Focus Groups

APSY 3145
Qualitative Research Methods
Week 4 Presentation

Focus Groups

How to design and conduct a focus group interview?
Chan Ming Chung, Daniel
Chan Ying Wa, Cindy
Yip Chun Hin, Hinry

Brief Contents
• What is the focus group?
• How to conduct it?
• Basic ingredients in focus groups.
• Problem of confidentiality
• Pro & Con
• Limitation

What is the focus group?
• An interview with several people
• Emphasize a specific topic
• Extensively use in market and social research • Interested in how people respond to each other’s view
(Basch, 1987; Lengua et al., 1992)

Conducting focus groups

 Recording and transcription
 How many groups?
 Size of groups
 Level of moderator involvement
 Selecting participants
 Asking question

Conducting focus groups
 Recording and transcription
• Important for qualitative research
• Unable to ask the respondent to hold on
• Possible to study the whole process
• Interested in who expresses views; and how they say it

(Basch, 1987; Lengua et al., 1992)

Conducting focus groups
 Recording and transcription
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Transcribing focus group session is complicated
Sometimes people might talk over each other
People’s voices are not always easy to distinguish
Ensure to equip yourself with a high-quality recorder

(Basch, 1987; Lengua et al., 1992)

Conducting focus groups
 How many groups?
• About 10 -15 groups
• time and resources will be a factor
• More the number of groups, increase the complexity of analysis
• Whether the researcher feels the range of view are likely to be affected by socio-demographic factors, e.g., age, gender, class, and so on.

(Deacon et al., 1999)

Conducting focus groups
 Size of groups
• Participants are more likely to have a lot to say in smaller groups
• Typical group size is 6-10 members
• Easier to recognize the different voices in audiorecordings
(Morgan, 1998)

Conducting focus groups
 Level of moderator involvement
• The aim is to get at the perspectives of those being studied •