Focus Group Methods

Abstract

The focus group grew out of what Merton, Fiske, and Kendall (1956) referred to as a focused interview . It is traditionally defi ned as a well-designed discussion group that concentrates on a particular topic or topics, is facilitated by a trained moderator, and typically consists of 8 to 12 participants in a formal setting. Although the “defi nition of focus groups has very elastic boundaries,” in an actual focus group, “there must be an effort to gather information through a focused discussion” (Morgan, 1998, p. 35). Morgan (1996) stated that focus groups have three essential elements: The goal is data collection, the group discussion is the source of those data, and the researcher’s active role in creating the group discussion is acknowledged. The goal of a focus group is not necessarily to produce consensus, but to stimulate thinking and obtain a range of ideas, opinions, and explanations of experiences.