants. Knowledge, attitudes and practices on malaria prevention and control in uganda. Focus group definition a focus group invites a small group of people to open discussions for research. Focus group research focus group in qualitative research. Pdf focus groups discussion is a useful way in built environment. Discussing a topic with friends or classmates helps in learning the topic with perfection. You may have to lead a discussion as part of a school assignment or you may be responsible for leading a. This publication, introduction to conducting focus groups, is the fifth in a series of guides developed to bring information to this audience about the use of social science tools in their field of work.
The article is designed to stimulate the use of focus groups in librarianship and to demonstrate the range of. The focus group discussion fgd report is based on findings from 17 fgds and one international 25 expert conference, held in 16 countries with over 200 participants. The hosting organization carefully selects participants for the study to represent the larger population theyre attempting to target. Depending on the research objective, the focus group can be used alone or in conjunction with other methods. A focus group methodology was selected because it was expected that the group discussion would provide richer data than individual interviews, as shared experiences and understandings encourage. In this lesson, youll learn about focus groups, as well as their advantages and disadvantages.
Eacb group consisted of, on average, 6 researcb participants and tbe discussion lasted approximately 2 bours and was taperecorded. Chapter 6 analyzing focus group results 141 participants, and that a short verbal summary at the conclusion of the discussion allows for verification. Much of this literature focuses on analyzing poverty at the. It can impact focus group discussion if the facilitator is anxious because materials are missing or purchased at the last minute. The aim of this paper is to provide researchers and students with an overview of literature on focus group interviews. Group discussion on a topic involves sharing of learning by the participants which equally benefits all the participants.
Notepads and pencils flip charts or easel paper focus group script. Group discussion on study topics plays vital role in understanding the topic. Characteristics of focus group discussions your business. The focus groups are a kind of interview conducted by the experienced and professional moderators among the groups of participants and the respondents.
Focus group discussion in qualitative research new delhi. Today researchers have a variety of choices in analyzing focus group data, and these generally fall into two basic categories. Abstract focus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative. Preparing for discussion literature circles resource center. This method serves to solicit participants attitudes and perceptions, knowledge and experiences, and. Focus groups are used in business research all the time. First, we briefly describe thefgdmethodology in terms of question development, group composition and recruitment, interview protocol and logistics, and data analysis. Focus group a, august 2001 1 focus group on health care experiences moderators guidelines. Groups typically consist of six to eight people who participate in the interview for 90 to 120 minutes. It allows the researcher to increase the size of the sample of the qualitative studies. A focus group discussion involves gathering people from similar backgrounds or experiences together to discuss a specific topic of interest. Effects of literature discussion groups on reading. Focus group interviewing, an important social science research methodology dating to the 1920s, is currently experiencing renewed popularity worldwide. A focus group discussion is a qualitative data collection method that engages 6 to 12 peoplewith shared characteristics pertinent to the specific discussion topicand is led by a trained facilitator.
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of focus group discussions fgds in family and consumer sciences research. Within each focus group there should be no more than 8 people. Focus group discussions addresses the challenges associated with conducting and writing focus group research. Informedconsent procedures were explained at the beginning of each focus group and after distributing the consent forms see appendix b. On the basis of a critical analysis of the relevant literature, we discuss the. Focus group interview qualitative research in dissertation.
Focus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an in depth. Through tools such as focus group discussions, case studies, and individual openended interviews, it is possible to determine. If that happens, you may need to teach some strategies for using questions as a focus for real conversation click here to learn more. The anonymity of participants in the focus groups is.
838 125 98 84 1498 515 1290 568 1100 861 1419 1261 3 262 529 1130 1255 106 1155 152 1493 1439 1092 1520 709 678 696 1186 23 625 520 83