Using Focus Groups

Ivana Acocella is Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Florence (Italy). Since 2002, she has taught Methodology and Research Methods for the Social Sciences. She currently teaches Sociology of Migration and Qualitative Research. Her research focuses on epistemological and methodological assessment of qualitative research approaches. Silvia Cataldi, PhD, is Associate Professor of sociology at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). Her research focuses on methodological aspects of social research and emerging cultural and social identity models, and she is involved in many European projects.

Part 1 - What is a focus group? Chapter 1: Outlining the focus group Chapter 2: Dealing with ethical challenges Part 2 - Planning and designing Chapter 3: Designing a focus group research Chapter 4: Mixing the focus group with other techniques Chapter 5: Choosing and recruiting the focus group participants Chapter 6: Designing focus group tools Part 3 - Conducting Chapter 7: Moderating the focus group Chapter 8: Observing the focus group Chapter 9: Running the focus group Part 4 - Analysing and writing up Chapter 10: Transcribing and analysing the focus group content Chapter 11: Analysing the focus group relational and technical dimensions Chapter 12: Interpreting and reporting the focus group results Appendix - Tools References