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1. A short essay on three research methods in qualitative: Interview, focus group and
ethnography
This essay discuss about three research method in qualitative. They are qualitative
interview, focus group and ethnography.
1. Qualitative Interview
A qualitative interview is a research tool which is often used in social studies to gain an
understanding on particular issues, for example other people’s cultural views, problems
or solutions (Rubin & Rubin, 2005). It is a journey to find out what others feel and think
about something and the result is to comprehend their true message also the similarity
or difference to the interviewer’s situation. To obtain a clearer picture of the
interviewee’s views, Bryman & Bell (2011) suggest researchers to be flexible with their
schedules. Also, rambling is often suggested as long as it gives interviewer insight for
what is important or relevant. In this method, a researcher wants details and rich
responses and an interview may be conducted more than once to have a better
understanding on the interviewee’s point of view. According to Rubin & Rubin (2005), to
conduct a good interview, a reseacher have to prepare questions in advance and later
analyse them after the interview and report results. Becoming a good interviewer needs
practice and evaluation to have an ability to guide the questions and focus to the study.
Moreover, the researcher has an obligation to determine what is important and what is
ethical and also the accuracy of the results. In addition, Edward & Holland (2013) assert
the importance of the ability of researchers to draw their participants’ attention during
interviews and understand what the research is about and how the interviews will be
conducted.
A qualitative interview has been widely used particularly in business and management
research, and sociology field (Bryman & Bell, 2011). This method also has high flexibility
that it can be combined with other qualitative methods such as ethnography or focus
group discussion, even it also could be employed with quantitative methods like
structured interviews.
Despite its extensive use, Bryman & Bell (2011) argue that this method may not be
appropriate to use in all circumstances. For example, some kind of information type
cannot be captured through interviews such as dynamics of a meeting before a decision
was issued. Also, some deviant activity within an organisation is easier to access with
another method such as participant observation, i.e. practical rituals or humours in
Aboriginal community.
2. Focus Group
A focus group is a form of group interviewing which consists of several participants
(including moderator). It relies on an interaction within group members based on topics
that are supplied by the researcher in order to have an emphasis on a particular topic;
the dynamics upon interactions within the group; and the joint construction of a common
understanding on a particular issue (Morgan, 1997).

2. Mochammad Hadi Pratomo – S3467773 – ISYS3347 Page 1
The main advantage of this method is to draw upon aspects from respondents, such as
their attitudes, feelings, experiences, or beliefs in a way which would not be feasible if
using other methods. These aspects may only be revealed in a social gathering when
an interaction among members occurs within this group. In this method, researchers are
able to gain a larger amount of data in a shorter period of time compared to an
observation (Gibbs, 1997). The focus group is also useful by allowing people to enquire
others’ reason for holding a certain opinion. Sometimes, an individual will argue or
challenge each other for any specific issue. Moreover, this method offers the researcher
to study how people construct a collective sense on any particular topic and how to
interpret the meaning (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
Because of its many advantages, the focus group is not only used extensively in market
researches, but also for other purposes i.e. used by politicians to predict the outcome of
an election and to shape their public images. Film makers also use this to determine
when the right time is to stop a major film run or art seller to decide what painting or
sculpture will sell (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
There are limitations of focus group method, for example, the researcher has less
control over proceedings and over the data produced. Furthermore, by its nature, a
focus group is an open ended situation and cannot be totally predetermined. As
consequences, the occasion is harder to assemble, the data are difficult to analyse, and
the recordings are more time-consuming to transcribe (Morgan, 1997).
3. Ethnography
Ethnography could be viewed as a method which researchers are joining particular
groups for their study in order to examine various phenomena as perceived by
participants. An ethnographer is typically an observer who often uses non-observational
methods and sources such as interviewing, mapping and assorting documents. To be a
good ethnographer, it requires consideration that researchers need to be sceptics on
what lies on the surface of a phenomenon that it would need verification or corroboration
(Berg & Lune, 2001).
This method is better to be applied in a context which requires an intensive observation,
and when the information is obtained through a process by joining a group, for instance
social behavioural studies and organisational cultures. However, in this context, Bryman
& Bell (2011) contend that ethnography might not be suitable for some researchers, for
example, a research about friendship pattern in black skin communities may be difficult
to be conducted if the researcher is white.
In term of ethnography’s limitation, Berg & Lune (2001) argue that besides requiring a
plenty of time to conduct a research, one major obstacle shared by all ethnographers is
the problem of getting access. In addition, a negotiation of access can be a lengthy
process because it may depend on establishing trust. Another potential problem for an
ethnography research is the impact or influence from key informants, although they
could play important roles, but care is needed to ensure that their interference is not
excessive (Bryman & Bell, 2011).

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References
Berg, B., & Lune, H. (2001). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (4 ed.). Boston:
Pearson.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2011). Business Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Edward, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What Is Qualitative Interviewing? London: Bloomsburry Publishing.
Gibbs, A. (1997). Focus groups. Social research update, 19(8).
Morgan, D. L. (1997). Focus groups as qualitative research (Vol. 16). Sage.
Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. (2005). Qualitative interviewing: the art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks,
California: Sage Publications.