Basic and Advanced Focus Groups

The title is not denigratory. It used to be quite common for a leader in an academic field to write an "apology" as the capstone of his or her life's work. The apology talks through why the area of work was important, and it highlighted the author's contributions to the field."Basic and Advanced Focus Groups" is an apology for sociology and the use of focus groups by Professor David Morgan. The book covers a lot of ground from the value of focus groups to how to recruit, how to ask questions, the legal implications of participation, etc. Also, the book is exceptionally well organized and laid out.Let me say up-front, if you are a graduate student who has been directed by your faculty advisor to conduct a focus group then you simply must read this book.I've been in the analytic and academic world for almost 40 years now, and I have used focus groups on many occasions. Professor Morgan defines focus groups in a way that I was not familiar with. Essentially, for Morgan, the interaction between members of the group is the most significant detail as is the qualitative aspects of the study.Like many contemporary practitioners, I value quantitative methods that are reproduce-able, transparent, and data driven. The focus group approaches described by Professor Morgan are not in that camp. That is not a bad thing. I just want to manage expectations for the reader.The book was very interesting. The heart of it came in one of the Professor's advanced chapters entitled "the resurgence of sociology." Ah-ha! The light came on for me then, and I realized that this was a classic apology form book.All in all, this book could both serve as a roadmap for conducting a focus group if directed to conduct one, and it could also prove valuable for the experimental designer who is determining what form he or she would like to take in conducting research.

Years ago, I took a qualitative research graduate course, and since then, I've conducted a variety of qualitative (and quantitative) research projects. Only one was a project utilizing focus groups, and since this was when your recordings needed to be transcribed by poor graduate students, it was a laborious and time-consuming procedure. Oh, to have the transcription software that is available today!This book, Basic and Advanced Focus Groups, by David Morgan, is no doubt the best overview of focus group design, development, and analysis that I've seen in a slim book. It seems more appropriate for a graduate course than for an undergraduate one, primarily because the undergraduate courses I've had in "sociological research methods" focused more on quantitative research methods. Combined with an actual study, this text seems ideal for allowing students to develop a real taste for focus groups over 10-15 weeks.In fact, I would recommend that graduate students conducting focus group-based research make a point of noting that they are using a "Morgan group analysis" in their IRB applications (like throwing around the term, the "Dillman's total design method" for surveys).The important point to note from this book is that there really aren't any shortcuts. Morgan carefully notes the potential pitfalls from poor participant selection, relying on memory instead of notes, ethical slips, and more. I'm intrigued by the idea of on-line focus groups.Read it, and use a highlighter to accent the important points. If your graduate student shows you a book that isn't shining from that yellow or orange highlighter, send them back to read it again.

It's been a while since I've used focus groups in my research, so I was looking for a quick refresher. This book did the trick; it's designed in such a way that you can read the entire thing as an introductory text or just read individual chapters as a refresher on the subject.The book covers when/how to use focus groups, research design, composition, moderating, and a tiny bit of analysis. There are also some stand-alone chapters on working with children and the elderly, working in multi-cultural settings, and conducting online focus groups. The appendices are especially useful, including sample consent forms, intro remarks, and even an entire transcript from a real focus group.This book does a good job of covering the basics of focus groups. The only negative was that it used too many little asides in boxes, which made it hard to follow the main text. In some sections, every single page seemed to have a box set off from the main text.

I selected "Basic and Advanced Focus Groups" by David L. Morgan because I've been part of focus groups and wanted to know more about how they work. This book was a good introduction to that process. The author keeps the text lean and focused which I appreciate as someone that doesn't have even a passing knowledge of how they are put together. I think for someone who is more familiar, the text might be more like a refresher of known concepts. I liked it because it was fairly easy to follow. There was a nice range of topics from designing a group to analyzing results to methods of working. It gave me, as a lay person, a better understanding of what a focus group is and how it is used across various sectors So for me, this book hit the mark of what I wanted out of it and it was done in a way that was easy to follow and understand.

This is quite a good book although the emphasis seems to be on the Qualitative approach to Focus Groups...not a bad thing per se, but a bit different. My formal training and practice has always been quantitative but over the years, I've become increasingly interested in a qualitative approach. This blends beautifully and has opened my eyes to a deeper, much more rich understanding of the potential applications. Would highly recommend for class use or personal development.