Focus Groups: Applying Communication Theory through Design, Facilitation, and Analysis

Despite the fact that focus groups are an ideal research tool for studying and employing group communication in action, many research practitioners and scholars have missed the opportunity to utilize them to their maximum benefit. Few researchers have the skills that enable them to approach focus group facilitation and analysis from a communication point of view. In this book, Dr. Christine Davis teaches readers how to take a project from an idea to the design, facilitation, and analysis stages. This book takes a unique communication perspective to apply group communication theories, knowledge of group processes, and a close discourse analysis approach to explain and understand the discursive aspect of focus groups. This book helps readers of all stages of experience - including those with no background in focus group research to those practitioners with more focus group expertise - understand how a communication approach to focus groups takes advantage of this discipline’s rich scholarship in group communication and discourse analysis.

This book will teach readers how to

a. understand the nature of focus group research procedures from a communication point of view;

b. understand how to translate RQs into a focus group protocol;

c. use knowledge of communication theory and group process to understand how to facilitate different kinds of focus groups, prevent and overcome challenges in focus group facilitation; and elicit different outcomes and techniques when facilitating a focus group;

d. use knowledge of communication theory and group process to recognize the merits of different approaches to focus group facilitation;

e. use knowledge of communication theory and group process to recognize good- and poor-quality focus groups;

f. understand how to transcribe / code / analyze focus group data from a communication (discursive) perspective; and

g. understand how to write focus group findings.

Christine S. Davis, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at UNC-Charlotte. Her research interests are in the intersection of family, culture, and health communication. Dr. Davis publishes regularly on topics such as children’s health, end-of-life communication, disability, and qualitative research methods. She has published over 50 academic books, journal articles, book chapters, and other publications and has received numerous research awards. Her B.A. degree in Communication is from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), her M.A. degree in Communication Studies is from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her Ph.D. in Communication Studies was awarded by the University of South Florida.