Explains the Why, How and When of Focus Group Discussion as a Research Method in Qualitative Psychological Research. A Practical guide with necessary points to be remembered

1. Focus Group Discussions in
Psychological Research
A Practical Guide
Chinchu C
Psychologist, Trainer & Research Consultant
Association for Social Change, Evolution and
Transformation (ASCENT)

2. Focus Groups
• Used in Psychology relatively recently
• Popular in Health research, Marketing…
• Collects information about people’s
opinions, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions,
behaviours, motivations etc.
• Not done to come to a consensus or make
decisions

3. Will people speak openly?
• Focus Group Discussions do facilitate
disclosures and discussions than personal
interviews (Amoakohene, 2004)
• The key lies in the way the discussion is
steered by the moderator/facilitator
• Even provocative questions can be asked in
a constructive manner
• A schedule is needed to act as a backbone

4. General Features
• Facilitate interaction between members; Direct
questions by researcher are kept to a minimum
• Ground rules and limits communicated by the
facilitator
• Focus group is natural & conversational. May
include story telling, joking, arguing, boasting,
teasing, persuasion, challenge, disagreement…
• Quality data is obtained when the focus group is
a rewarding experience for the participants
• Sessions are recorded and transcribed
• Notes and observations taken separately

5. • Can be done as one-off event or as multiple
sessions with same or different participants
• Somewhere between 4 to 8 participants
• Types:
o Homogeneous V/s Heterogeneous
o Pre-existing V/s New
o Concerned V/s Naïve
• Video clips, films, group tasks etc. can be
used to trigger the FGD process
General Features

6. General Features
• Not useful to compare individuals or to
measure attitudes
• Voluminous, unstructured data; not
amenable to summarization or quantification
• Analysis should try to preserve the actual
words and expressions of participants
• Generalization is not the aim, understanding
is

7. Difficulties
• Difficult to recruit participants
• Skilled moderators needed
• Transcription can consume time
• Analysis needs skills and training

8. Approaches - Essentialist
• Tries to elicit individual participants’ ideas,
opinions and understanding of the world
• FGD can help in this because it can:
o Trigger memories
o Stimulate debate
o Facilitate disclosure
o Encourage elaboration

9. Approaches – Social Constructivist
• Assumes that ideas are constructed through
interactions
• Tries to explore this process through FGD
• Interested to see how people express,
construct, defend and modify their views
throughout the discussion
• Data analysis techniques differ according to
the approach employed

10. Designing the FGD
• Decide the Research Question
• Assess the available time
• Number of groups
• Where to find participants from?
• Location of the FGD
• Recording/ Transcription procedure
• What other resources are
needed/available?

11. Ethical Considerations
• Informed consent (in writing/recording)
• Ethical approval (If a system is available)
• Setting the ground rules
o No Psychological or Physical harm
o Right to Withdraw
o Confidentiality and Privacy
o Debriefing

12. Getting the Participants
• Are incentives offered?
• Gaining prior informed consent
• Beware of dropouts – arrange 50%
more participants as stand-by
• Issue reminders and directions
• Last-day reminders are a must

13. Moderator Skills
• Interviewing Skills
o Rapport building
o Prompts and Probes
o Sensitivity to Non-verbal cues
• Knowledge of Group Dynamics
• Experience in working with groups
• Motivate shy participants and moderate
dominant
• Spot signs of discomfort and respond promptly

14. While in the FGD
• Remember to make notes and observations
• Keep a tab on time consumed by each
participant
• Use Introductory  Transition Key
sequence for questions/discussion points
• Summarize at the end; Let participants
clarify doubts or raise questions
• Thank the participants and indicate further
steps (If any)

15. Tips
• Maintain a friendly attitude
• Do not judge participants verbally or non-
verbally
• Get clarifications
• Keep the discussion focused
• Rephrase questions if needed
• Look out specially for the Dominant Participants
• Prod the Shy participants gently
• Diffuse group pressure quickly
• Have an answer for the question, “Can we get a
copy of the report?”

16. The team
• Facilitator/Moderator (Researcher)
• Note taker
• Participant recruiter.
• Logistics coordinator.
• Translator of transcripts.
• Data-analyst.

17. Data Analysis
• Start immediately; bulk of the unrecorded
data fades away quickly
• Researcher should try to be present at all
stages
• Knowledge of CAQDAS is a bonus

18. References
• Amoakohene, I. M. (2004). Researching radio
audiences in an emerging pluralistic media
environment: A case study for the focus group
discussion (FGD) method. African Media Review,12,
25-40.
• Gerritsen, Annette. (2011). Focus Group Discussions –
a step-by-step guide (Presentation). University of
Limpopo & VLIR project South Africa.
• Wilkinson, S. (2008). Focus Groups. In Smith, J. A.
(Ed). Qualitative Psychology: A practical guide to
research methods. 2e. London: Sage.