Where to begin? Grappling with how to use participant interaction in focus group design

Abstract

Participant interaction is said to be the hallmark of the focus group method, but a number of studies suggest that the defining feature of the method is virtually absent in most focus group research. Our meta-analysis of this debate over participant interaction in the focus group literature suggests that absence of interaction data reflects a philosophical position, rather than neglect. Participant interaction is treated differently in different types of research, reflecting a tacit division between researchers who view the participants primarily as individuals sharing held truths and those who view them as social beings co-constructing meaning while in the focus group. We question the habit of making assumptions about the 'proper' use of participant interaction and call for further reflection on its role and usage in light of the aim of each study. We argue that the treatment of participant interaction needs to be a conscious and explicit design decision -one clearly rooted in a theoretical perspective and best suited to the research purpose. While exploring this issue, we discuss how a researcher's lens affects how they deal with the interaction of participants, what they view as strengths and limitations of the method, and what kinds of results they end up with. We provide an overview of alternative approaches to participant interaction, offer strategies from different disciplines for analysing interaction, and propose a continuum of use demonstrating a range of options for when to use interaction.

University entrance language tests: A matter of justice

“…The purpose of the focus groups was to come to a cross-disciplinary consensus (Belzile & Öberg, 2012) concerning the linguistic demands placed on students at the start of university, and to assess whether these demands matched the target level of the tests (claim 2). At the beginning, participants all agreed that the minimal linguistic demands were the same for all students, irrespective of their L1.…”

Focus Groups as Social Arenas for the Negotiation of Normativity

“…The literature has shown various views and debates on the role of interaction in focus groups (Belzile & Ö berg, 2012;Grønkjaer et al, 2011;Halkier, 2010;Morgan, 2010;Puchta & Potter, 2004;Webb & Kevern, 2001) and multiple opinions exist on how interaction should be addressed in a focus group study. From the view of an essentialist epistemology, the question of interaction is not particularly relevant because the research interest lies mainly on analyzing individual and group meanings on substantive topics (Belzine & Ö berg, 2012;Morgan, 2010).…”

“…As such and from a discursive constructionist perspective, content analysis can be criticized for giving a simplified and maybe even wrong picture of the norms and the normativity at play in focus groups focusing on identifying patterns across the data instead of opening up to the complexity of how norms and normativity are legitimized, challenged (or confirmed), and negotiated in specific social situations. Belzile and Ö berg (2012) claim that instead of building academic gaps, it is important to acknowledge that there is no authoritative or "true" answer to the role of interaction in focus group analysis; rather it depends on the philosophical and epistemological position taken in the specific study and the specific research purpose. We agree that designing a focus group study, the researcher should seek consistency between the specific research purpose, epistemology, ontology, theory, and methods.…”

“…The article is a contribution to the ongoing debate about how to treat participant interaction in analyzing focus group discussions (Belzile & Ö berg, 2012;Grønkjaer et al, 2011;Halkier, 2010;Morgan, 2010;Puchta & Potter, 2004;Webb & Kevern, 2001). The article was developed and constructed in order to further develop and support the arguments for utilizing the potential of the focus group interaction in analysis and reporting of focus group data.…”

“…The article was developed and constructed in order to further develop and support the arguments for utilizing the potential of the focus group interaction in analysis and reporting of focus group data. Epistemologically, the article is based on a discursive constructionist position that, rather than focusing on participants as individuals sharing held truths, views participants as social beings coconstructing and negotiating meaning while in the focus group (Belzile & Ö berg, 2012;Potter, 1996;Potter & Hepburn, 2012). Further, it is assumed that social norms do not preexist as fixed observable norms that researchers are able to study and describe.…”