Using focus groups to facilitate culturally anchored research

TLDR

Researchers have recognized the need to anchor social and psychological science in the norms, values, and experiences of the specific population studied, and focus groups provide a means to illustrate this. The article proposes incorporating focus groups during research planning to embed studies in cultural context. The authors outline focus group components and illustrate them with dual‑earner African American families, showing how cultural knowledge and participants’ language guide conceptual framework development, construct identification, and instrument design. The article discusses strengths and limitations of focus group research.

Abstract

Abstract Scholars have acknowledged the need to anchor scientific knowledge about social and psychological processes in the norms, values, and experiences of the partticular population under study. This article describes how focus groups can be incorporated into the planning stages of a research pogram to facilitate these goals. After a brief overview of teh central components of focus group research, and example from a program of research involving dual‐earner African American families is used to as an illustration. The article describes how (a) the identification of cultural knowledge and (b)access to the language participants use to think and talk about a topic can help researchers formulate a conceptual framework, identify important constructs, and develop appropriate instruments for assessing constructs. Some strengths and limitations of focus group research are discussed.