Tuesday, 5 February 2013
The Focus Group Method
This weeks reading, Rethinking the Focus Group in Media and Communication Research, by Lunt and Livingston, gives a great overview of the focus group method, explaining its advantageous to research. They explain that "the focus group method involves bringing together a group, or, more often, a series of groups, of subjects to discuss an issue in the presence of a moderator. A moderator ensures that the discussion remains on the issue at hand, while eliciting a wide range of opinions on that issue" (p 80). When discussing focus groups a number of criticism are often made, biases within the group, as well as conformity. Where as survey research appears to have less bias, however Lunt and Livingston show that a "group acts as a context that challenges, asks for elaboration demands examples of claims that people make. In rhetorical terms, the group acts as if conducting an inquiry, and there are, therefore, reliability checks in the operation of pragmatic norms for communication in groups. There are no such checks in survey research, which may be seen rhetorically as a highly reduced dialogue between researcher and researched" (p 93). I think bias is within every type of research, there is no real way to avoid it.
Do you think Focus Groups are a good way to conduct research? What kind of methods are you thinking of using for your assignments?
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Initially, the idea of focus groups was a real turn off but having read Lunt and Livingston’s Rethinking piece, I really see the point. Being a bit immersed in medical searches, I have been somewhat brainwashed by hearing the steady mantra of the importance of randomized controlled trials and how essential they are to evidence based medicine. And while I do really get that idea, especially if it makes safer any procedures or meds I need to take, the reasoning that a gathering of humanity could elicit checks and balances by providing “context” and “elaboration” - of all things, is entirely appealing. I don’t really know if focus groups will ever find a place of value in scientific research but I am willing to bet that there is real significance in human interaction and identity expression within most every form of research construct.
ReplyDeleteThe primary research method I was hoping to use in my assignment was user surveys. I want to determine what reasons undergraduate students have for using virtual reference instead of coming in for help at a reference desk and to determine if there is a correlation between some conditions and the likeliness of using virtual reference (e.g. distance from the school, English-language proficiency, year of undergraduate education, etc.). I think that conducting user surveys could help answer these questions, although the idea of focus groups is also interesting.
ReplyDeleteFocus groups allow students to enter into a dialogue about the issue of virtual reference and potentially come up with new ideas. Thus, the focus group could create new answers for my research that surveys alone would not find because participants can bounce ideas off of one another. However, as Lunt points out, there is always the chance for a conformity of answers by participants. Also, the moderator, while working to keep the discussion on the main research issue, might run the risk of swerving the questions in a certain direction and bringing bias to the focus group.
In the end, I think it is difficult to stay unbiased when conducting these types of research methods and the main goal, no matter what method is used, is to remain as objective as possible in order to get the best results back.