Focus Groups

The focus group is a qualitative research methodology employed to gain rich insight into attitudes and behaviors. Researchers are better equipped to understand and meaningfully explain certain communication phenomena with descriptive data. The term focus group stems from interviewing a purposeful sample, ideally six to eight participants, and focuses on a preselected centralized topic. The focus group method is gaining recognition in the field of communication and is used to comprehend health and organizational communication issues, as well as media effects on consumers.

This entry discusses how to effectively implement the focus group method. It considers what occurs prior to and during the focus group and possible weaknesses of the methodology. First, this entry offers a general description of the focus group and ...

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