Focus groups: from data generation to analysis

By reviewing all the difficulties of focus group research, the chapter will come across most questions faced by qualitative researchers,both epistemologically and technically. By focusing on its specificities, it will present the trade-offs, pros, and cons of using focus groups but also of using different types of focus group. More precisely, the topics covered by the chapter will be organised as follows: first, the chapter identifies the domains and research questions where using focus groups is the more useful in political science; then, the chapter discusses the design of focus groups including sampling, questioning, and moderating, as well as issues related to their practical organisation; and finally, yet importantly, the chapter puts a strong emphasis on analysis – from general principles to specific challenges of analysing focus groups before turning to some concluding remarks. Introducing Focus Groups to Political Scientists Beyond the actual definition of the focus group, the scientific uses of focus groups as a strategy of data collection are quite diverse. Indeed, focus groups can be used in very different epistemological frameworks. The success of the focus group as a strategy of data collection is in part due to its appropriateness for research questions and the role accorded to it in the research design. Therefore, before one goes into its practical dispositions, it is important to understand the uses of focus groups and their appropriateness in political science.