Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research

Focus groups are rapidly emerging as one of the preferred sources of information. They are used for assessing needs, planning programmes, evaluation and decision making. This practical guide incorporates research from both the social sciences and marketing research. The author gives advice on conducting focus group interviews, with clear descriptions of the technical aspects of successful focus groups and many common sense suggestions for application. Particular attention is placed on the uses of focus group interviewing for non-profit organizations.

An overview highlights distinctions between the focus group procedure and other seemingly similar research procedures, and Krueger introduces the concepts of planning, questioning, moderating and analysing focus group interviews; he includes examples of focus group questions, letters of invitation, screening questionnaires and analysis tips as well as actual focus group reports.