Lia Litosseliti

DESCRIPTION

Focus Groups are special in terms of purpose, composition, and procedures. They present an environment for a focused, in-depth, interactive exploration of a research topic. This practical guide takes a step-by-step look at focus group research, from selecting the participants and asking the right questions, to developing a focus group and analysing the data produced.

CONTENTS

1. Introducing focus groups

-Preliminaries and definitions

-What kind of focus group?

-Focus groups as a qualitative research method in the social sciences

-Summary

2. Benefits and limitations of focus group methodology

-When to use groups and for what kinds of questions

-Limitations of focus groups

-Summary

3. Planning and organising focus groups

-Selecting the participants

-The role of the moderator

-Selecting a location and other practicalities of setting up focus groups

-Ethical issues

-Summary

4. Developing and asking questions

-The topic guide of questioning route

-Types of questions

-Kinds of questions

-Summary

5. Conducting focus groups

-Before the focus group session

-Stages of the focus group session

-After the session

-

6. Analysing focus group data

Further reading

References

RELATED TITLES

For those embarking on research the Continuum Research Methods series offers invaluable advice on a wide range of projects and their methods.

Research Questions - Richard Andrews

Evaluation: A multi-method approach - Judith Bennett

Analysing Multimodal texts - Andrew Burn and David Parker

Action Research - Patrick Costello

Developing a Questionnaire - Bill Gillham

The Research Interview - Bill Gillham

Case Study Research Methods - Bill Gillham

Ethics and Research - Ian Gregory

Researching Post-compulsory Education - Yvonne Hillier and Jill Jameson

Systematic Reviews - Carol Torgerson

USING FOCUS GROUPS IN RESEARCH

New Book Information	EDUCATION

ORDERS TO:

Orca Book Services

Stanley House,

3 Fleets Lane,

Poole,

Dorset

BH15 3AJ

T +44 (0)1202 665432

F +44 (0)1202 666219

www.continuumbooks.com

SERIES:

20th October 03

112 Pages

Illustrations (B&W): 0

Illustrations (Colour): 0

216 x 138 mm

PB 0826464726 * £9.99

Mkt. Restrictions: None

AUTHOR

Lia Litosseliti is Lecturer in Linguistics at City University, London

cparkinson

2004-01-19

HWA