Focus Groups

Focus groups are formally organized, structured groups of individuals brought together to discuss a topic
or series of topics during a specific period of time. Like surveys, focus groups can be an extremely useful
technique for obtaining individuals’ impressions and concerns about certain issues, services, or products.
Originally developed for use in marketing research, focus groups have served as a principal method of
qualitative research among social scientists for many decades. In contrast to other, unilateral methods of
obtaining qualitative data (e.g., observation, surveys), focus groups allow for interactions between the
researcher and the participants and among the participants themselves.

Like most other qualitative research methods, there is no one definitive way to design or conduct a focus
group. However, they are typically composed of several participants (usually 6 to 10 individuals) and a
trained moderator. Fewer than 6 participants may restrict the diversity of the opinions to be offered, and
more than 10 may make it difficult for everyone to express their opinions comprehensively (Hoyle, Harris,
& Judd, 2002). Focus groups are also typically made up of individuals who share a particular
characteristic, demographic, or interest that is relevant to the topic being studied. For example, a
marketing researcher may want to conduct a focus group with parents of young children to determine the
desirability of a new educational product. Similarly, a criminal justice researcher inter- ested in developing
methods of reducing criminal recidivism may choose to conduct focus groups with recent parolees to
discuss problems that they encountered after being released from prison.

The presence of a trained moderator is critical to the focus-group process (Hoyle et al., 2002). The
moderator is directly responsible for setting the ground rules, raising the discussion topics, and
maintaining the focus of the group discussions. When setting the ground rules, the moderator must,
above all, discuss issues of confidentiality, including the confidentiality of all information shared with and
recorded by the researchers (also covered when obtaining informed consent). In addition, the moderator
will often request that all participants respect each other’s privacy by keeping what they hear in the focus
groups confidential. Other ground rules may involve speaking one at a time and avoiding criticizing the
expressed viewpoints of the other participants.

Considerable preparation is necessary to make a focus group successful. The researcher must carefully
consider the make-up of the group (often a nonrepresentative sample of convenience), prepare a list of
objectives and topics to be covered, and determine clear ground rules to be communicated to the group
participants. When considering the questions and topics to be covered, the researcher should again take
into account the make-up of the group (e.g., intelligence level, level of impairment) as well as the design
of the questions. For example, when possible, moderators should avoid using closed-ended questions,
which may not generate a great deal of useful dialogue. Similarly, moderators should avoid using “why”
questions. Questions that begin with “why” may elicit socially appropriate rationalizations, best guesses,
or other attributions about an individual’s behavior when the person is unsure or unaware of the true
reasons or underlying motivations for his or her behavior (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). Instead, it may be
more fruitful to ask participants about what they do and the detailed events surrounding their behaviors.
This may ultimately shed more light on the actual precipitants of participants’ behaviors.

Overall, focus groups should attempt to cover no more than two to three major topics and should last no
more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The obvious advantage of a focus group is that it provides an open, fairly
unrestricted forum for individuals to discuss ideas and to clarify each others’ impressions and opinions.
The group format can also serve to crystallize the participants’ opinions. However, focus groups also have
several disadvantages. First, because of their relatively small sample sizes and the fact that they are
typically not randomly selected, the information gleaned from focus groups may not be representative of
the population in general. Second, although the group format may have some benefits in terms of helping
to flesh out and distill perceptions and concerns, it is also very likely that an individual’s opinions can be
altered through group influence. Finally, it is difficult to quantify the open-ended responses resulting from
focus group interactions. The information obtained from focus groups can provide useful insight into how
various procedures, systems, or products are viewed, as well as the desires and concerns of a given
population. For these reasons, focus groups, similar to other qualitative research methods, often form the
starting point in generating hypotheses, developing questionnaires and surveys,
and identifying the relevant issues that may be examined using more quantifiable research
methodologies.