Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory, and Practice

This book critically examines the potential of, and suggests ways forward in, harnessing a versatile and powerful method of research - focus groups. The book challenges some of the emerging orthodoxies and presents accessible, insightful and reflective discussions about the issues around focus group work.

The contributors, an impressive group of experienced researchers from a range of disciplines and traditions, discuss different ways of designing, conducting and analyzing focus group research. They examine sampling strategies; the implications of combining focus groups with other methods; accessing views of `minority′ groups; their contribution to participatory or feminist research; use of software packages; discourse analysis; and the epistemological and political underpinnings of research.

Rosaline (Rose) S. Barbour is an Emerita Professor at the Open University, UK. A medical medial sociologist by discipline, she has carried out research on a variety of topics including reproductive/maternal health, HIV/AIDS, obesity, and cancer. Significantly, all of these projects are located at the intersection of the social and the clinical, thus affording a vantage point for developing and interrogating disciplinary and theoretical frameworks. Rose has published widely on qualitative research, particularly in relation to focus groups and the issue of rigour. Her most recent publications include Introducing Qualitative Research A Student’s Guide, 2nd ed. (SAGE, 2014); Doing Focus Groups, 2nd ed. (SAGE, 2018); and A New Era of Focus Group Research: Challenges, Innovation and Practice (coedited with David L. Morgan; Palgrave, 2017).