Ivana Acocella - Using Focus Groups

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The focus group is an essential technique in the researchers toolbox. A good investigator needs to know when to use one research tool rather than another. This choice is made based on the cognitive objectives of the research and the fundamental characteristics of the instrument. Indeed, there is no one tool that is better than another, nor one that can be used for each and every research opportunity. For this reason, before using a focus group, the researcher must know what the fundamental characteristics of this tool are and what it is used for. Based on this, the researcher will be able to decide whether or not the focus group is the right tool for his/her research.

So, what is a focus group? The specific definition we can give is that it is a non-standard technique for information gathering based on an apparently informal discussion among a group of people selected on the basis of specific characteristics, outlined according to the cognitive purposes of the research. The debate occurs in the presence of a moderator, who leads a focused discussion on the research issues, and (possibly) an observer, who observes the interactions and integrates the verbal information arising from the conversation.

Let us analyse this definition point by point.

First of all, we define the focus group as a technique. The term technique in the scientific field indicates a tool that the investigator uses for research purposes. The term technique can be distinguished from method because a method is a set of procedures, rules and principles that allow the researcher to know/explain reality. A technique therefore derives from reflections on the method as it represents its applicative result.

The second important thing is that it is a research technique. When we use this expression, we intend to anchor it in the field of scientific investigation. This means that, while not excluding more applicative fields, in this text we will mainly deal with the focus group as an application of scientific research, understood as a systematic investigation undertaken to discover facts or relationships and reach conclusions using scientific method.

This does not mean that the technique is only of use to intellectuals or academics. It rather means that we place the focus group within the research cycle. Scientific research has some characteristic phases: identification and definition of the investigation problem, formulation of research questions or hypotheses, collection and analysis of information, and communication of results. The focus group is therefore a useful tool for the information gathering phase of a research project. Learning to use a focus group consciously and appropriately can therefore constitute a resource for scholars of all ages: it can be useful both for junior researchers and for qualified and senior researchers. Furthermore, the focus group is a useful tool for many disciplines. It therefore has an interdisciplinary value. Indeed, over the last decades the focus group has been gaining more and more attention in a variety of disciplines: marketing, political science, evaluation research, business and administration, medicine, health, education and social research.