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Full-Text Articles in Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies

How I Learned To Conduct Focus Groups, Maribel Del Rio-Roberts Aug 2009

How I Learned To Conduct Focus Groups, Maribel Del Rio-Roberts

The Qualitative Report

The use of focus groups may provide researchers with important insights into research questions via participant discussion and interaction. As a human services practitioner and researcher, I became interested in learning how to conduct focus groups in order to apply these steps to my research and gain valuable insights about the human experience that the focus group interaction aims to bring to light. In this review, I will highlight the steps that I took to learn to conduct focus group research and through my experience I hope that readers gain familiarity and clarity into this unique qualitative research approach.


The Coke Side Of Life:An Exploration Of Pre-Schoolers' Constructions Of Product And Selves Through Talk-In-Interaction Around Coca-Cola, Olivia Freeman Jan 2009

The Coke Side Of Life:An Exploration Of Pre-Schoolers' Constructions Of Product And Selves Through Talk-In-Interaction Around Coca-Cola, Olivia Freeman

Articles

Abstract Purpose – This paper proposes the activity-based focus group as a useful method with which to generate talk-in-interaction among pre-schoolers. Analytically, it aims to illustrate, how transcribed talk-in-interaction can be subjected to a discourse analytic lens, to produce insights into how pre-schoolers use ‘Coca-Cola’ as a conversational resource with which to build product-related meanings and social selves. Design/methodology/approach - Fourteen activity-based discussion groups with pre-schoolers aged between two and five years have been conducted in a number of settings including privately run Montessori schools and community based preschools in Dublin. The talk generated through these groups has been transcribed …


Focused Group Interviews As An Innovative Quanti- Qualitative Methodology (Qqm ): Integrating Quantitative Elements Into A Qualitative Methodology, Brian J. Grim, Alison H. Harmon, Judy C. Gromis Sep 2006

Focused Group Interviews As An Innovative Quanti- Qualitative Methodology (Qqm ): Integrating Quantitative Elements Into A Qualitative Methodology, Brian J. Grim, Alison H. Harmon, Judy C. Gromis

The Qualitative Report

There is a sharp divide between quantitative and qualitative methodologies in the social sciences. We investigate an innovative way to bridge this gap that incorporates quantitative techniques into a qualitative method, the “quanti-qualitative method” (QQM). Specifically, our research utilized small survey questionnaires and experiment-like activities as part of the question rout e in a series of five focused group interviews on nutrition education. We show how these quantitative-type activities fit naturally with our question route and contributed to testing the hypotheses within the context of the five important characteristics of focused group interviews. The innovative use of QQM in focused …


Understanding Implicit Texts In Focus Groups From A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective, Brigitte Smit, Frans Cillers Jun 2006

Understanding Implicit Texts In Focus Groups From A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective, Brigitte Smit, Frans Cillers

The Qualitative Report

Many researchers have been inquiring into focus groups as a qualitative data collection method (Barbour & Kitzinger 1999; Krueger 1998; Morgan, 1998), but only a few have been able to analyse the different levels of understanding in focus groups, which we focus on in this article. The guiding research question is how do focus groups offer deeper levels of understandings from a systems psychodynamic perspective. Research participants were purposively sample d using maximum variation (Patton 2002). Data were collected during the focus group, and group data were analysed during data gathering. Meaning making and interpretation of data was done from …


Joint Stories And Layered Tales: Support, Contradiction And Me Aning Construction In Focus Group Research, Agnieszka Kosny Dec 2003

Joint Stories And Layered Tales: Support, Contradiction And Me Aning Construction In Focus Group Research, Agnieszka Kosny

The Qualitative Report

This paper uses focus group data about women’s work experiences gathered in five Canadian east coast communities to examine some of the strengths and weakness associated with focus group research. I explore the case made against the use of focus group methods and the basis for some of the critiques aimed at focus group research. By examining the evolving discussions between focus group members, it is possible to understand some of the benefits of group-talk, including the creation of a unique opportunity for interaction, joint meaning creation and contradiction.


Using Participatory Focus Groups Of Graduate Students To Improve Academic Departments: A Case Example, Deanna Linville, Jennifer Lambert-Shute, Christine A. Fruhauf, Fred P. Piercy Jun 2003

Using Participatory Focus Groups Of Graduate Students To Improve Academic Departments: A Case Example, Deanna Linville, Jennifer Lambert-Shute, Christine A. Fruhauf, Fred P. Piercy

The Qualitative Report

The authors report on a participatory focus group evaluation of an academic department. The 20 participants, and the majority of the evaluators, were graduate students in that department. The authors report on their methods, their reflections, ethical issues they encountered and what they did about them, and how they used the results.