Modified: 2007-01-31
Focus groups are a kind of small group interview. Typically, researchers recruit participants, convene a meeting, and conduct structured or unstructured interviews with the whole group. Outside of colleges and universities, marketers and manufacturers often use focus group interviews to test consumer reactions to products and advertisements. Focus groups can also be considered collaborative research because the groups often develop a group identity and the members provide information not easily obtained from single-person interviews. Two differences between focus groups and other interviews are the number of interviewees and the social nature of the setting.
Examples of Focus Group Interviews
Focus group interviews take advantage of the social nature of groups. Jackson and Cram (2003) conducted six focus group interviews with 16 to 18 year old female students in New Zealand. The groups ranged in size from 4 to 12, but most consisted of 6 to 8 students. The interviews explored the sexual double standard, the idea that some behaviors are acceptable for males but not for females. Jackson conducted all of the interviews. Because she was only a few years older than the women interviewed and had a youthful appearance, the participants felt comfortable talking with her. Each focus group session lasted 2 hours. The researchers made transcripts of all the sessions and conducted a multi-stage qualitative analysis to find patterns related to the women’s perceptions of their sexuality. The data that emerged centered around three themes: (1) challenging the language of the double standard, (2) articulating sexual desire, and (3) the role of sex in adolescence that is created by peers, the media, and other social sources. The women possessed a sophisticated understanding of their own sexuality, saw themselves as actors, and had created ways of viewing themselves outside of the double standard.
In another study, Fallis and Opotow (2003) used student interviewers to gather information on class cutting by high school students in large urban schools in the Northeast United States. Over a 4–year period, they conducted eight focus groups that involved 160 students. Previous research had shown that class cutting was common and that schools treated it as an individual issue of minor importance. The main reason the students gave for cutting class was boredom. Fallis and Opotow discovered that to students boredom meant something different from its dictionary definition. For students who cut class, the structure of the curriculum, unengaged teachers, staff turnover, and lack of resources were the major reasons for class cutting. Fallis and Opotow suggest that class cutting can be reduced by changing the curriculum, including students in decision making, and having administrators relate to staff in more constructive ways.