Compose a research question that would be appropriate for a focus group dialogue and explain why the focus group would be more appropriate than one of the other means of data collection (e.g., the interview or the social survey) in qualitative research.
What will be an ideal response?
Ans: Varies. A research question that would be appropriate for the focus group would be “What are the most important needs of our staff in regard to working conditions?” The focus group is a method of gathering qualitative data that entails a group meeting where a general question, and specific questions, is discussed and conclusions are drawn. There is a leader who is responsible for leading the group discussion and there is a person who records the ideas that emanate from the discussion. The interview is an encounter between an interviewer and an interviewee, so one of the major differences is that the focus group uses the group context. The focus group is also different in the same way to a survey which employs a questionnaire that individuals complete. If you want to know ideas of staff about working condition, it would be useful to have a group discussion where people can share ideas and develop new ones from the dialogue. If, on the other hand, you knew there were three preferences for improved working conditions and you wanted to know how these three preferences fared in the minds of the staff, you could just send everyone a social survey questionnaire. In the absence of clear-cut information on such matters, a group dialogue would be useful.
Learning Objective: 9-5: Identify the key characteristics of the social survey, the interview, and the focus group as different data collection methods in qualitative research.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Data Collection in Qualitative Research
Difficulty Level: Hard
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