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

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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Using Symbols and Shapes for Analysis in Small Focus Group Research

The Qualitative Report ◽

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2388 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Oladokun Omojola

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Prima Facie ◽

Group Method ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research ◽

Research Findings ◽

Small Focus ◽

Focus Group Method

Substantial literature exists to support the growing importance of focus group research, having been around for decades. Its ubiquity under the scholarship radar is not in doubt while the analyses of findings commonly seen are scholarly and significantly sophisticated. However, these analyses have been found to be limited in scope for fresh adopters of the focus group method, non-literate beneficiaries of research findings and business people who are critically averse to lengthy textual statements about outcomes. This article introduces the use of symbols as a means of analyzing responses from small focus group discussions. It attempts to demonstrate that using symbols can substantially assist in the prima facie determination of perceptions from a focus group membership, its patterns of agreement and disagreement, as well as the sequence of its discussions.

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Management Guidelines For Universal Quality Challenges Across The Focus Group Research Process

Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR) ◽

10.19030/jabr.v31i1.9004 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 239

Author(s):

Busani Dube ◽

Mornay Roberts-Lombard ◽

Estelle Van Tonder

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Group Process ◽

Marketing Research ◽

Research Process ◽

Research Quality ◽

Group Method ◽

Research Information ◽

Management Guidelines ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research

The general misuse of the focus group method may have quality implications for decision-making processes of organisations across the industry spectrum and for further research. To assist in addressing the problem, this study sought to uncover the challenges that impede the quality of the focus group research process and develop a set of management guidelines for redress by stakeholder organisations. The population of interest for the study consisted of all South African organisations that supply or use marketing research information generated through the use of focus groups. The empirical part of the research study comprised of both a qualitative and a quantitative phase. A CATI approach was used for data collection and the research method employed for the study was a questionnaire survey. An ordinal, 5-point Likert scale was used to measure the responses in the study. The Pearson chi-square test was also employed to compare the research quality perceptions of research suppliers and users within the focus group process. The findings revealed numerous instances of similarities between research suppliers and users regarding their views on focus group research and the quality challenges thereof. Following the research findings, a number of management guidelines were developed that research practitioners could employ to improve the standard of focus group research in South Africa.

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Piloting the Focus Group Method: Preparing for a Participatory Design Study With Children and Young People

10.4135/9781473992726 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Tara Sims

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Focus Group ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Group Method ◽

Design Study ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Focus Group Method

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Review of Gathering Data Instruments and Methods in Children Research

International Journal of Engineering & Technology ◽

10.14419/ijet.v7i3.21.17179 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (3.21) ◽

pp. 311

Author(s):

Moamar Elyazgi ◽

. .

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Age Groups ◽

Group Method ◽

Research Papers ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Research With Children ◽

Alternative Sources ◽

Conducting Research ◽

Different Response ◽

Focus Group Method

Introduction: It is observed that people of different age groups might have different response to the same situation. Often in researches, involving school children data is collected from a guardian rather than from children. Traditional data collection methods like focus group, questionnaires, interviews and observations sometimes have been found to be ineffective with children and hence researchers are compelled to collect data from alternative sources. Conversely, studies have reported that children too have strong opinions and it could be different from their guardian’s. Hence, the purpose of this research is to critically review previous literature regarding focus group method comparing with other methods that used in conducting research with children with particular emphasis on children studies. Methodology: Current and archival data from research papers have been analysed in this study. Findings: The study reports that the practical considerations and the time it takes to conduct focus group research may discourage many from attempting to collect data using this method. Contribution: This study recommends that adequate effort should be put in place to design suitable instruments to conduct research with children that is devoid of most of the shortcoming found in earlier studies.

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Conceptual Learning in Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisory Training: A Focus-Group Research Project with Recommendations

Journal of Pastoral Care ◽

10.1177/002234099404800305 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 245-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Lyle B. Greiner ◽

Robert Bendiksen

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Conceptual Learning ◽

Clinical Pastoral Education ◽

Group Method ◽

Pastoral Education ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research ◽

Supervisory Training ◽

Conceptual Skills

Reports on focus group research designed to determine how conceptual skills are developed and integrated into the learning experience of supervisory training in Clinical Pastoral Education. Records actual participants' responses to five basic questions and identifies major underlying ideas gleaned via content analysis. Notes both limitations and strengths of the focus group method of qualitative research and offers recommendations designed to encourage and extend research focused on ways in which conceptual learning in Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisory Training may be achieved.

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The Value of Groupwork Knowledge and Skills in Focus Group Research: A Focus Group Approach With Marginalized Teens Regarding Access to Third-Level Education

International Journal of Qualitative Methods ◽

10.1177/1609406919881853 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 ◽

pp. 160940691988185

Author(s):

Hilary Jenkinson ◽

Pat Leahy ◽

Margaret Scanlon ◽

Fred Powell ◽

Olive Byrne

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Focus Group ◽

Research Methodology ◽

Research Study ◽

Group Approach ◽

Knowledge And Skills ◽

Marginalized Communities ◽

Focus Group Research ◽

Group Research ◽

Key Skills

This article explores the value of applying groupwork expertise and skills in conducting focus group research. It identifies and provides an analysis of comparisons between the arenas of focus group moderation and social groupwork facilitation drawing from literature from both fields. In addition, the article discusses key skills needed by focus group moderators highlighting how these are also foundational social groupwork competencies. The article draws from the authors’ experiences of designing and facilitating focus groups with teenagers as part of a 2-year research study examining the perceptions and experiences of young people from marginalized communities in relation to accessing third-level education. In light of this analysis, the authors assert that some developments in focus group research methodology have resulted in a greater degree of alignment between these two spheres and that focus group moderation is enhanced and rendered increasingly effective when groupwork skills, knowledge, and insights are employed.

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