are different to your own.
Ensure the group is a judgement-free space.
Vocalise judgements about statements made.
Engage in healthy discussion.
Disrespect group members.
Each group member needs to be included –
individuals may need to be called on to provide their responses.
Allow the loudest group member too much talking
time; loud group members could be asked not to answer a question.
Facilitate free-flowing discussion.
Let group members talk over each other.
Power imbalances. When setting up a focus group, the facilitator should pay strict attention to how homogenous the group needs to be concerning the topic, and how possible power imbalances might affect the data collection. For example, if the research question seeks to understand why drug administration errors occur in hospitals, it would not be a good idea to have doctors, nurses and pharmacists in the same group. Why? Because they might not feel comfortable expressing views in front of the very people they have seen make errors. Instead, you could run three separate groups: one with doctors, one with nurses and another with pharmacists. Conducting separate group discussions helps to avoid the chance that a powerful group might dominate the discussion and enables each group member to express their views openly.
Participant identity. The facilitator should invite participants to introduce themselves to other group members, to encourage familiarity; name tags can help participants remember each other’s names. The researchers will need to maintain a list of participants and any necessary demographic details.
Risk. The possibility of distress or harm occurring must always be considered in a focus group. Participants may become distressed because sensitive topics are being discussed, and there is always a risk that some participants might overshare their experiences. The facilitator will need to judge when to stop the discussion if it becomes clear that one or more participants are distressed. 8 Researchers should have a clear protocol developed that provides advice about how to handle distress.
Once the discussion is concluded, participants should be thanked for their time and contributions. Explain how participants might contact the researcher if they have any questions or would like to provide the facilitator with follow-up information. If the focus group has covered sensitive topics or any participants have become distressed during the discussion, make sure that you spend some time privately with the participant to provide appropriate referrals and follow-up (see Section 6 ). Referrals and follow-up are usually described in the protocol addressing distress.
Data analysis is discussed in Section 4 , but it is important to know what to do immediately after each focus group is completed. Download (or upload) the recording from the audio-recording device to ensure it is saved in a secure location that can only be accessed by people on the research team (see Chapter 34). The recording should be transcribed; that is, reproduced verbatim, for data coding and analysis. The transcription of data is an important step in the analysis process, and it is important to note that this is a highly time-consuming task. Transcribing a 60-minute focus group discussion can take up to 10 hours.
Title | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
van der Spek, 2013 | Visser, 2021 | Moynihan, 2017 | Sabet Sarvestani, 2012 | |
To describe:1. the meaning-making themes that play a role in cancer survivors,2. the experienced changes in meaning making after cancer treatment, and3. the perceived needs for help in this particular area | To explore, using focus groups, patients’ experiences and wellbeing after injury, and which factors impede or facilitate patients' wellbeing | To explore community awareness of the overdiagnosis of osteoporosis and related controversies surrounding the condition, including the definition of osteoporosis, whether it is best understood as a “disease” or a “risk factor”, and the perceived value of the most common medications, as well as responses to potentially new information about these issues | To characterise traditional male circumcision (TMC) practices in Uganda and the cultural implications, using a comprehensive focus group discussion and qualitative analysis | |
Descriptive | Phenomenology | Phenomenology | Descriptive (culture) | |
The Netherlands | The Netherlands | Australia | Uganda | |
Existential distress and meaning making | Experiences and consequences of injury | Community understanding of overdiagnosis | Understanding cultural implications | |
4 focus groups3 groups of 6 and 1 group of 5 | 6 focus groups3–7 in each group (total of 28) | 5 focus groups7–9 in each group (total 41) | 26 focus groups6–12 in each group (total 208) | |
120 minutes | 60–90 minutes | 135 minutes | 60 minutes | |
1. What is meaningful in your life at the moment?2. Did meaning in your life change after you were diagnosed with cancer? And if so, how did it change?3. Have you ever had the feeling that you couldn’t find meaning? And how did you deal with that?4. What helps you to find meaning, despite possible problems in your life?5. Are there aspects of meaning making that you wish you received help with? And if so, what kind of help would you like to receive?[Table 2] | 1. Which experiences after injury impressed you the most?2. Can you describe the consequences of injury on your life?3. Could you describe your feelings after injury, hospitalisation, and rehabilitation?4. Does someone (i.e. another participant) recognise these experiences, consequences or feelings?5. In what way do you experience changes in wellbeing?[In-text (data collection)] | 1. What is osteoporosis?2. Apart from bone density, are there other things increasing fracture risk?3. How well do common medications for osteoporosis work?4. Among people diagnosed, how many will never have a fracture?[Supporting information files S2 text] | 1. What are the traditions, customs and rituals associated with male circumcision in your ethnic group? 2. What are the reasons parents decide to circumcise their sons traditionally? 3. What are the techniques used for traditional circumcision cuts in your ethnic group? Is there any variation among cutters’ methods? How much foreskin is cut? 4. Have you ever heard of a circumcision that has resulted in an adverse event? If yes, what was the reason? Who is to blame if an adverse event happens?5. Have the traditions, customs, and rituals associated with circumcision in this region changed over time? If yes, how? Why? 6. Would you support changes in TMC practice to make it safer? What type of changes would you consider? | |
Thematic analysis within the framework approach. Under three topics:1. Meaning making2. Changes in meaning making3. Need for help with meaning making | Analysis using a phenomenological approach. Data analysis proceeded stepwise using the open, axial and selective coding techniques. | Thematic analysis was based on framework analysis, as described by Ritchie and colleagues | Predetermined themes with codebook developed | |
1. Sources of meaning: relationships, experiences, creativity, work 2. Enhanced meaning through relationships, experiences, resilience, goal orientation, leaving a legacy3. Loss of meaning through experiences, social roles, relationships, uncertainty about the future4. Searching for meaning5. Meaninglessness: isolation, threats to identity, physical limitations, confrontation with death, fear of passing cancer to offspring, loss of freedom | 1. Impact on relatives2. Dependent of care3. Social support4. Communication health care provider to patient5. Take self-initiative to receive medical care6. Communication: health care providers to relatives, between medical staff, hospital to GP and to authorities, authorities to patient7. Media attention8. Practical problems | 1. Risk factor' versus ‘disease’: preference for risk factor2. The dilemma of diagnosis: awareness of downsides, belief in early diagnosis3. Medications and prevention: underwhelmed by drugs, interest in other strategies4. Overdiagnosis: complexities in communicating counter-intuitive concept5. Overdiagnosis in osteoporosis: changing perceptions after new information6. Questioning the definition of osteoporosis: unease over young women’s bones defined as normal | Predetermined themes, such as TMC’s cultural importance, logistics of the practice, cutters’ training procedures and tools used during TMC were selected prior to holding the focus groups |
Focus groups and (individual interviews) are the most common data collection techniques in qualitative research. The success of a focus group depends on the group composition and the effectiveness of the facilitator. It is important to formulate open-ended focus group questions that are understandable and easy for participants to engage with. Setting up the focus group discussion guide, rules and other considerations will enhance the experience of the focus group for the participant and the researchers, as well as the quality of the data collected.
Qualitative Research – a practical guide for health and social care researchers and practitioners Copyright © 2023 by Tess Tsindos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
British Dental Journal volume 225 , pages 668–672 ( 2018 ) Cite this article
31k Accesses
61 Citations
20 Altmetric
Metrics details
Highlights that qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry. Interviews and focus groups remain the most common qualitative methods of data collection.
Suggests the advent of digital technologies has transformed how qualitative research can now be undertaken.
Suggests interviews and focus groups can offer significant, meaningful insight into participants' experiences, beliefs and perspectives, which can help to inform developments in dental practice.
Qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry, due to its potential to provide meaningful, in-depth insights into participants' experiences, perspectives, beliefs and behaviours. These insights can subsequently help to inform developments in dental practice and further related research. The most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research are interviews and focus groups. While these are primarily conducted face-to-face, the ongoing evolution of digital technologies, such as video chat and online forums, has further transformed these methods of data collection. This paper therefore discusses interviews and focus groups in detail, outlines how they can be used in practice, how digital technologies can further inform the data collection process, and what these methods can offer dentistry.
You have full access to this article via your institution.
A review of technical and quality assessment considerations of audio-visual and web-conferencing focus groups in qualitative health research, introduction.
Traditionally, research in dentistry has primarily been quantitative in nature. 1 However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in qualitative research within the profession, due to its potential to further inform developments in practice, policy, education and training. Consequently, in 2008, the British Dental Journal (BDJ) published a four paper qualitative research series, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 to help increase awareness and understanding of this particular methodological approach.
Since the papers were originally published, two scoping reviews have demonstrated the ongoing proliferation in the use of qualitative research within the field of oral healthcare. 1 , 6 To date, the original four paper series continue to be well cited and two of the main papers remain widely accessed among the BDJ readership. 2 , 3 The potential value of well-conducted qualitative research to evidence-based practice is now also widely recognised by service providers, policy makers, funding bodies and those who commission, support and use healthcare research.
Besides increasing standalone use, qualitative methods are now also routinely incorporated into larger mixed method study designs, such as clinical trials, as they can offer additional, meaningful insights into complex problems that simply could not be provided by quantitative methods alone. Qualitative methods can also be used to further facilitate in-depth understanding of important aspects of clinical trial processes, such as recruitment. For example, Ellis et al . investigated why edentulous older patients, dissatisfied with conventional dentures, decline implant treatment, despite its established efficacy, and frequently refuse to participate in related randomised clinical trials, even when financial constraints are removed. 7 Through the use of focus groups in Canada and the UK, the authors found that fears of pain and potential complications, along with perceived embarrassment, exacerbated by age, are common reasons why older patients typically refuse dental implants. 7
The last decade has also seen further developments in qualitative research, due to the ongoing evolution of digital technologies. These developments have transformed how researchers can access and share information, communicate and collaborate, recruit and engage participants, collect and analyse data and disseminate and translate research findings. 8 Where appropriate, such technologies are therefore capable of extending and enhancing how qualitative research is undertaken. 9 For example, it is now possible to collect qualitative data via instant messaging, email or online/video chat, using appropriate online platforms.
These innovative approaches to research are therefore cost-effective, convenient, reduce geographical constraints and are often useful for accessing 'hard to reach' participants (for example, those who are immobile or socially isolated). 8 , 9 However, digital technologies are still relatively new and constantly evolving and therefore present a variety of pragmatic and methodological challenges. Furthermore, given their very nature, their use in many qualitative studies and/or with certain participant groups may be inappropriate and should therefore always be carefully considered. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed explication regarding the use of digital technologies in qualitative research, insight is provided into how such technologies can be used to facilitate the data collection process in interviews and focus groups.
In light of such developments, it is perhaps therefore timely to update the main paper 3 of the original BDJ series. As with the previous publications, this paper has been purposely written in an accessible style, to enhance readability, particularly for those who are new to qualitative research. While the focus remains on the most common qualitative methods of data collection – interviews and focus groups – appropriate revisions have been made to provide a novel perspective, and should therefore be helpful to those who would like to know more about qualitative research. This paper specifically focuses on undertaking qualitative research with adult participants only.
Qualitative research is an approach that focuses on people and their experiences, behaviours and opinions. 10 , 11 The qualitative researcher seeks to answer questions of 'how' and 'why', providing detailed insight and understanding, 11 which quantitative methods cannot reach. 12 Within qualitative research, there are distinct methodologies influencing how the researcher approaches the research question, data collection and data analysis. 13 For example, phenomenological studies focus on the lived experience of individuals, explored through their description of the phenomenon. Ethnographic studies explore the culture of a group and typically involve the use of multiple methods to uncover the issues. 14
While methodology is the 'thinking tool', the methods are the 'doing tools'; 13 the ways in which data are collected and analysed. There are multiple qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis, participant diaries, photography and videography. Two of the most commonly used qualitative methods are interviews and focus groups, which are explored in this article. The data generated through these methods can be analysed in one of many ways, according to the methodological approach chosen. A common approach is thematic data analysis, involving the identification of themes and subthemes across the data set. Further information on approaches to qualitative data analysis has been discussed elsewhere. 1
Qualitative research is an evolving and adaptable approach, used by different disciplines for different purposes. Traditionally, qualitative data, specifically interviews, focus groups and observations, have been collected face-to-face with participants. In more recent years, digital technologies have contributed to the ongoing evolution of qualitative research. Digital technologies offer researchers different ways of recruiting participants and collecting data, and offer participants opportunities to be involved in research that is not necessarily face-to-face.
Research interviews are a fundamental qualitative research method 15 and are utilised across methodological approaches. Interviews enable the researcher to learn in depth about the perspectives, experiences, beliefs and motivations of the participant. 3 , 16 Examples include, exploring patients' perspectives of fear/anxiety triggers in dental treatment, 17 patients' experiences of oral health and diabetes, 18 and dental students' motivations for their choice of career. 19
Interviews may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured, 3 according to the purpose of the study, with less structured interviews facilitating a more in depth and flexible interviewing approach. 20 Structured interviews are similar to verbal questionnaires and are used if the researcher requires clarification on a topic; however they produce less in-depth data about a participant's experience. 3 Unstructured interviews may be used when little is known about a topic and involves the researcher asking an opening question; 3 the participant then leads the discussion. 20 Semi-structured interviews are commonly used in healthcare research, enabling the researcher to ask predetermined questions, 20 while ensuring the participant discusses issues they feel are important.
Interviews can be undertaken face-to-face or using digital methods when the researcher and participant are in different locations. Audio-recording the interview, with the consent of the participant, is essential for all interviews regardless of the medium as it enables accurate transcription; the process of turning the audio file into a word-for-word transcript. This transcript is the data, which the researcher then analyses according to the chosen approach.
Qualitative studies often utilise one-to-one, face-to-face interviews with research participants. This involves arranging a mutually convenient time and place to meet the participant, signing a consent form and audio-recording the interview. However, digital technologies have expanded the potential for interviews in research, enabling individuals to participate in qualitative research regardless of location.
Telephone interviews can be a useful alternative to face-to-face interviews and are commonly used in qualitative research. They enable participants from different geographical areas to participate and may be less onerous for participants than meeting a researcher in person. 15 A qualitative study explored patients' perspectives of dental implants and utilised telephone interviews due to the quality of the data that could be yielded. 21 The researcher needs to consider how they will audio record the interview, which can be facilitated by purchasing a recorder that connects directly to the telephone. One potential disadvantage of telephone interviews is the inability of the interviewer and researcher to see each other. This is resolved using software for audio and video calls online – such as Skype – to conduct interviews with participants in qualitative studies. Advantages of this approach include being able to see the participant if video calls are used, enabling observation of non-verbal communication, and the software can be free to use. However, participants are required to have a device and internet connection, as well as being computer literate, potentially limiting who can participate in the study. One qualitative study explored the role of dental hygienists in reducing oral health disparities in Canada. 22 The researcher conducted interviews using Skype, which enabled dental hygienists from across Canada to be interviewed within the research budget, accommodating the participants' schedules. 22
A less commonly used approach to qualitative interviews is the use of social virtual worlds. A qualitative study accessed a social virtual world – Second Life – to explore the health literacy skills of individuals who use social virtual worlds to access health information. 23 The researcher created an avatar and interview room, and undertook interviews with participants using voice and text methods. 23 This approach to recruitment and data collection enables individuals from diverse geographical locations to participate, while remaining anonymous if they wish. Furthermore, for interviews conducted using text methods, transcription of the interview is not required as the researcher can save the written conversation with the participant, with the participant's consent. However, the researcher and participant need to be familiar with how the social virtual world works to engage in an interview this way.
Ensuring informed consent before any interview is a fundamental aspect of the research process. Participants in research must be afforded autonomy and respect; consent should be informed and voluntary. 24 Individuals should have the opportunity to read an information sheet about the study, ask questions, understand how their data will be stored and used, and know that they are free to withdraw at any point without reprisal. The qualitative researcher should take written consent before undertaking the interview. In a face-to-face interview, this is straightforward: the researcher and participant both sign copies of the consent form, keeping one each. However, this approach is less straightforward when the researcher and participant do not meet in person. A recent protocol paper outlined an approach for taking consent for telephone interviews, which involved: audio recording the participant agreeing to each point on the consent form; the researcher signing the consent form and keeping a copy; and posting a copy to the participant. 25 This process could be replicated in other interview studies using digital methods.
There are advantages and disadvantages of using face-to-face and digital methods for research interviews. Ultimately, for both approaches, the quality of the interview is determined by the researcher. 16 Appropriate training and preparation are thus required. Healthcare professionals can use their interpersonal communication skills when undertaking a research interview, particularly questioning, listening and conversing. 3 However, the purpose of an interview is to gain information about the study topic, 26 rather than offering help and advice. 3 The researcher therefore needs to listen attentively to participants, enabling them to describe their experience without interruption. 3 The use of active listening skills also help to facilitate the interview. 14 Spradley outlined elements and strategies for research interviews, 27 which are a useful guide for qualitative researchers:
Greeting and explaining the project/interview
Asking descriptive (broad), structural (explore response to descriptive) and contrast (difference between) questions
Asymmetry between the researcher and participant talking
Expressing interest and cultural ignorance
Repeating, restating and incorporating the participant's words when asking questions
Creating hypothetical situations
Asking friendly questions
Knowing when to leave.
For semi-structured interviews, a topic guide (also called an interview schedule) is used to guide the content of the interview – an example of a topic guide is outlined in Box 1 . The topic guide, usually based on the research questions, existing literature and, for healthcare professionals, their clinical experience, is developed by the research team. The topic guide should include open ended questions that elicit in-depth information, and offer participants the opportunity to talk about issues important to them. This is vital in qualitative research where the researcher is interested in exploring the experiences and perspectives of participants. It can be useful for qualitative researchers to pilot the topic guide with the first participants, 10 to ensure the questions are relevant and understandable, and amending the questions if required.
Regardless of the medium of interview, the researcher must consider the setting of the interview. For face-to-face interviews, this could be in the participant's home, in an office or another mutually convenient location. A quiet location is preferable to promote confidentiality, enable the researcher and participant to concentrate on the conversation, and to facilitate accurate audio-recording of the interview. For interviews using digital methods the same principles apply: a quiet, private space where the researcher and participant feel comfortable and confident to participate in an interview.
Study focus: Parents' experiences of brushing their child's (aged 0–5) teeth
1. Can you tell me about your experience of cleaning your child's teeth?
How old was your child when you started cleaning their teeth?
Why did you start cleaning their teeth at that point?
How often do you brush their teeth?
What do you use to brush their teeth and why?
2. Could you explain how you find cleaning your child's teeth?
Do you find anything difficult?
What makes cleaning their teeth easier for you?
3. How has your experience of cleaning your child's teeth changed over time?
Has it become easier or harder?
Have you changed how often and how you clean their teeth? If so, why?
4. Could you describe how your child finds having their teeth cleaned?
What do they enjoy about having their teeth cleaned?
Is there anything they find upsetting about having their teeth cleaned?
5. Where do you look for information/advice about cleaning your child's teeth?
What did your health visitor tell you about cleaning your child's teeth? (If anything)
What has the dentist told you about caring for your child's teeth? (If visited)
Have any family members given you advice about how to clean your child's teeth? If so, what did they tell you? Did you follow their advice?
6. Is there anything else you would like to discuss about this?
A focus group is a moderated group discussion on a pre-defined topic, for research purposes. 28 , 29 While not aligned to a particular qualitative methodology (for example, grounded theory or phenomenology) as such, focus groups are used increasingly in healthcare research, as they are useful for exploring collective perspectives, attitudes, behaviours and experiences. Consequently, they can yield rich, in-depth data and illuminate agreement and inconsistencies 28 within and, where appropriate, between groups. Examples include public perceptions of dental implants and subsequent impact on help-seeking and decision making, 30 and general dental practitioners' views on patient safety in dentistry. 31
Focus groups can be used alone or in conjunction with other methods, such as interviews or observations, and can therefore help to confirm, extend or enrich understanding and provide alternative insights. 28 The social interaction between participants often results in lively discussion and can therefore facilitate the collection of rich, meaningful data. However, they are complex to organise and manage, due to the number of participants, and may also be inappropriate for exploring particularly sensitive issues that many participants may feel uncomfortable about discussing in a group environment.
Focus groups are primarily undertaken face-to-face but can now also be undertaken online, using appropriate technologies such as email, bulletin boards, online research communities, chat rooms, discussion forums, social media and video conferencing. 32 Using such technologies, data collection can also be synchronous (for example, online discussions in 'real time') or, unlike traditional face-to-face focus groups, asynchronous (for example, online/email discussions in 'non-real time'). While many of the fundamental principles of focus group research are the same, regardless of how they are conducted, a number of subtle nuances are associated with the online medium. 32 Some of which are discussed further in the following sections.
Some key considerations associated with face-to-face focus groups are: how many participants are required; should participants within each group know each other (or not) and how many focus groups are needed within a single study? These issues are much debated and there is no definitive answer. However, the number of focus groups required will largely depend on the topic area, the depth and breadth of data needed, the desired level of participation required 29 and the necessity (or not) for data saturation.
The optimum group size is around six to eight participants (excluding researchers) but can work effectively with between three and 14 participants. 3 If the group is too small, it may limit discussion, but if it is too large, it may become disorganised and difficult to manage. It is, however, prudent to over-recruit for a focus group by approximately two to three participants, to allow for potential non-attenders. For many researchers, particularly novice researchers, group size may also be informed by pragmatic considerations, such as the type of study, resources available and moderator experience. 28 Similar size and mix considerations exist for online focus groups. Typically, synchronous online focus groups will have around three to eight participants but, as the discussion does not happen simultaneously, asynchronous groups may have as many as 10–30 participants. 33
The topic area and potential group interaction should guide group composition considerations. Pre-existing groups, where participants know each other (for example, work colleagues) may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences and may enjoy a familiarity, which facilitates discussion and/or the ability to challenge each other courteously. 3 However, if there is a potential power imbalance within the group or if existing group norms and hierarchies may adversely affect the ability of participants to speak freely, then 'stranger groups' (that is, where participants do not already know each other) may be more appropriate. 34 , 35
Face-to-face focus groups should normally be conducted by two researchers; a moderator and an observer. 28 The moderator facilitates group discussion, while the observer typically monitors group dynamics, behaviours, non-verbal cues, seating arrangements and speaking order, which is essential for transcription and analysis. The same principles of informed consent, as discussed in the interview section, also apply to focus groups, regardless of medium. However, the consent process for online discussions will probably be managed somewhat differently. For example, while an appropriate participant information leaflet (and consent form) would still be required, the process is likely to be managed electronically (for example, via email) and would need to specifically address issues relating to technology (for example, anonymity and use, storage and access to online data). 32
The venue in which a face to face focus group is conducted should be of a suitable size, private, quiet, free from distractions and in a collectively convenient location. It should also be conducted at a time appropriate for participants, 28 as this is likely to promote attendance. As with interviews, the same ethical considerations apply (as discussed earlier). However, online focus groups may present additional ethical challenges associated with issues such as informed consent, appropriate access and secure data storage. Further guidance can be found elsewhere. 8 , 32
Before the focus group commences, the researchers should establish rapport with participants, as this will help to put them at ease and result in a more meaningful discussion. Consequently, researchers should introduce themselves, provide further clarity about the study and how the process will work in practice and outline the 'ground rules'. Ground rules are designed to assist, not hinder, group discussion and typically include: 3 , 28 , 29
Discussions within the group are confidential to the group
Only one person can speak at a time
All participants should have sufficient opportunity to contribute
There should be no unnecessary interruptions while someone is speaking
Everyone can be expected to be listened to and their views respected
Challenging contrary opinions is appropriate, but ridiculing is not.
Moderating a focus group requires considered management and good interpersonal skills to help guide the discussion and, where appropriate, keep it sufficiently focused. Avoid, therefore, participating, leading, expressing personal opinions or correcting participants' knowledge 3 , 28 as this may bias the process. A relaxed, interested demeanour will also help participants to feel comfortable and promote candid discourse. Moderators should also prevent the discussion being dominated by any one person, ensure differences of opinions are discussed fairly and, if required, encourage reticent participants to contribute. 3 Asking open questions, reflecting on significant issues, inviting further debate, probing responses accordingly, and seeking further clarification, as and where appropriate, will help to obtain sufficient depth and insight into the topic area.
Moderating online focus groups requires comparable skills, particularly if the discussion is synchronous, as the discussion may be dominated by those who can type proficiently. 36 It is therefore important that sufficient time and respect is accorded to those who may not be able to type as quickly. Asynchronous discussions are usually less problematic in this respect, as interactions are less instant. However, moderating an asynchronous discussion presents additional challenges, particularly if participants are geographically dispersed, as they may be online at different times. Consequently, the moderator will not always be present and the discussion may therefore need to occur over several days, which can be difficult to manage and facilitate and invariably requires considerable flexibility. 32 It is also worth recognising that establishing rapport with participants via online medium is often more challenging than via face-to-face and may therefore require additional time, skills, effort and consideration.
As with research interviews, focus groups should be guided by an appropriate interview schedule, as discussed earlier in the paper. For example, the schedule will usually be informed by the review of the literature and study aims, and will merely provide a topic guide to help inform subsequent discussions. To provide a verbatim account of the discussion, focus groups must be recorded, using an audio-recorder with a good quality multi-directional microphone. While videotaping is possible, some participants may find it obtrusive, 3 which may adversely affect group dynamics. The use (or not) of a video recorder, should therefore be carefully considered.
At the end of the focus group, a few minutes should be spent rounding up and reflecting on the discussion. 28 Depending on the topic area, it is possible that some participants may have revealed deeply personal issues and may therefore require further help and support, such as a constructive debrief or possibly even referral on to a relevant third party. It is also possible that some participants may feel that the discussion did not adequately reflect their views and, consequently, may no longer wish to be associated with the study. 28 Such occurrences are likely to be uncommon, but should they arise, it is important to further discuss any concerns and, if appropriate, offer them the opportunity to withdraw (including any data relating to them) from the study. Immediately after the discussion, researchers should compile notes regarding thoughts and ideas about the focus group, which can assist with data analysis and, if appropriate, any further data collection.
Qualitative research is increasingly being utilised within dental research to explore the experiences, perspectives, motivations and beliefs of participants. The contributions of qualitative research to evidence-based practice are increasingly being recognised, both as standalone research and as part of larger mixed-method studies, including clinical trials. Interviews and focus groups remain commonly used data collection methods in qualitative research, and with the advent of digital technologies, their utilisation continues to evolve. However, digital methods of qualitative data collection present additional methodological, ethical and practical considerations, but also potentially offer considerable flexibility to participants and researchers. Consequently, regardless of format, qualitative methods have significant potential to inform important areas of dental practice, policy and further related research.
Gussy M, Dickson-Swift V, Adams J . A scoping review of qualitative research in peer-reviewed dental publications. Int J Dent Hygiene 2013; 11 : 174–179.
Article Google Scholar
Burnard P, Gill P, Stewart K, Treasure E, Chadwick B . Analysing and presenting qualitative data. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 429–432.
Gill P, Stewart K, Treasure E, Chadwick B . Methods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 291–295.
Gill P, Stewart K, Treasure E, Chadwick B . Conducting qualitative interviews with school children in dental research. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 371–374.
Stewart K, Gill P, Chadwick B, Treasure E . Qualitative research in dentistry. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 235–239.
Masood M, Thaliath E, Bower E, Newton J . An appraisal of the quality of published qualitative dental research. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2011; 39 : 193–203.
Ellis J, Levine A, Bedos C et al. Refusal of implant supported mandibular overdentures by elderly patients. Gerodontology 2011; 28 : 62–68.
Macfarlane S, Bucknall T . Digital Technologies in Research. In Gerrish K, Lathlean J (editors) The Research Process in Nursing . 7th edition. pp. 71–86. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell; 2015.
Google Scholar
Lee R, Fielding N, Blank G . Online Research Methods in the Social Sciences: An Editorial Introduction. In Fielding N, Lee R, Blank G (editors) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods . pp. 3–16. London: Sage Publications; 2016.
Creswell J . Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five designs . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998.
Guest G, Namey E, Mitchell M . Qualitative research: Defining and designing In Guest G, Namey E, Mitchell M (editors) Collecting Qualitative Data: A Field Manual For Applied Research . pp. 1–40. London: Sage Publications, 2013.
Chapter Google Scholar
Pope C, Mays N . Qualitative research: Reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services research. BMJ 1995; 311 : 42–45.
Giddings L, Grant B . A Trojan Horse for positivism? A critique of mixed methods research. Adv Nurs Sci 2007; 30 : 52–60.
Hammersley M, Atkinson P . Ethnography: Principles in Practice . London: Routledge, 1995.
Oltmann S . Qualitative interviews: A methodological discussion of the interviewer and respondent contexts Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 2016; 17 : Art. 15.
Patton M . Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002.
Wang M, Vinall-Collier K, Csikar J, Douglas G . A qualitative study of patients' views of techniques to reduce dental anxiety. J Dent 2017; 66 : 45–51.
Lindenmeyer A, Bowyer V, Roscoe J, Dale J, Sutcliffe P . Oral health awareness and care preferences in patients with diabetes: a qualitative study. Fam Pract 2013; 30 : 113–118.
Gallagher J, Clarke W, Wilson N . Understanding the motivation: a qualitative study of dental students' choice of professional career. Eur J Dent Educ 2008; 12 : 89–98.
Tod A . Interviewing. In Gerrish K, Lacey A (editors) The Research Process in Nursing . Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
Grey E, Harcourt D, O'Sullivan D, Buchanan H, Kipatrick N . A qualitative study of patients' motivations and expectations for dental implants. Br Dent J 2013; 214 : 10.1038/sj.bdj.2012.1178.
Farmer J, Peressini S, Lawrence H . Exploring the role of the dental hygienist in reducing oral health disparities in Canada: A qualitative study. Int J Dent Hygiene 2017; 10.1111/idh.12276.
McElhinney E, Cheater F, Kidd L . Undertaking qualitative health research in social virtual worlds. J Adv Nurs 2013; 70 : 1267–1275.
Health Research Authority. UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research. Available at https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/policies-standards-legislation/uk-policy-framework-health-social-care-research/ (accessed September 2017).
Baillie J, Gill P, Courtenay P . Knowledge, understanding and experiences of peritonitis among patients, and their families, undertaking peritoneal dialysis: A mixed methods study protocol. J Adv Nurs 2017; 10.1111/jan.13400.
Kvale S . Interviews . Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage, 1996.
Spradley J . The Ethnographic Interview . New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979.
Goodman C, Evans C . Focus Groups. In Gerrish K, Lathlean J (editors) The Research Process in Nursing . pp. 401–412. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2015.
Shaha M, Wenzell J, Hill E . Planning and conducting focus group research with nurses. Nurse Res 2011; 18 : 77–87.
Wang G, Gao X, Edward C . Public perception of dental implants: a qualitative study. J Dent 2015; 43 : 798–805.
Bailey E . Contemporary views of dental practitioners' on patient safety. Br Dent J 2015; 219 : 535–540.
Abrams K, Gaiser T . Online Focus Groups. In Field N, Lee R, Blank G (editors) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods . pp. 435–450. London: Sage Publications, 2016.
Poynter R . The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research . West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
Kevern J, Webb C . Focus groups as a tool for critical social research in nurse education. Nurse Educ Today 2001; 21 : 323–333.
Kitzinger J, Barbour R . Introduction: The Challenge and Promise of Focus Groups. In Barbour R S K J (editor) Developing Focus Group Research . pp. 1–20. London: Sage Publications, 1999.
Krueger R, Casey M . Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE; 2009.
Download references
Authors and affiliations.
Senior Lecturer (Adult Nursing), School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University,
Lecturer (Adult Nursing) and RCBC Wales Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University,
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Correspondence to P. Gill .
Reprints and permissions
Cite this article.
Gill, P., Baillie, J. Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age. Br Dent J 225 , 668–672 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815
Download citation
Accepted : 02 July 2018
Published : 05 October 2018
Issue Date : 12 October 2018
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Assessment of women’s needs and wishes regarding interprofessional guidance on oral health in pregnancy – a qualitative study.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2024)
International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility (2024)
BMC Public Health (2024)
‘baby mamas’ in urban ghana: an exploratory qualitative study on the factors influencing serial fathering among men in accra, ghana.
Reproductive Health (2023)
Focus groups.
Skip navigation
Focus Groups 101
July 31, 2022 2022-07-31
It is no secret that the field of user experience often favors objective, observational research methods over subjective, attitudinal methods. After all, when something is observed, with proof that it has actually happened, it can be hard to argue against it. However, it takes more than observational research to truly empathize and understand the full complexity of a person’s experience, which includes emotional experiences, mindsets, values, and belief systems. Since there is no other way to gather this data (at the writing of this article, mind reading with neural implants is not possible) researchers must use attitudinal methods to solicit the thoughts and opinions of target customers. A focus group is one of these methods.
What is a focus group, limitations and risks of focus groups, benefits of focus groups, you can run an effective focus group.
Definition: A focus group is a qualitative, attitudinal research method in which a facilitator conducts a meeting or workshop (typically about 1–2 hours long) with a group of 6–9 people to discuss issues and concerns about their experiences with a product or service. The term “focus” relates to the role of the facilitator, who maintains the group’s focus on certain topics during discussions.
Traditionally, focus groups have been a market-research method, used to get a sense of some aspect of a product, service, or concept. In these settings, the focus would typically be on certain words, graphics, videos, or other noninteractive media. All participants are presented with the media as a group and then prompted to provide their thoughts to the facilitator and the rest of the group.
Generally speaking, focus groups can provide useful information about your customers’ overall opinions and their impressions of a product or service.
Focus groups are notoriously problematic and often improperly used. Here are some of their limitations:
Given these limitations, focus groups should NOT be utilized in the following contexts:
Despite these shortcomings, there are some good reasons to consider a focus group:
Given these benefits, focus groups are BEST utilized in the following contexts:
It’s fair to say that focus groups are often unfairly maligned, considering the many benefits they can yield with relatively less time commitment compared to other methods. The key to reaping these benefits and mitigating limitations is to use a combination of other research methods (like other behavioral or attitudinal methods), and having a strong research plan.
Here are the key things to consider when planning your focus group:
Who do you want to learn about? What specific segment of users are you interested in? Even if your user is “everybody,” use personas , archetypes , or jobs-to-be-done to identify key recruiting criteria . Recruiting is a tricky balance of finding similar user motivations and goals (not demographics) while inviting a mix of backgrounds to reduce bias from other sources — such as having an overly westernized sample when studying a global offering.
Note who is not included, and why, for consideration during analysis and when strategizing future research. Is it a different segment that’s intentionally excluded? Lack of response? Lack of interest/trust? Bias is difficult to totally eliminate, but awareness of sources of bias can help during analysis and might inform future research. For example:
As you plan your agenda for the focus group, remember that most of your participants likely do not know each other and will be asked to speak honestly, potentially revealing information that may make them feel vulnerable or unlike others. Some people may do it, others may not. Consider having the following in your focus group:
Construct your prompts in advance to avoid leading or biasing participants. As with semistructured interviews, focus-group questions should use the funnel technique : be open-ended and broad at the beginning and progressively build detail and specificity with concepts as the conversation progresses. On a related note: remember to frame followup questions both positively and negatively to avoid leading participants, particularly when the conversation may naturally skew in one of these directions.
Focus groups don’t accurately predict future behavior. However, they can help gauge attitudes and guide future exploration, thus avoiding wasted research time. Still, they should be considered a starting point to further research, rather than a validation step. The good news? If your focus-group participants are willing, not only will you have their input to guide your further research, you may also have a group of customers willing and able to test what you create to further guide your design.
User research methods: from strategy to requirements to design.
Pick the best UX research method for each stage in the design process
Uncover in-depth, accurate insights about your users
Orchestrate and optimize research to amplify its impact
Please accept marketing cookies to view the embedded video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9nZRMN49J0
Frequency ≠ Importance in Qualitative Data
Tanner Kohler · 3 min
Deductively Analyzing Qualitative Data
Analyzing Qualitative User Data in a Spreadsheet to Show Themes
Kim Salazar · 4 min
Obtaining Consent for User Research
Therese Fessenden · 8 min
Data Is More than Numbers: Why Qualitative Data Isn’t Just Opinions
Page Laubheimer · 9 min
6 Mistakes When Crafting Interview Questions
Maria Rosala · 5 min
Should You Run a Survey?
Maddie Brown · 6 min
Why 5 Participants Are Okay in a Qualitative Study, but Not in a Quantitative One
Raluca Budiu · 7 min
How Many Participants for a UX Interview?
Maria Rosala · 6 min
Interviews are a qualitative research method and typically takes the form of a conversation where questions are asked to elicit information. The interviewer poses questions to the interviewee, in an alternating series of usually brief questions and answers. The questions may be highly structured, open-ended, or somewhere in between the two.
In phenomenological, phenomenographic or ethnographic research, interviews are used to uncover the meanings of central themes in the life world of the subjects from their own point of view (Ayres, 2008). A particular case are focus groups which are specially chosen groups of people whose reactions are studied in guided or open discussions to determine the responses that can be expected from a larger population (David, 1996).
The use of focus groups is intended to collect data through interactive and directed discussions by a researcher. It is a form of qualitative research consisting of a group conversation in which prompts are given to elicit sharing data about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes. Researchers should select members of the focus group carefully for compelling and authoritative responses (Bloor, 2001). Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members. During this process, the researcher either takes notes or records the vital points he or she is getting from the group.
Advantages of the interviews include flexibility to the interviewers; and the ability to collectdata about the non-verbal behaviour and spontaneity of the respondent. Advantages in focus groups include the diversity of voices and opinions included in those authoritative responses. Conversely, as with other qualitative methods, there can be issues with replicability. Conducting interview studies can be time-consuming and may provide less anonymity to participants. Care needs to be taken to avoid researcher bias (Bailey, 1994). Member checking (sometimes called participant or respondent validation) is a technique that can improve the reliability of results – see Birt et al. (2016).
Penny Bentley used semi-structured interviews with 20 Australian primary and secondary teachers of STEM subject areas interviews to explore and describe the experience of professional learning through open education (PLOE). Following the removal of transcripts used for the piloting and refinement of interview questions, data analysis and subsequent findings were based on the interviews of 16 teachers.
“I chose to explore and describe the different ways professional learning through open education (PLOE) was experienced by Australian teachers of STEM subjects, not to focus on PLOE itself. In doing so I viewed experience as a relationship between teachers and PLOE (non-dualistic ontology) and assumed this relationship was the source of new knowledge (epistemology). I wanted to explore, understand and describe the different ways teachers experienced PLOE, from their perspective. This was an interpretive activity, situating my research in the interpretive paradigm. Also, describing the perspectives of teachers, in terms of what PLOE means to them, was research of a qualitative nature. However, there are a range of methodologies within the interpretive paradigm, such as ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology and phenomenography. “In order to justify my choice for this study I needed to consider the differences between these methodologies. I was not studying the culture of a group of teachers using the open Web to learn about STEM education (ethnography), although culture may be an aspect of how the phenomenon of PLOE is experienced. Nor was I generating a theory to explain the cause of social processes and interactions when teachers engaged in PLOE (grounded theory), although I was interested in understanding and describing the different ways these processes and interactions are experienced. Even though human experience is the focus of phenomenology and phenomenography, it is the phenomenographic focus on variation of experience, rather the focus on essence of experience made by phenomenologists, that made a difference to which methodology and methods I chose.”
Marjon Baas conducted interviews in both the first and the fourth study of her research. In the first study, interviews were used to explore teachers’ current practices with OER and their need for support. The questions in the interview guide were based on the different layers of the OER Adoption Pyramid. Baas used additional interviews to gain more insights into teachers’ perceived value of an OER Community of Practice.
“A mixed method approach was adopted in which a questionnaire was sent out to examine the current state of affairs within the context of my study. Afterwards, interviews were conducted to explore teachers’ current practices with OER and their need for support. The instruments were designed based on the different layers of the OER Adoption Pyramid (Cox & Trotter, 2017). We used additional interviews to gain more insights into teachers’ practices because previous research showed that there is still a lot of ambiguity around the term OER and so-called ‘dark-reuse’ could be prevalent which cannot be measured in quantitative measurements alone. “The second study was a qualitative study to improve our understanding how teachers assess OER and how they move from initial assessment to adoption. In this qualitative study teachers were asked to collaboratively assess OER within their teaching subject. The aim of our study was to characterize what elements teachers take into account when assessing OER quality and not to generalize what defines a quality OER. We also explored by asking teachers to create an association map before and after the three months in which teachers could explore OER, if their perception changed during. We choose this qualitative design because it provides rich insights into the elements teachers’ take into account when assessing OER rather than a quantitative measurement in which teachers are asked to self-reflect how they assess OER. “The follow-up study focuses on a subject community in which we will make use of a mixed-methods design. Qualitative data will be collected through interviews with teachers based on the five phases of the OER re-use process as defined by Clements and Pawlowski (2012). This data will be used to analyze how teachers make use of the subject community.”
Viviane Vladimirschi used focus groups to assess the overall effectiveness of the intervention in her research. These focus group conversations consisted of semi-structured, open-ended questions.
“Focus groups are excellent for gaining new insights and assessing interventions. In my opinion, the biggest challenge is knowing what questions to ask in order to obtain useful data. I used Guskey’s (2002) Multilevel Evaluation Framework to guide the semi-structured, open-ended interview questions. In my opinion, Guskey’s model is effective and straightforward for educational interventions. “Although the use of mixed methods can be excellent to collect and compare different sources of data enhancing the quality of data and promoting convergence and confirmation of findings, the researcher must feel comfortable with and be knowledgeable with both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. I would also not recommend quantitative data methods for small sample populations.”
Useful references for Interviews & Focus Groups: Ayres (2008); Bailey (1994); Bloor (2001); Morgan (1996)
Research Methods Handbook Copyright © 2020 by Rob Farrow; Francisco Iniesto; Martin Weller; and Rebecca Pitt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
An official website of the United States government
The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.
The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Email citation, add to collections.
Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.
Affiliations.
Increasingly, social life-and accordingly, social research-is conducted in online environments. Asynchronous online focus groups (AOFGs) have emerged as an important tool to conduct remote research with geographically diverse populations. However, there remain few systematic accounts of AOFG methods to guide researchers' decision-making in designing and implementing studies. This paper seeks to address this gap by describing a recent study on body image and health among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young adults. In this study, eight AOFGs were conducted in August-October 2019 with 66 TGD young adults residing in 25 U.S. states. Each AOFG lasted four consecutive days with two prompts posted by moderators per day. Overall, participant satisfaction with AOFGs was high: 98% reported their experience was excellent, very good, or good and 95% would be somewhat or very likely to sign up for another AOFG. This example is used to illustrate key methodological decision-points, acceptability of the method to participants, and lessons learned. The goal of this paper is to encourage other researchers, particularly health researchers, to consider using AOFGs and to engage with the method's strengths and limitations in order to develop new opportunities for online technologies to enrich the field of qualitative health research.
PubMed Disclaimer
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.
Figure 1.. Asynchronous online focus group screening…
Figure 1.. Asynchronous online focus group screening and enrollment of transgender and gender diverse young…
Distribution of AOFG participants by…
Distribution of AOFG participants by U.S. state (n=66 transgender and gender diverse young…
Example image from Social Identity…
Example image from Social Identity Mapping Activity in asynchronous online focus groups with…
Example from Digital Image Board…
Example from Digital Image Board Activity in asynchronous online focus groups with transgender…
Figure 5.. Asynchronous online focus group (AOFG)…
Figure 5.. Asynchronous online focus group (AOFG) engagement: Percent of participants responding by prompt
Grants and funding.
Full text sources.
NCBI Literature Resources
MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer
The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.
You have full access to this open access chapter
Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series ((UBS))
14k Accesses
4 Citations
2 Altmetric
Focus group discussion is a participatory research method that has been effectively utilized in numerous social science disciplines either as a standalone method or more often alongside other methods. The research presented in this chapter used focus groups as the final tool in an extensive study of small-scale forest owners’ management practices, examining driving and hindering factors. This issue stems from dispersed and fragmented private ownership with many owners, 89% of whose properties are smaller than 5 ha and are divided into three plots on average. This has posed a considerable challenge to Slovenia’s forestry sector. Focus groups sought to obtain stakeholders’ reflections on findings from previous research as well as new insights. To this end, nine focus groups scattered around the country were conducted at the local level following the same format. The National Forestry Service’s district foresters contributed greatly to recruiting participants and carrying out the discussions. Important outcomes were owners’ perspectives on detached owners and their lack of management, as well as new topics that were not identified in previous stages. Despite some limitations—in our case, the inability to attract detached owners and overcome some power-related tensions between owners and the district forester—the focus groups proved to be not only efficient and informative for researchers, but above all supportive of state forest policy being implemented at the local level and greater stakeholder participation in it.
You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF
Do interventions from participatory action research improve livelihood and reduce conflicts over forest resources a case study from south central ethiopia.
The focus group is a qualitative method of data collection that has been widely used in the social sciences for several decades (Parker and Jonathan 2006 ). Its origins go back to Columbia University in the late 1940s. The first topics studied were attitudes toward radio soap operas and responses to the government’s own wartime radio propaganda programs (Bloor et al. 2001 ). From a prevailing data collection method in both public and private organizations, it has become a valuable research method in recent decades. Focus groups are commonly used to explore and construct knowledge about a particular phenomenon in small groups (Kitzinger 1995 ; Liamputtong 2011 ; Krueger and Casey 2015 ) or to aid interpretation, critical appraisal, or feedback for survey findings (Bloor et al. 2001 ). For a researcher, focus groups offer invaluable breadth of learning, and the participants’ thoughts complement the originality of researcher’s own thinking (Bloor et al. 2001 ). Moreover, participants have the capacity to identify various (hidden) dimensions of a topic (Longhurst 2010 ). Because the method is very resourceful and adaptive, and it perfectly complements other research methods such as surveys, questionnaires, and individual interviews (Longhurst 2010 ). In addition, its time efficiency and low cost have promoted its widespread adoption.
A further reason for the wide use of the focus group method is its inherent participatory nature based on group processes (Chiu 2003 ), making it an excellent participatory approach. This is additionally strengthened by the fact that focus groups normally address average people, who are assumed to be “ingenuous participants” (Farinosi et al. 2019 ). Accordingly, the focus group is one of the most dynamic research methods (Farinosi et al. 2019 ); its group dynamics help researchers to obtain richer and more detailed data (Lune and Berg 2017 ), making it stand out from other qualitative research methods. Whereas the scholarly benefits of the researcher–participant relationship have been clearly identified, participant benefits have received less attention. However, we believe there are some. The most tangible is in planning procedures by incorporating peoples’ needs and expectations. When a focus group discussion is driven by pure curiosity, participants’ benefits are confined to new insights and a wider perspective on the issues shared within a group more generally such as empowerment, inclusion, and community building.
The basic element of this method is the participatory aspect, which stimulates dynamic discussion among participants guided by a moderator in such a way that all group members are engaged and active. The discussion is normally semi-structured because the topics are well defined prior to carrying out a focus group (Miller and Scoptur 2016 ). Usually, a focus group cycle consists of two to ten discussions, but the number varies and depends on the research goals, number of topics, and time and budget availability. The number of participants for each individual focus group discussion varies from an optimal six to eight, to real-life practical modifications ranging from three to fourteen participants. The group size reflects the characteristics of participants as well as the topics being discussed (Bloor et al. 2001 ).
Although the focus group method is primarily used in the social sciences, its usability nevertheless applies to other disciplines if the research necessitates a human or social aspect. The method has, therefore, also gained popularity in natural resource management. Not only are natural resources generally very complex, but they also touch upon various sectoral policies, which makes them challenging to manage. Forests and their future development are no exception, especially in connection with climate change discourse and accessibility and social equity concerns, among other things.
The usefulness of focus groups in forest management practices and options is widely addressed in the literature. Attention is given to the following aspects: how the management process is developed and steered (Corral and Hernandez 2017 ), what is considered or neglected in forest management (Mountjoy et al. 2014 ; Heltorp et al. 2018 ), whether and how stakeholders are included (Wilkes-Allemann et al. 2015 ; Awung and Marchant 2018 ; Ward et al. 2018 ), what stakeholders’ expectations and values are (Bernués et al. 2014 ; Andrejczyk et al. 2016 ; Ordóñez et al. 2017 ; Takala et al. 2017a , b ; Soto et al. 2018 ; Sutherland et al. 2018 ), which forest interventions are socially acceptable (Miller et al. 2014 ; Vaidya and Mayer 2016 ; Kelly et al. 2016 ), and what the benefits are for people involved in the management process (Egunyu et al. 2016 ).
Encouraged by the popularity of qualitative research methods for understanding the link between forests and society, and following the latest trends in forest management research (i.e., analytical approaches and methods; Leipold 2014 ), we used the focus group method to explore the characteristics of small-scale forest management in Slovenia. The purpose of conducting focus groups was to assemble diverse stakeholders that were engaged in forest management and to use moderated discussion to collect their often opposing views of and opinions about selected topics (Nyumba et al. 2018 ). Therefore, this chapter shows how the focus group method was used in the final phase for studying the management of pocket-sized private forest properties as an efficient complement to other methods. Specifically, focus groups were used to obtain stakeholders’ reflections on findings from previous research stages as well as new insights.
Slovenia is one of the most forested countries in Europe, and forests hold a prominent role in Slovenians’ mindset based on the wide variety of services they provide: from economic and environmental to recreational and social. Most of the country’s forests (76% of 1.2 million ha) are owned by approximately half a million private forest owners (PFOs), which is a large group within a country of only two million (Medved et al. 2010 ; Kumer and Potočnik Slavič 2016 ). Given the high number of forest owners in comparison to the total population, it is not surprising that private forest properties are small (89% of them are smaller than 5 ha). Moreover, private forest properties are also considerably fragmented with one owner having three parcels on average (Fig. 13.1 ). The small sizes of forest properties and their parcelization and fragmentation is a result of socioeconomic changes that occurred in the decades after the Second World War. The owners have started to migrate from rural areas to towns, and they lost interest in their forest property. The changes occurred when planned inheritance practices (e.g., by favoring one heir among the children) changed into unplanned practices. Inherited forest properties were divided among children, spouses, and siblings, each receiving an equal but small share. The same thing happened with restitution (denationalization), in which properties were assigned to all of the legal heirs of a single owner that lost land nationalized after the Second World War (Kumer 2019 ). On top of that, traditional inheritance practices in the past were different among regions. For example, due to Hungarian inheritance law (and despite planned inheritance), the land was broken up into small parcels in the eastern part of the country long before the aforementioned social changes. This has led to a situation in which forest properties in eastern Slovenia are even more fragmented than elsewhere. In addition to all of these forest-related aspects and challenges, there is another one worth mentioning: Slovenian law requires forests to be publicly accessible, permitting not only walking and relaxation, but also collecting berries, nuts, and mushrooms for personal consumption. This fact that Slovenians are very proud of can conversely lead to conflicts between land owners and users (Kumer et al. 2018 ).
Map showing the ownership fragmentation of forest land
In Slovenia, forest-related challenges have only been subject to quantitative research, and they have predominantly been discussed within the context of production-oriented forestry policy, which has aimed to engage owners in management of their economically underutilized forests. To our knowledge, no qualitative research has been conducted on the attitudes of forest owners, their socioeconomic background, and their understanding of forest values beyond mere timber production. Therefore, focus groups to complement prior surveys, interviews (Kumer and Potočnik Slavič 2016 ), owner type analysis (Kumer and Štrumbelj 2017 ), and multi-criteria decision analysis (Kumer and Pezdevšek Malovrh 2018 ) appeared to be an ideal method to bridge this research gap. The focus groups are an ideal tool when trying to access local knowledge and also detailed and hidden information (i.e., interpersonal interactions and nonverbal communication).
In order to approach forestry stakeholders in an effective and communicative manner, we worked closely with the Slovenian Forest Service. This public institution, whose task it to outline and steer forest management planning in all forests, irrespective of ownership, is hierarchically organized with a central unit in Ljubljana and 396 forest districts around the country. District foresters are forestry experts that transmit national forest-related policy to the local level. They provide education and training for forest owners, cooperate with rural communities, and foster awareness about forests and nature preservation. Due to their embeddedness in the local situation, they were our key figures for approaching forest owners.
13.3.1 designing the focus groups.
The essential part of the preparatory phase was developing an implementation guide, as suggested by Crabtree and Miller ( 1999 ). Building on the research question, a list of semi-structured questions was prepared based on prior research steps; specifically, on the results of a mixed-mode survey, in-depth interviews, and multi-criteria research analysis for evaluating stakeholders’ perceptions.
The questions included in the guide covered the following topics: agricultural affiliation, inheritance practices, gender differences in management, interpersonal relations with co-owners and neighbors, managerial practices, distant management, taxes, and future forestry regulation.
In order for the process to run smoothly and to help the moderator to conduct the discussion efficiently, a series of questions and a strict timeline were outlined. The general outline for the entire cycle was set between March and June 2016. The entire time span allowed flexibility in carrying out individual focus groups.
The focus groups required technical equipment for audio and video recording. Video recording was needed for analysis of interpersonal interactions and nonverbal communication.
The quality of the data collected was greatly dependent on the participants, and so the group composition was of high importance. We paid particular attention to participants’ heterogeneity and diversity (Table 13.1 ), which were both acknowledged in the literature (Bole et al. 2017 ). The internal variety also considered gender and age balance. The common denominator of our stakeholder groups is embeddedness in forest management at the local level. More specifically, partakers were individual small-scale private forest owners (SPFO), members of PFO associations, and members of machinery circles. A top-down legal and decision-making perspective was added by including district foresters, other employees of the public forestry service, and representatives of Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry.
The group composition created a challenge, which is referred to as “power imposition” (Cooke and Kothari 2001 ). Numerous SPFOs considered themselves less knowledgeable about forestry than the forestry sector professionals and employees. To overcome SPFOs’ self-perceived inferior position and subsequent impediment, we emphasized that our goal was only to collect personal attitudes, experiences, and reflections. This proved to be effective and encouraging enough for SPFOs to take part.
The success of the recruitment process, however, depended greatly on the local district forester and his or her credibility, moral authority within the forest owners’ community, and other stakeholder communities. It was the district forester, therefore, that functioned as a communication channel. We also reached nonowners through academic contacts, e-mail, and phone invitations. In addition, attendants were further encouraged by simple incentives. These included practical gifts, such as recyclable shopping bags, notebooks, and umbrellas. Professionals were provided with confirmation of their participation, allowing them to integrate attendance into their daily work and have travel costs reimbursed.
Given the general forest ownership and forest property situation in Slovenia and regionally specific inheritance practices, we paid special attention to the locations of focus groups. Nine focus groups were spatially dispersed and conducted in selected local units of the Slovenian Forestry Service. Nationwide coverage was in line with one of the aims of the research: to obtain a geographical aspect, including understanding regional differences.
The first group—a pilot or preparatory focus group for testing the questions’ clarity—was carried out in downtown Ljubljana. The venue was a modern, state of the art focus group facility, which offered a quiet, private, and comfortable environment for participants and an observation cabin with a one-way mirror and audio, visual, and other technical support for the moderator and his supervisors. Despite this excellent technical arrangement, its distance from forest owners’ home locations dissuaded us from using this venue for follow-up focus groups.
Based on practical and logistical reasons, the locations for the main part of the focus groups were selected close to participants. Consequently, we had to adapt to the availabilities and capacities of the local facilities. These focus groups, therefore, did not necessarily meet the technical standards of the first one. The chosen venues were different: from local inns to the local branch office of the Slovenian Forestry Service. The local branch offices proved to be a comfortable place to meet and discuss matters due to the participants’ familiarity with them. Organizing a group at the local level substantially reduced the overall cost: the participants traveled shorter distances on average.
The role of a moderator is to introduce the aim of the focus group and to guide the conversation. Introducing the aim is done with a broad, open-ended question in order to define the scope of the discussion and pitch the topic. In our case, the introductory question was “What does a forest mean to you?” For guiding the subsequent conversation, a moderator should only use the guide to negotiate the group and to create a structured way of collecting responses. However, the discussion might raise unpredictable and unexpected thoughts, and a moderator should, therefore, remain open-minded and receptive, and be able to react appropriately. A moderator can use probes to prompt participants to explain further.
Negotiating between allowing a natural flow of the interaction among participants on the one hand and a focus group guide with a timeline on the other is a considerable challenge. The group structure plays a role in this respect. Well-structured groups tend to answer a research question in a straightforward way, whereas less structured ones help reveal the perspectives of the group participants and may assist in the discovery of new ideas and insights (Morgan 1988 ). In our case, the moderator fostered spontaneous and free-flowing conversation, thereby allowing relatively unstructured discussions (Fig. 13.2 ).
Photograph Peter Kumer
Snapshot from a focus group in Velesovo.
The role of district foresters was an important one not only in the recruiting process, but also in the implementation phase, but in the latter case, their inactivity was appreciated. They understood that their viewpoints could influence the participants’ train of thoughts. Therefore, they refrained from talking, especially from giving informed opinions; however, they helped the moderator to put the attendees’ personal attitudes and experiences into a policy context and they brought in the absentee owners’ perspectives.
We transcribed audio recordings in their entirety and then performed a computer-assisted grounded theory analysis. The theoretical background was based on Friese’s ( 2016 ) adaptation of a constructivist approach to grounded theory (Charmaz 2006 ), which foregrounds researchers’ interpretations and their “immersion” in the data in a way that embeds the narrative of the participants in the final research findings.
The ATLAS.ti program was used in the coding process, which is the core of the analytical stage. It included theoretical sampling; initial, focused, and axial coding; and building the category system. The focus groups were analyzed after each session.
The focus group discussion provided down to earth interpretation of and reflection on findings from previous research stages as well as completely new and unexpected standpoints. By bringing in their personal and family experiences, participants enhanced the grass roots aspect of small-scale forest property management. To a researcher, they provided an in-depth understanding of small-scale forest ownership.
First, the discussion on cluster analysis results yielded two SPFO types—those that are engaged and those that are detached (Kumer and Štrumbelj 2017 )—and it revealed other potential owner types in Slovenia. In addition, the notion of detached (absentee) SPFOs that live away from their properties and are not engaged in management gave rise to a broad and lively discussion mostly focusing on the reasons for their disengagement. Among these, the participants singled out past migrations, especially from rural to urban areas or from Slovenia abroad (mostly to western European countries or overseas), changes of permanent residence, and co-ownership, which hinders efficient management.
On the other hand, the important focus group outcomes were emerging topics that appeared relevant for the research but were not identified in the previous stages. One such example is the climate of mistrust among forest owners, which negatively affects their willingness to cooperate. A second circumstance was the landowner versus visitor conflict, which is especially evident near urban centers. Unlimited access to forests as a popular recreational space and a resource of non-wood forest products (such as mushrooms, nuts, herbs, etc.) can result in a collision of different (and often conflicting) ideas among diverse user groups about how to use the forest. This challenge is more severe due to inadequate consideration and a subsequent lack of appropriate monitoring and governance measures.
The participants also benefited from the focus groups by hearing the viewpoints of various stakeholders, and they were informed about the findings of previous research phases, which helped them to learn more about the topic. They could see a complex picture of different interests in the forest.
In our broader research, in which we examined the managerial issues of small-scale forest properties, the focus groups were a final but valuable data resource and interpretation vehicle at the same time. They were therefore planned to be conducted during the last phase in order to allow the juxtaposition of results from previous research phases and ex post reflection on them. Surprisingly, new topics emerged. Taking all of this into account, focus groups proved to ideally complement than other methods, especially for issues in which the human aspect is of major relevance. Our case is closely in line with extensive literature addressing the usefulness of focus groups.
Although the entire endeavor was started and carried out exclusively for research purposes, the process and its activities were also advantageous for stakeholders, especially for district foresters. By participating in the process, they were able to realize some of their general tasks: training and educating owners, disseminating information on forest management, and raising forest-related issues among the public. Moreover, they were given the opportunity to obtain structured and evidence-based insight into current forestry policy from the perspective of owners and other stakeholders.
Nonetheless, some limitations were obvious. A critical limitation is connected with the selection of focus group participants. Despite the valuable assistance of district foresters in recruiting local forest owners and forestry-related stakeholders, the pool of participants did not represent the entire owner population. Detached owners were missing for the most part; absenteeism is inherent in their modus operandi in forest-related issues. This gap was partially filled by district foresters, who functioned as a proxy for absentee owners, whose perspective was thereby indirectly considered.
Even though the district foresters were crucial in the process, they were unable to mitigate the uneasiness of participants that were not entirely comfortable in expressing their views openly. District foresters were perceived as officials that supervise activities in private forests. Upon reflection, excluding foresters from the discussion would probably help overcome this gap.
Not only top-down power pressure emerged, but also a powerless feeling in the professional community in charge of implementing state policy at the local level, which revealed certain power relations within the forestry sector. Some foresters refused to participate because they thought their influence on owners was insignificant or that all owners in their district were inactive. It is somewhat surprising that intangible power and the informal position of foresters emerged as a decisive factor for (dis)engaged private small-scale forest management.
Organizing focus groups at the local level proved to be successful due to the familiar environment and participants. There was no need for an icebreaker to start the discussion. The district foresters functioned as a communication channel between the focus group moderator and participants. They often summarized the conversation and put it into the context of modern forestry challenges. Giving priority to local venues with basic technical equipment over a centrally located specialized focus group facility proved fortuitous in many respects.
Moreover, integrating the focus group into the research was generally economically and academically justified, providing abundant knowledge and information for modest financial input. However, the rich material obtained required substantial staff effort for subsequent qualitative analyzes. Focus groups made it possible for new topics to surface (new, subtle topics were identified) and discussions of aspects beyond the topics planned. These aspects were relevant to our research focus. For example, topics such as trust, cooperation, cultural influence, tradition, and globalized individualism proved to be an important managerial factor.
Management of a resource as important as a forest definitely cannot be devoid of public participation, especially management of private forests and particularly in countries with short democratic tradition. Focus groups are a vehicle for extending public participation. They should be further developed by the Slovenian Forestry Service and considered as a format for regular meetings at the local level to promote cooperation and information transfer, thereby positively influencing forest management.
The following conclusions can be drawn from this study. The method would be less appropriate if the topics discussed were personal and the participants did not know one another. Focus groups are also inappropriate if the problem is individualized and does not require previous interactions. This is not the case in forest management because it typically requires aspects of various stakeholders.
Focus groups are appropriate for identifying unknown or suspected and subtle issues as well as for stakeholders’ reflection on aspects already identified and research findings. Inclusion of a spatially well-organized hierarchical institution (e.g., the Slovenian Forestry Service) into the research can raise certain power-relation tensions, yet the advantages considerably surpass possible disadvantages, not only by providing communication channels, but also by including experts’ opinions and informed experience. Because the issues related to forest management are uniform across the country, the spatial dispersion of focus groups helped us with generalization. Focus groups perfectly connect research, public service, and individual social groups.
Andrejczyk K, Butler BJ, Tyrrell ML, Langer J (2016) Hansel and Gretel walk in the forest, landowners walk in the woods: A qualitative examination of the language used by family forest owners. J Forest 114(1):52–57. https://doi.org/10.5849/jof.14-151
Article Google Scholar
Awung NS, Marchant R (2018) Quantifying local community voices in the decision-making process: insights from the mount cameroon national park REDD + project. Environ Sociol 4(2):235–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2017.1363144
Bernués A, Rodríguez-Ortega T, Ripoll-Bosch RBC, Alfnes FD (2014) Socio-cultural and economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by Mediterranean mountain agroecosystems. PLoS ONE 9(7):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102479
Bloor M, Frankland J, Thomas M, Robson K (eds) (2001) Focus groups in social research. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Google Scholar
Bole D, Šmid Hribar MŠ, Pipan P (2017) Participatory research in community development: a case study of creating cultural tourism products. AUC Geogr 52(2):164–175. https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2017.13
Charmaz K (2006) Constructing grounded theory: a practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage, London
Chiu LF (2003) Transformational potential of focus group practice in participatory action research. Action Res 1(2):165–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503030012006
Cooke B, Kothari U (eds) (2001) Participation: The new tyranny?. Zed Books, London
Corral S, Hernandez Y (2017) Social sensitivity analyses applied to environmental assessment presses. Ecol Econ 141:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.05.022
Crabtree BF, Miller WL (eds) (1999) Doing qualitative research. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Egunyu F, Reed MG, Sinclair JA (2016) Learning through new approaches to forest governance: evidence from Harrop-Procter community forest Canada. Environ Manag 57(4):784–797. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0652-4
Farinosi M, Fortunati L, O’Sullivan J, Pagani L (2019) Enhancing classical methodological tools to foster participatory dimensions in local urban planning. Cities 88:235–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.11.003
Friese S (2016) CAQDAS and grounded theory analysis. MMG Working Paper, Göttingen
Heltorp KMA, Kangas A, Hoen HF (2018) Do forest decision-makers in southeastern Norway adapt forest management to climate change? Scand J For Res 33(3):278–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2017.1362463
Kelly MC, Germain RH, Mack SA (2016) Forest conservation programs and the landowners who prefer them: Profiling family forest owners in the New York City watershed. Land Use Policy 50:17–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.08.026
Kitzinger J (1995) Qualitative research: introducing focus groups. BMJ 311:299–302
Krueger R, Casey MA (2015) Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Kumer P (2019) Lastniki gozdov v Sloveniji. Založba ZRC, Ljubljana
Kumer P, Pezdevšek Malovrh Š (2018) Factors hindering forest management among engaged and detached private forest owners: Slovenian stakeholders’ perceptions. Small-Scale Forestry 18(1):105–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-018-9409-2
Kumer P, Potočnik Slavič I (2016) Heterogeneous small-scale forest ownership: Complexity of management and conflicts of interest. Belgeo 4:1–21
Kumer P, Štrumbelj E (2017) Clustering-based typology and analysis of private small-scale forest owners in Slovenia. For Policy Econ 80:116–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.03.014
Kumer P, Šmid Hribar M, Smrekar A (2018) Gozd kot prostor številnih interesov in priložnosti. In: Flajšman K et al (eds) Trajnostna rekreacija in turizem v gozdu: zbornik zaključne konference CRP projekta “Priprava strokovnih izhodišč za turistično in rekreacijsko rabo gozdov,” 11 September 2018, Ljubljana. Založba Silva Slovenica, Ljubljana, p 23
Leipold S (2014) Creating forests with words: a review of forest-related discourse studies. For Policy Econ 40:12–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2013.12.005
Liamputtong P (2011) Focus group methodology: principles and practice. Sage, London
Book Google Scholar
Longhurst R (2010) Semi-structured interviews and focus groups. In: Clifford N et al (eds) Key methods in geography. Sage, London, pp 117–132
Lune H, Berg BL (2017) Qualitative research methods for the social sciences. Pearson Education, Essex
Medved M, Matijašić D, Pisek R (2010) Private property conditions of Slovenian forests. Preliminary results from 2010. In: Medved (ed) IUFRO conference proceedings small-scale forestry in a changing world: Opportunities and challenges and the role of extension and technology transfer. Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana, p 879
Miller P, Scoptur P (2016) Focus groups: hitting the bull’s-eye. Association for Justice, Washington DC
Miller KA, Snyder SA, Kilgore MA, Davenport MA (2014) Family forest landowners’ interest in forest carbon offset programs: focus group findings from the lake states, USA. Environ Manage 54(6):1399–1411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0352-5
Morgan DL (1988) Focus groups as qualitative research. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Mountjoy NJ, Seekamp E, Davenport MA, Whiles MR (2014) Identifying capacity indicators for community-based natural resource management initiatives: focus group results from conservation practitioners across Illinois. J Environ Planning Manage 57(3):329–348. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2012.743880
Nyumba T, Wilson K, Derrick CJ, Mukherjee N (2018) The use of focus group discussion methodology: insights from two decades of application in conservation. Methods Ecol Evol 9(1):20–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12860
Ordóñez C, Beckley T, Duinker PN, Sinclair AJ (2017) Public values associated with urban forests: synthesis of findings and lessons learned from emerging methods and cross-cultural case studies. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening 25:74–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.05.002
Parker A, Jonathan T (2006) Focus group method and methodology: current practice and recent debate. Int J Res & Method Educ 29(1):23–37
Soto JR, Escobedo FJ, Khachatryan H, Adams DC (2018) Consumer demand for urban forest ecosystem services and disservices: examining trade-offs using choice experiments and best-worst scaling. Ecosyst Serv 29:31–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.11.009
Sutherland WJ, Dicks LV, Everard M, Geneletti D (2018) Qualitative methods for ecologists and conservation scientists. Methods Ecol Evol 9(1):7–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12956
Takala T, Hujala T, Tanskanen M, Tikkanen J (2017a) Forest owners’ discourses of forests: Ideological origins of ownership objectives. J Rural Stud 51(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.01.014
Takala T, Hujala T, Tanskanen M, Tikkanen J (2017b) The order of forest owners’ discourses: Hegemonic and marginalised truths about the forest and forest ownership. J Rural Stud 55:33–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.07.009
Vaidya A, Mayer AL (2016) Use of a participatory approach to develop a regional assessment tool for bioenergy production. Biomass Bioenerg 94(1):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2016.08.001
Ward C, Holmes G, Stringer L (2018) Perceived barriers to and drivers of community participation in protected-area governance. Conserv Biol 32(2):437–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13000
Wilkes-Allemann J, Pütz M, Hirschi C (2015) Governance of forest recreation in urban areas: Analysing the role of stakeholders and institutions using the institutional analysis and development framework. Environ Policy Governance 25(2):139–156. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1668
Download references
The authors thank the Slovenian Research Agency for funding the core program Geography of Slovenia (P6-0101) and the junior researchers postgraduate research program. Both funds provided support for publishing these findings.
Authors and affiliations.
Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Peter Kumer & Mimi Urbanc
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Correspondence to Peter Kumer .
Editors and affiliations.
Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Janez Nared
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
Reprints and permissions
© 2020 The Author(s)
Kumer, P., Urbanc, M. (2020). Focus Groups as a Tool for Conducting Participatory Research: A Case Study of Small-Scale Forest Management in Slovenia. In: Nared, J., Bole, D. (eds) Participatory Research and Planning in Practice. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28014-7_13
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28014-7_13
Published : 02 November 2019
Publisher Name : Springer, Cham
Print ISBN : 978-3-030-28013-0
Online ISBN : 978-3-030-28014-7
eBook Packages : Earth and Environmental Science Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Policies and ethics
Photo: http://bit.ly/2tqEBFw
Adapted from Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector's Field Guide
Focus groups are group discussions conducted with the participation of 7 to 12 people to capture their experiences and views regarding specific issues closely related to research question(s). Focus groups data collection method is most suitable for types of studies where multiple perspectives needed to be obtained regarding the same problem.
Focus groups are led by a moderator who is responsible to ensure that group discussions remain focused on the research area . Advantages of focus groups include the possibility of obtaining primary data through non-verbal channels, as well as, verbal channels and approaching the research area from various perspectives.
As is it is the case with any other research method, focus gropes have some disadvantages as well. Group discussions may be heavily influenced by one or two dominant individuals in the group. Also, some members of focus group may be discouraged from participating in discussions due to lack of confidence or not articulate communication skills. Moreover, the nature of primary data obtained through focus groups are greatly influenced by environmental factors such as design of the room, room temperature, time of the day, etc.
It is important to understand that data collection and data analysis using focus groups is much more difficult compared to questionnaires and interviews. You have to make sure that you fully understand these difficulties before making a final choice of primary data collection method. However, this is not to say that you should not use focus group to collect primary data for your dissertation.
My e-book, The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: a step by step assistance offers practical assistance to complete a dissertation with minimum or no stress. The e-book covers all stages of writing a dissertation starting from the selection of the research area to submitting the completed version of the work before the deadline. John Dudovskiy
Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, automatically generate references for free.
Published on 4 May 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on 6 February 2023.
What is a focus group, step 1: choose your topic of interest, step 2: define your research scope and hypotheses, step 3: determine your focus group questions, step 4: select a moderator or co-moderator, step 5: recruit your participants, step 6: set up your focus group, step 7: host your focus group, step 8: analyse your data and report your results, advantages and disadvantages of focus groups, frequently asked questions about focus groups.
Focus groups are a type of qualitative research . Observations of the group’s dynamic, their answers to focus group questions, and even their body language can guide future research on consumer decisions, products and services, or controversial topics.
Focus groups are often used in marketing, library science, social science, and user research disciplines. They can provide more nuanced and natural feedback than individual interviews and are easier to organise than experiments or large-scale surveys .
Focus groups are primarily considered a confirmatory research technique . In other words, their discussion-heavy setting is most useful for confirming or refuting preexisting beliefs. For this reason, they are great for conducting explanatory research , where you explore why something occurs when limited information is available.
A focus group may be a good choice for you if:
Make sure to choose the type of interview that suits your research best. This table shows the most important differences between the four types.
Structured interview | Semi-structured interview | Unstructured interview | Focus group | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fixed questions | ||||
Fixed order of questions | ||||
Fixed number of questions | ||||
Option to ask additional questions |
As a rule of thumb, research topics related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus groups. If you are seeking direction, explanation, or in-depth dialogue, a focus group could be a good fit.
However, if your questions are dichotomous or if you need to reach a large audience quickly, a survey may be a better option. If your question hinges upon behaviour but you are worried about influencing responses, consider an observational study .
However, food is much more than just consumption and nourishment and can have emotional, cultural, and other implications on individuals.
Once you have determined that a focus group is the right choice for your topic, you can start thinking about what you expect the group discussion to yield.
Perhaps literature already exists on your subject or a sufficiently similar topic that you can use as a starting point. If the topic isn’t well studied, use your instincts to determine what you think is most worthy of study.
Setting your scope will help you formulate intriguing hypotheses , set clear questions, and recruit the right participants.
A benefit of focus groups is that your hypotheses can be open-ended. You can be open to a wide variety of opinions, which can lead to unexpected conclusions.
The questions that you ask your focus group are crucially important to your analysis. Take your time formulating them, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid leading questions , which can affect your responses.
Overall, your focus group questions should be:
If you are discussing a controversial topic, be careful that your questions do not cause social desirability bias . Here, your respondents may lie about their true beliefs to mask any socially unacceptable or unpopular opinions. This and other demand characteristics can hurt your analysis and bias your results.
It is important to have more than one moderator in the room. If you would like to take the lead asking questions, select a co-moderator who can coordinate the technology, take notes, and observe the behaviour of the participants.
If your hypotheses have behavioural aspects, consider asking someone else to be lead moderator so that you are free to take a more observational role.
Depending on your topic, there are a few types of moderator roles that you can choose from.
Depending on your research topic, there are a few sampling methods you can choose from to help you recruit and select participants.
Beware of sampling bias , which can occur when some members of the population are more likely to be included than others.
In most cases, one focus group will not be sufficient to answer your research question. It is likely that you will need to schedule three to four groups. A good rule of thumb is to stop when you’ve reached a saturation point (i.e., when you aren’t receiving new responses to your questions).
Most focus groups have 6–10 participants. It’s a good idea to over-recruit just in case someone doesn’t show up. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t have fewer than 6 or more than 12 participants, in order to get the most reliable results.
Lastly, it’s preferable for your participants not to know you or each other, as this can bias your results.
A focus group is not just a group of people coming together to discuss their opinions. While well-run focus groups have an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere, they are backed up by rigorous methods to provide robust observations.
Be sure to confirm a time and date with your participants well in advance. Focus groups usually meet for 45–90 minutes, but some can last longer. However, beware of the possibility of wandering attention spans. If you really think your session needs to last longer than 90 minutes, schedule a few breaks.
You will also need to decide whether the group will meet in person or online. If you are hosting it in person, be sure to pick an appropriate location.
As a general rule, make sure you are in a noise-free environment that minimises distractions and interruptions to your participants.
It’s important to take into account ethical considerations and informed consent when conducting your research. Informed consent means that participants possess all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate in the research before it starts. This includes information about benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval.
Participants should also sign a release form that states that they are comfortable with being audio- or video-recorded. While verbal consent may be sufficient, it is best to ask participants to sign a form.
A disadvantage of focus groups is that they are too small to provide true anonymity to participants. Make sure that your participants know this prior to participating.
There are a few things you can do to commit to keeping information private. You can secure confidentiality by removing all identifying information from your report or offer to pseudonymise the data later. Data pseudonymisation entails replacing any identifying information about participants with pseudonymous or false identifiers.
If there is something you would like participants to read, study, or prepare beforehand, be sure to let them know well in advance. It’s also a good idea to call them the day before to ensure they will still be participating.
Consider conducting a tech check prior to the arrival of your participants, and note any environmental or external factors that could affect the mood of the group that day. Be sure that you are organised and ready, as a stressful atmosphere can be distracting and counterproductive.
Welcome individuals to the focus group by introducing the topic, yourself, and your co-moderator, and go over any ground rules or suggestions for a successful discussion. It’s important to make your participants feel at ease and forthcoming with their responses.
Consider starting out with an icebreaker, which will allow participants to relax and settle into the space a bit. Your icebreaker can be related to your study topic or not; it’s just an exercise to get participants talking.
Once you start asking your questions, try to keep response times equal between participants. Take note of the most and least talkative members of the group, as well as any participants with particularly strong or dominant personalities.
You can ask less talkative members questions directly to encourage them to participate or ask participants questions by name to even the playing field. Feel free to ask participants to elaborate on their answers or to give an example.
As a moderator, strive to remain neutral. Refrain from reacting to responses, and be aware of your body language (e.g., nodding, raising eyebrows). Active listening skills, such as parroting back answers or asking for clarification, are good methods to encourage participation and signal that you’re listening.
Many focus groups offer a monetary incentive for participants. Depending on your research budget, this is a nice way to show appreciation for their time and commitment. To keep everyone feeling fresh, consider offering snacks or drinks as well.
After concluding your focus group, you and your co-moderator should debrief, recording initial impressions of the discussion as well as any highlights, issues, or immediate conclusions you’ve drawn.
The next step is to transcribe and clean your data . Assign each participant a number or pseudonym for organisational purposes. Transcribe the recordings and conduct content analysis to look for themes or categories of responses. The categories you choose can then form the basis for reporting your results.
Just like other research methods, focus groups come with advantages and disadvantages.
A focus group is a research method that brings together a small group of people to answer questions in a moderated setting. The group is chosen due to predefined demographic traits, and the questions are designed to shed light on a topic of interest. It is one of four types of interviews .
As a rule of thumb, questions related to thoughts, beliefs, and feelings work well in focus groups . Take your time formulating strong questions, paying special attention to phrasing. Be careful to avoid leading questions , which can bias your responses.
The four most common types of interviews are:
Social desirability bias is the tendency for interview participants to give responses that will be viewed favourably by the interviewer or other participants. It occurs in all types of interviews and surveys , but is most common in semi-structured interviews , unstructured interviews , and focus groups .
Social desirability bias can be mitigated by ensuring participants feel at ease and comfortable sharing their views. Make sure to pay attention to your own body language and any physical or verbal cues, such as nodding or widening your eyes.
This type of bias in research can also occur in observations if the participants know they’re being observed. They might alter their behaviour accordingly.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.
George, T. (2023, February 06). What Is a Focus Group? | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 12 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/research-methods/focus-groups/
Other students also liked, structured interview | definition, guide & examples, semi-structured interview | definition, guide & examples, unstructured interview | definition, guide & examples.
Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.
Subtitle: A project-based approach
Authors: Matthew DeCarlo; Cory Cummings; and Kate Agnelli
Book Description: Our textbook guides graduate social work students step by step through the research process from conceptualization to dissemination. We center cultural humility, information literacy, pragmatism, and ethics and values as core components of social work research.
Graduate research methods in social work Copyright © 2021 by Matthew DeCarlo, Cory Cummings, Kate Agnelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Social work
Home > ETD > Doctoral > 5909
Exploring prelicensure bsn students' knowledge of mindfulness meditation using a smartphone app to manage stress and promote resilience: a qualitative single case study.
Beth A. Kelley , Liberty University Follow
School of Nursing
Doctor of Philosophy
Kara Schacke
mindfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation smartphone app, BSN student stress, BSN student resilience, meditation, stress, resilience, knowledge of mindfulness meditation, christian university
Education | Nursing
Kelley, Beth A., "Exploring Prelicensure BSN Students' Knowledge of Mindfulness Meditation Using A Smartphone App To Manage Stress And Promote Resilience: A Qualitative Single Case Study" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects . 5909. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5909
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students' knowledge of mindfulness meditation (MM) using a smartphone app (SMA) to manage stress and promote resilience. Guiding this study was the transactional model of stress, adaptation, and coping by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) and the zone of proximal development (ZPD) educational theory by Vygotsky. The study asked the following questions: What was pre-licensure Bachelor of Science of Nursing (BSN) students’ knowledge of mindfulness meditation (MM) using a smartphone app (SMA) to manage stress and promote resilience? What had the prelicensure BSN student experienced regarding MM with an SMA? What did prelicensure BSN students know about MM using an SMA to manage stress? What did prelicensure BSN students know about MM using an SMA to promote resilience? A sample of 91 students was obtained to answer the demographic questionnaire and three surveys. From those students, 25 volunteered for interviews and focus groups with 14 BSN students for interviews and 11 students split into two focus groups. The data were collected from surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and themes were developed. Data obtained contributes to current knowledge, and recommendations for further research are given.
Since August 09, 2024
Education Commons , Nursing Commons
Advanced Search
Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement
Privacy Copyright
Focus groups are an extremely valuable method of qualitative data collection, which generate rich, qualitative data through open-ended questions and interactive discussions. They usually involve a moderator leading a discussion with a small group (ideally 6-8 individuals) to understand their views and opinions on a particular topic product, service, or idea.
They are different from other qualitative data collection methods (such as in-depth interviews, diary studies etc.) in that their purpose is to generate data through interaction and discussion between group participants – participants have the opportunity to share their own views and experiences, listen to those of others, reflect on their own standpoint and consider this further.
Focus groups have traditionally been conducted in face-to-face environments. Over time, the modality has evolved to include online environments – starting with online forums and discussion boards, and more recently, online groups using video conferencing software (i.e. MS Teams, Zoom) which mimic the face-to-face environment.
Each approach has its own unique benefits and drawbacks, and it is important to consider the research objectives before deciding on whether an in-person or remote focus group will yield the desired outcomes.
Before considering the pros and cons of each approach, it is worth clarifying the nature of group processes and the stages involved in group discussions. By understanding the processes and dynamics of group discussions, we can better envisage how these dynamics would play out in a face-to-face or a virtual environment and help us decide which method would best suit our research objectives.
The psychologist Bruce Tuckman identified five stages that are commonly observed when a group of people come together to discuss or work through a particular topic, and these phases comprise: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
Before briefly summarizing each stage, it’s important to note that the researcher’s goal is to guide the group to reach a productive (‘performing’) stage, where the group works with greater synergy, tackling more challenging topics and yielding greater depths of insight. It is important to consider what are the drivers and blockers of reaching this stage in a virtual environment, versus a face-to-face environment.
Forming: in this phase, individuals have not yet relaxed into the group situation and may be preoccupied about their acceptance into the group. Individuals will engage more with the group moderator in this phase and are less likely to engage with other participants.
Storming: this is a period of tension where some individuals may adopt particular roles, some may attempt to exert their dominance or expertise, while others may respond with silence or aloofness.
Norming: a calmer phase often follows, where the group norms are established and participants begin to work cooperatively and some may seek common ground, agreeing with others and reinforcing what they say. It is this stage where social norms will influence individuals and may express normative and socially acceptable views – which are important for the moderator to revisit later in the discussion as individuals become more relaxed in the group environment.
Performing: during this stage the group will work more interactively and more openly discuss the research topics. The group will have relaxed and individuals are less guarded by this stage, allowing greater levels of agreement and disagreement between group members. This is the most productive phase of the group, where the group works with greater synergy, tackling more challenging topics and yielding greater depths of insight. Some groups do not reach this stage despite the researcher’s best efforts, and it is important to consider how the format of the group can facilitate or inhibit the group discussion reaching this point.
Adjourning: the final phase often sees the group consolidating and sometimes reinforcing their earlier points, as the group draws to a close. Participants are given the opportunity to share any final thoughts they have, reflecting on the discussion overall.
Understanding this view of the stages of a focus group discussion helps us consider which modality of group would yield the most insight and help us achieve our research objectives. Of course, there are distinct benefits to each approach, whether face-to-face or online, which also warrant consideration when deciding on the most suitable approach.
Enhanced engagement, dynamics and rapport building.
Arguably, a face-to-face environment more closely mirrors a natural social setting where the physical presence of participants aids spontaneity and encourages debates which reveal more about participants’ opinions and motivations. Building rapport comes more naturally in person, and distractions tend to be less prevalent in face-to-face settings, helping participants to focus and engage in the discussion. It is also worth adding that the greater energy involved in face-to-face discussions is a core benefit and avoids online group fatigue – where having a discussion in an online environment can result in the participant experiencing high cognitive load, having limited interactions with other participants and potentially dropping out from the group.
Spontaneous reactions that can lead to unexpected insights are more likely in a physical setting. While non-verbal cues can be more easily observed by the researcher – such as demonstrating agreement by nodding or shaking head and the emphasis and gesticulation used when discussing specific topics. It also works from the researcher’s perspective, who is able to look around the room and gesture to participants. The researcher can interpret body language as an indication of the participant’s engagement – the researcher can see who is trying to interject, who looks confused, who seems bored – and find a way to engage them in the discussion.
Physical materials and stimulus can be interacted with in-person, making face-to-face groups a good choice for approaches involving product and concept testing, projective techniques requiring materials (i.e. drawing exercises) and role-playing.
Not limited by geographical proximity.
Online groups are particularly useful where time-pressed or geographically dispersed populations mean that it would be difficult to bring a group together physically or if there was a reason that a physical group might somehow inhibit people’s ability to openly articulate their views. These groups offer a convenient option with participant’s able to join from anywhere, meaning better chances of good participation rates.
While face-to-face groups incur charges for viewing room hire, travel and other logistical arrangements, remote groups are often much more cost-effective. With no requirement to travel to the focus group, or coordinate face-to-face meeting spaces, online focus groups can be organized more quickly and efficiently.
Today’s online focus group platforms allow the researcher to mimic a face-to-face group by providing the opportunity for participants to discuss topics/work together in smaller groups in online break-out rooms. They also allow the use of the chat function to informally share views, online polls and mentimeters, and screen sharing which allows the presentation of online stimulus. Each of these helps to engagement and build on the depth of interaction and discussion. Remote focus groups also have the benefit of built in recording and transcribing – increasing efficiencies in capturing the data for analysis.
With no travel involved, remote focus groups reduce the carbon footprint of the activity – contributing to more sustainable research approaches.
It is clear there are distinct benefits for each approach when it comes to conducting focus groups either face-to-face or online. In my view, the social context of the face-to-face focus group better allows the researcher to observe the development of ideas and how this is shaped through discussion with other participants. I would argue that the face-to-face approach is better suited to facilitating a more dynamic, interactive and engaged group and would be my mode of choice for any research incorporating focus groups.
Of course, the convenience and greater speed of conducting online focus groups makes this choice attractive – in which case the researcher might consider a hybrid approach such as conducting a proportion of face-to-face focus groups with core audiences and a proportion of online focus groups with supporting audiences (i.e. in relation to the target audience) – to achieve the best of both worlds.
To discuss how our tailored insights programs can help solve your specific business challenges, get in touch and one of the team will be happy to help.
Get in touch to discuss your research requirements >
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__hssrc | session | This cookie is set by Hubspot whenever it changes the session cookie. The __hssrc cookie set to 1 indicates that the user has restarted the browser, and if the cookie does not exist, it is assumed to be a new session. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cf_bm | 30 minutes | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
__hssc | 30 minutes | HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of sessions and to determine if HubSpot should increment the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie. |
bcookie | 2 years | LinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID. |
bscookie | 2 years | LinkedIn sets this cookie to store performed actions on the website. |
lang | session | LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. |
lidc | 1 day | LinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection. |
UserMatchHistory | 1 month | LinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__hstc | 5 months 27 days | This is the main cookie set by Hubspot, for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session). |
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_gat_gtag_UA_3031018_3 | 1 minute | Set by Google to distinguish users. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
hubspotutk | 5 months 27 days | HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts. |
undefined | never | Wistia sets this cookie to collect data on visitor interaction with the website's video-content, to make the website's video-content more relevant for the visitor. |
vuid | 2 years | Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
AnalyticsSyncHistory | 1 month | No description |
closest_office_location | 1 month | No description |
li_gc | 2 years | No description |
loglevel | never | No description available. |
ssi--lastInteraction | 10 minutes | This cookie is used for storing the date of last secure session the visitor had when visiting the site. |
ssi--sessionId | 1 year | This cookie is used for storing the session ID which helps in reusing the one the visitor had already used. |
user_country | 1 month | No description available. |
A title page is required for all APA Style papers. There are both student and professional versions of the title page. Students should use the student version of the title page unless their instructor or institution has requested they use the professional version. APA provides a student title page guide (PDF, 199KB) to assist students in creating their title pages.
The student title page includes the paper title, author names (the byline), author affiliation, course number and name for which the paper is being submitted, instructor name, assignment due date, and page number, as shown in this example.
Title page setup is covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 2.3 and the Concise Guide Section 1.6
Student papers do not include a running head unless requested by the instructor or institution.
Follow the guidelines described next to format each element of the student title page.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Paper title | Place the title three to four lines down from the top of the title page. Center it and type it in bold font. Capitalize of the title. Place the main title and any subtitle on separate double-spaced lines if desired. There is no maximum length for titles; however, keep titles focused and include key terms. |
|
Author names | Place one double-spaced blank line between the paper title and the author names. Center author names on their own line. If there are two authors, use the word “and” between authors; if there are three or more authors, place a comma between author names and use the word “and” before the final author name. | Cecily J. Sinclair and Adam Gonzaga |
Author affiliation | For a student paper, the affiliation is the institution where the student attends school. Include both the name of any department and the name of the college, university, or other institution, separated by a comma. Center the affiliation on the next double-spaced line after the author name(s). | Department of Psychology, University of Georgia |
Course number and name | Provide the course number as shown on instructional materials, followed by a colon and the course name. Center the course number and name on the next double-spaced line after the author affiliation. | PSY 201: Introduction to Psychology |
Instructor name | Provide the name of the instructor for the course using the format shown on instructional materials. Center the instructor name on the next double-spaced line after the course number and name. | Dr. Rowan J. Estes |
Assignment due date | Provide the due date for the assignment. Center the due date on the next double-spaced line after the instructor name. Use the date format commonly used in your country. | October 18, 2020 |
| Use the page number 1 on the title page. Use the automatic page-numbering function of your word processing program to insert page numbers in the top right corner of the page header. | 1 |
The professional title page includes the paper title, author names (the byline), author affiliation(s), author note, running head, and page number, as shown in the following example.
Follow the guidelines described next to format each element of the professional title page.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
Paper title | Place the title three to four lines down from the top of the title page. Center it and type it in bold font. Capitalize of the title. Place the main title and any subtitle on separate double-spaced lines if desired. There is no maximum length for titles; however, keep titles focused and include key terms. |
|
Author names
| Place one double-spaced blank line between the paper title and the author names. Center author names on their own line. If there are two authors, use the word “and” between authors; if there are three or more authors, place a comma between author names and use the word “and” before the final author name. | Francesca Humboldt |
When different authors have different affiliations, use superscript numerals after author names to connect the names to the appropriate affiliation(s). If all authors have the same affiliation, superscript numerals are not used (see Section 2.3 of the for more on how to set up bylines and affiliations). | Tracy Reuter , Arielle Borovsky , and Casey Lew-Williams | |
Author affiliation
| For a professional paper, the affiliation is the institution at which the research was conducted. Include both the name of any department and the name of the college, university, or other institution, separated by a comma. Center the affiliation on the next double-spaced line after the author names; when there are multiple affiliations, center each affiliation on its own line.
| Department of Nursing, Morrigan University |
When different authors have different affiliations, use superscript numerals before affiliations to connect the affiliations to the appropriate author(s). Do not use superscript numerals if all authors share the same affiliations (see Section 2.3 of the for more). | Department of Psychology, Princeton University | |
Author note | Place the author note in the bottom half of the title page. Center and bold the label “Author Note.” Align the paragraphs of the author note to the left. For further information on the contents of the author note, see Section 2.7 of the . | n/a |
| The running head appears in all-capital letters in the page header of all pages, including the title page. Align the running head to the left margin. Do not use the label “Running head:” before the running head. | Prediction errors support children’s word learning |
| Use the page number 1 on the title page. Use the automatic page-numbering function of your word processing program to insert page numbers in the top right corner of the page header. | 1 |
Advertisement
Supported by
Rachael Gunn, known as B-girl Raygun, displayed some … unique moves as she competed in a field with breakers half her age. The judges and the internet were underwhelmed.
By Dodai Stewart and Talya Minsberg
Reporting from Paris
Breaking made its debut as an Olympic sport Friday, and among the competitors was Dr. Rachael Gunn, also known as B-girl Raygun, a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, who stood out in just about every way.
By day, her research interests include “dance, gender politics, and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies.” But on the world’s stage in Paris, wearing green track pants and a green polo shirt instead of the street-style outfits of her much younger fellow breakers, she competed against the 21-year-old Logan Edra of the United States, known as Logistx.
During the round robin, as Raygun and Logistx faced off, Raygun laid on her side, reached for her toes, spun around, and threw in a kangaroo hop — a nod to her homeland. She performed a move that looked something like swimming and another that could best be described as duckwalking. The high-speed back and head spins that other breakers would demonstrate were mostly absent.
The crowd cheered Raygun politely. The judges weren’t as kind. All nine voted for Logistx in both rounds of the competition; Logistx won, 18-0.
Online, Raygun’s performance quickly became a sensation, not necessarily in a flattering way.
“The more I watch the videos of Raygun, the Aussie breaker, the more I get annoyed,” one viewer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “There’s 27.7 million Australians in the world and that’s who they send to the Olympics for this inaugural event??? C’mon now!”
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in .
Want all of The Times? Subscribe .
COMMENTS
What is a focus group? Focus groups are a type of qualitative research. Observations of the group's dynamic, their answers to focus group questions, and even their body language can guide future research on consumer decisions, products and services, or controversial topics.
Abstract. Although focus groups are commonly used in health research to explore the perspectives of patients or health care professionals, few studies consider methodological aspects in this specific context. For this reason, we interviewed nine researchers who had conducted focus groups in the context of a project devoted to the development of ...
A focus group is a qualitative research method used to gather in-depth insights and opinions from a group of individuals about a particular product, service, concept, or idea. The focus group typically consists of 6-10 participants who are selected based on shared characteristics such as demographics, interests, or experiences.
Focus groups use a group setting to generate data different to that obtained in a one-to-one interview. The group context may allow for better examination of beliefs, attitudes, values, perspectives, knowledge and ideas. Focus groups can be useful in action research methodology and other study designs which seek to empower research participants.
What are focus groups? Focus groups are convened to discuss an issue of mutual concern. The purpose of a focus group is to explore the experiences, understandings, opinions or motivations of research participants. 1 While individual interviews explore the experiences of (usually) one participant (see Chapter 13 ), focus groups are conducted with three or more people who share an experience or ...
Key Points Highlights that qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry. Interviews and focus groups remain the most common qualitative methods of data collection. Suggests the advent of ...
Using a step-by-step approach, Case Study Research for Business students right through the case study research process from research design and data collection using qualitative and quantitative methods, to research analysis, writing up and presenting work.
In a focus group, a facilitator solicits feedback from a small group of people. While insufficient as a standalone research method, data from a focus group still has value.
Increasingly, social life—and accordingly, social research—is conducted in online environments. Asynchronous online focus groups (AOFGs) have emerged as an impo...
This article guides readers through the decisions and considerations involved in conducting focus-group research investigations into students' learning experiences. One previously published focus-group study is used as an illustrative example, along with other examples from the field of pedagogic research in geography higher education.
Abstract This article discusses four challenges to conducting qualitative focus groups: (1) maximizing research budgets through innovative methodological approaches, (2) recruiting health-care professionals for qualitative health research, (3) conducting focus groups with health-care professionals across geographically dispersed areas, and (4) taking into consideration data richness when using ...
Focus Group Fundamentals A very clear overview and tips from the Iowa State University Extension division. Methodology Brief: Introduction to Focus Groups A detailed description with instruction and tips for focus group research from the Center for Assessment, Planning & Accountability.
The case study, along with other examples cited from the field of pedagogic research in geography higher education, will be used to illustrate the journey researchers can expect to take, including the obstacles and dilemmas, when conducting focus-group research.
Abstract A case study is one of the most commonly used methodologies of social research. This article attempts to look into the various dimensions of a case study research strategy, the different epistemological strands which determine the particular case study type and approach adopted in the field, discusses the factors which can enhance the effectiveness of a case study research, and the ...
The use of focus groups is intended to collect data through interactive and directed discussions by a researcher. It is a form of qualitative research consisting of a group conversation in which prompts are given to elicit sharing data about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes. Researchers should select members of the focus ...
Asynchronous online focus groups (AOFGs) have emerged as an important tool to conduct remote research with geographically diverse populations. However, there remain few systematic accounts of AOFG methods to guide researchers' decision-making in designing and implementing studies. This paper seeks to address this gap by describing a recent ...
Abstract Focus group discussion is a participatory research method that has been effectively utilized in numerous social science disciplines either as a standalone method or more often alongside other methods. The research presented in this chapter used focus groups as the final tool in an extensive study of small-scale forest owners' management practices, examining driving and hindering ...
What is a focus group? Consists of a small group usually made up of six to twelve people Gathers opinions, beliefs, and attitudes about issues of interest Group is led through an open discussion by a skilled moderator Allows testing of assumptions Encourages discussion about a particular topic
Individual interviews generated significantly more relevant and unique ideas than focus groups. focus groups generated more elaboration on ideas. number of useful items for both health professionals and patients, individual. instruments is affected by item-. life instrument for patients with lower-limb.
Focus Groups Focus groups are group discussions conducted with the participation of 7 to 12 people to capture their experiences and views regarding specific issues closely related to research question (s). Focus groups data collection method is most suitable for types of studies where multiple perspectives needed to be obtained regarding the same problem.
What is a focus group? Focus groups are a type of qualitative research. Observations of the group's dynamic, their answers to focus group questions, and even their body language can guide future research on consumer decisions, products and services, or controversial topics.
Qualitative researchers must often decide whether to use focus groups or individual interviews to elicit experiences, beliefs and opinions from study participants. These two methods draw on a simil...
The collaborative coding created a fruitful interaction between the independent researcher's narrow focus on the generated data, contextualised by her research with other patient groups in CAMHS, and the PI's broader scope containing in-depth insights into the IERITA intervention and target group, which led to new discoveries within the material.
18.5 Focus groups; 18.6 Observations; 18.7 Documents and other artifacts; 19. A survey of approaches to qualitative data analysis ... Quality in qualitative studies: Rigor in research design. 20.1 Introduction to qualitative rigor; ... 22.1 Case study; 22.2 Constructivist; 22.3 Oral history; 22.4 Ethnography; 22.5 Phenomenology; 22.6 Narrative;
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students' knowledge of mindfulness meditation (MM) using a smartphone app (SMA) to manage stress and promote resilience. Guiding this study was the transactional model of stress, adaptation, and coping by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) and the zone of proximal development (ZPD ...
Remote focus groups also have the benefit of built in recording and transcribing - increasing efficiencies in capturing the data for analysis. Reduced environmental impact. With no travel involved, remote focus groups reduce the carbon footprint of the activity - contributing to more sustainable research approaches.
How does online focus groups affect the diversity of qualitative research? This article explores the advantages and challenges of this method in hospitality and tourism.
For a professional paper, the affiliation is the institution at which the research was conducted. Include both the name of any department and the name of the college, university, or other institution, separated by a comma. Center the affiliation on the next double-spaced line after the author names; when there are multiple affiliations, center ...
This research, and any access to it, is intended only for "wholesale clients" within the meaning of the Australian Corporations Act, unless otherwise agreed by Goldman Sachs. In producing research reports, members of Global Investment Research of Goldman Sachs Australia may attend site visits and other meetings hosted by the companies and other
Breaking made its debut as an Olympic sport Friday, and among the competitors was Dr. Rachael Gunn, also known as B-girl Raygun, a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, who stood out in ...