Freelance Writing and Research

If you have to undertake a project using focus groups for your data collection but are not clear on how focus group research should be undertaken, then read on.

Focus Groups 

Focus group research is most often associated with companies who want to evaluate the success of one or more of their products. While focus groups are most commonly used in market research like the forgoing they are also used  in social research.

Anita Gibbs, research officer at the Centre for Criminological Research at Oxford University says that although focus groups are used extensively for market research they are underused in social research (Social Research Update 19).

A focus group is a group discussion. When you run a focus group it is often considered good practice to offer the people who have agreed to take part either a free lunch or some other form of remuneration whether you are undertaking market research or social research. Ethically speaking focus group members should be assured of anonymity and confidentiality they should also be offered the chance to withdraw at any time, and if they so choose to have their contribution removed from the findings and not entered into the project report.

Most focus group discussions involve a moderator; the person who facilitates the group and who tries to keep the discussion on track either through the use of flash cards or more usually with strategic questions. It is also useful in a group setting to have someone who is willing to take notes as tape recordings of focus group discussions can be difficult to transcribe. Having some notes that pick out key points in the discussion makes transcribing the tape a lot easier.

Moderating/Facilitating a Focus Group

The discussion usually begins with a general introduction, giving the group an overview of what the research is about and an outline of how the discussion will proceed. Usually a person may volunteer to start the discussion once the central question has been posed. The opening question may be very general, for example "what is your experience of (whatever it is you want information on)  - it is then up to you as the moderator/facilitator to ensure that:

• The group runs smoothly and people are allowed time to speak
• Important issues are picked up on and drawn out
• These often form the basis of further questions
• The moderator should ensure that the discussion does not go off track
• One or two people should not be allowed to dominate the discussion
  
• The moderator/facilitator draws the discussion to a close and then feeds back the major aspects of the discussion to the group.

Dealing With the Data

Tapes and notes from the focus group discussion should be transcribed as soon as possible after the event. Once the data has been transcribed the researcher goes through it marking off categories (segments of the data that appear important and possibly representative of a majority view within the group) or that represent concepts already identified in research literature.

The categories are then placed together or juxtaposed to assess what the dominant themes of the group discussion appeared to be. These are then interpreted in light of the original research questions and existing literature.

This analysis will then form the discussion section of the research report which is also the basis for conclusions and in some cases (depending on the project and its funders) suggested policy recommendations.

Conclusion

The above is a brief overview of what focus group research is and how it might be undertaken. Focus groups are often used in a piece of evaluative research, e.g. a public service or the pros and cons of a particular voluntary organisation. Evaluative research is often built into a project as part of the requirements of the project funding body.