Importance of Focus Groups in Qualitative Research

Abstract

The use of focus group discussions in qualitative research has been increasing for the last decades, both in academics and applied research areas, mostly in social sciences, health, management and education. The focus group approach is a qualitative method to collect the data on the selected topic with a structured and focused discussion in a small group of people. Focus groups are especially useful as a complement to other methods of data collection for providing in-depth information in a relatively short period of time. The aim of the present paper is to give a review on focus group methods. It provides an overview of the current focus group concepts, including the definition, planning and organization of focus groups as well as discussing the importance and the limitations of these concepts in qualitative research. In addition to ‘traditional’ concepts, online focus groups, new approaches that are conducting the focus groups using internet online platforms are discussed.