2010 British General Election Leader Evaluations: Replicating Electoral Focus Group Research

The Qualitative Report ◽

10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1447 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Kristi Winters ◽

Edzia Carvalho

Keyword(s):

General Election ◽

Party Leader ◽

Ordinary People ◽

Party Leaders ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Data Coding ◽

Group Research ◽

Quantitative Results ◽

Using Data

This research replicates and expands upon the qualitative electoral research of Winters and Campbell by using data from focus groups conducted in Essex, England to coincide with three leadership debates during the 2010 British general election. The Qualitative Election Study of Britain (QES Britain) broadly replicated Winters and Campbell’s research design but includes innovations in data collection to more accurately capture assessments. This innovation means the data coding are based entirely on the evaluations of the participants. In our analysis we innovate in the way we display each leader’s unique evaluation structure. To capture the salience and direction of leadership assessments, we convey the dimensionality of popular perceptions for Brown, Cameron and Clegg using colour and scaling. Our results produce qualitatively informed evaluation structures for each party leader that contextualize quantitative survey findings. Although this case study is limited to a geographically specific group of participants, our results mirror the quantitative BES results. Such similarity in the qualitative and quantitative results increases our confidence that our results provide useful insights into the associations and evaluations ordinary people used in their assessments of the main political party leaders.

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Using Focus Group Research in Exploring the Relationships between Youth, Risk and Social Position

Sociological Research Online ◽

10.5153/sro.2086 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 11-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dave Merryweather

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Focus Group ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Social Position ◽

Group Method ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research ◽

Using Data ◽

Focus Group Method

This paper draws upon current research to consider the value of the focus group method for exploring the relationships between youth, risk and social position. Groups comprising young people occupying similar social positions were used to generate talk about aspects of everyday life regarded as risk. Through the processes of conversational interaction facilitated by the focus group method, participants co-produced detailed risk narratives, understood here in Bourdieu's terms as product and producer of the habitus related to social position. Using data from several of the focus groups I illustrate how the method was especially useful in generating narratives indicative of how risks were experienced and understood in different ways according to social positions of class, gender and ethnicity. Such risk narratives also reproduced distinctions between and within different social positions. Consideration is given to certain limitations of the focus group method in respect of this research. Ultimately, however, the ability of the method to generate collaborative narratives reflective of shared social position is viewed as an invaluable means for developing a rich and nuanced account of the relations between youth and risk.

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From multi-speed to multi-stream? Recognising the motivations, processes and triggers behind party membership

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations ◽

10.1177/1369148120918852 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 505-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sam Power ◽

Katharine Dommett

Keyword(s):

Participant Observation ◽

Party Membership ◽

Green Party ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Group Research ◽

Alternative Position ◽

Party Members ◽

Elite Interviews

A key question facing scholars of party politics is the journey engaged individuals take to becoming party members. We argue that the existing literature largely outlines one aspect – motivation. In this article, we present an alternative position: that a membership journey is only complete when a motivation, process and trigger are present. We outline this utilising a case study of the Green Party of England and Wales including previously confidential internal party documents, membership figures, elite interviews, focus group research and participant observation to provide a different means to understand membership fluctuations. We present these findings as an exploratory and inductive reinterpretation of existing debates. However, we also suggest that the findings are of interest not just in the case of the Green Party, nor the United Kingdom, but to all those who study party membership.

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Party Identification, Leader Effects and Vote Choice in Italy, 1990-2008

World Political Science ◽

10.1515/1935-6226.1113 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Diego Garzia ◽

Federico Viotti

Keyword(s):

Party Identification ◽

Time Frame ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Party Leader ◽

Parliamentary Democracy ◽

Party Leaders ◽

Italian Case ◽

Alternative Perspective ◽

Personalization Of Politics

Previous studies have portrayed the personalization of politics as a consequence of the changes in the electoral market and the resulting transformations at the party level. However, empirical research has not reached a consensus on the extent to which this process has actually exerted its impact on citizens’ voting calculus. Partisan identifications appear still central in voters’ behavior, whereas party leader evaluations seem to play only a marginal role. This paper tries to examine the electoral consequences of the personalization of politics employing an alternative perspective. In particular, we concentrate on the role played by leader evaluations in shaping voters’ feelings of identification with parties. Our case study focuses on the Italian case, a prototype of personalized parliamentary democracy. In the empirical section, we examine the ways in which leaders have influenced Italian voters’ behavior in the last two decades. The results show that the electoral effect of party leaders (once the mediating effect of party identification is taken into account) has steadily increased during the time frame under analysis.

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Designing Generative Dialogue Spaces to Enhance Focus Group Research: A Case Study in the Context of COVID-19 Vaccination

International Journal of Qualitative Methods ◽

10.1177/16094069211066704 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 160940692110667

Author(s):

Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Focus Group ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Design Thinking ◽

Personal Narratives ◽

Deep Understanding ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research

Focus groups are a core method in qualitative research for bringing people together to discuss an issue of concern; however, it has been criticized for not enabling researchers to gain a deep understanding of the participants’ lived experiences or generating in-depth personal narratives that build on those experiences. In this article, the author builds on the shared epistemologies of qualitative research and journalism to introduce the Generative Dialogue Framework. The Generative Dialogue Framework is grounded in the intersection of inquiry, knowledge, and storytelling to design and facilitate remote and in-person focus groups. Informed by phenomenology, the philosophy of dialogue, and design thinking, along with a strong visual focus, the framework aims to surface participants’ lived experiences as a way of understanding their perceptions, thoughts, and perspectives, especially within the context of controversial or polarizing topics of concern. The Generative Dialogue Framework stimulates constructive dialogue by offering a focused framework and a structured yet flexible question guide. The result is intended to be a reflective learning dialogue in which participants jointly develop shared meanings and insights, rather than simply exchanging rationalized opinions. Drawing on insights from a case study that explores people’s perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccination, the article demonstrates the framework’s application and provides a toolkit to structure the design and implementation process. Finally, reflecting on methodological and epistemological perspectives, the author reviews the advantages and challenges of applying the framework in focus group research for both researchers and participants.

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Admitted Student Publications

Journal of College Orientation, Transition, and Retention ◽

10.24926/jcotr.v9i2.2545 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Heather S. Shupp ◽

Roger D. Wessel ◽

Mary Lauck-Barr

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Family Members ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research ◽

Student Publications ◽

Enrollment Process

In 1999, a mid-sized, public doctoral-intensive university in the Midwest initiated a publication series to help admitted students and their family members better understand the enrollment process and increase the yield of admitted students for the institution. Through focus group research, admitted students and family members provided feedback on the effectiveness of the publications specifically designed for admitted students. This case study presents a model for developing a publications series for admitted students and then using focus group research to refine those publications for greatest effectiveness.

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Issue Salience on Twitter During Swedish Party Leaders’ Debates

Nordicom Review ◽

10.2478/nor-2019-0033 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 49-61

Author(s):

Linn A.C. Sandberg ◽

Ulf Bjereld ◽

Karina Bunyik ◽

Markus Forsberg ◽

Richard Johansson

Keyword(s):

General Election ◽

Issue Salience ◽

Party Leaders ◽

Political Events

Abstract The objective of this study is to contribute knowledge about formation of political agendas on Twitter during mediated political events, using the party leaders’ debates in Sweden before the general election of 2014 as a case study. Our findings show that issues brought up during the debates were largely mirrored on Twitter, with one striking discrepancy. Contrary to our expectations, issues on the left-right policy dimension were more salient on Twitter than in the debates, whereas issues such as the environment, immigration and refugees, all tied to a liberal-authoritarian value axis, were less salient on Twitter.

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Alternatives to managerialism in higher education and science

Upravlenets ◽

10.29141/2218-5003-2020-11-6-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 44-56

Author(s):

Vyacheslav Volchik ◽

Maksim Koryttsev ◽

Elena Maslyukova

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Institutional Economics ◽

Academic Community ◽

Self Organization ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research ◽

Regulation Mechanisms ◽

Using Data ◽

Institutional Traps ◽

Oriented Approach

Commitment to efficiency amid the implementation of competition principles and the market-oriented approach stimulates the emergence of contradictory tendencies such as commoditization and bureaucratization of higher education and science. The paper explores the dissemination of ideas of managerialism and related institutional traps in academic environment. Methodologically, the study rests on original institutional economics and the theory of reforms for analyzing institutional traps in the education and academic sphere. The authors apply qualitative methods and focus group research to identify possible alternatives to managerialism. Using data from three focus groups, we analyze institutional traps in education and science and the mechanisms for eliminating them through identification of opinions, values and experience of respondents (actors). The study underlines that there is a need for considering principles, models and regulation mechanisms in education and science alternative to managerialism. They are being formed either in the context of rules, routines, norms and management technologies emerging as a result of evolution and actors’ adaptation to the changing environment, or as processes deliberately planned and developed within academic self-government and self-organization and/or as a result of state policy. The research develops alternative management mechanisms in the field of education and science with reference to the identified institutional traps and actors that can act as bearers of these alternatives in academic community.

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