Focus groups as counterspaces for Black girls and Black women: A critical approach to research methods

When researchers intentionally account for the complexities of gendered racism, focus groups can become spaces for healing, community building, information exchange, psychological safety, and support for Black girls and Black women. This approach, when situated within race, gender critical perspectives, presents opportunities for ascertaining Black girls and Black women’s onto-epistemologies in ways that coincide with their identities. Given the alternative possibilities of focus groups, in this paper we advance strategies for employing focus groups as counterspaces, an anti-racist and anti-oppressive research method that educational psychologists can utilize to challenge current methodological approaches related to Black girls and Black women. To transform how educational psychologists spotlight Black girls and Black women as knowledge producers in research, we draw upon guiding theoretical frameworks (Black Girl Cartography and Critical Race Feminism) that highlight their voices and intersectional perspectives. We will (1) explain the theoretical perspectives that center this method as a critical approach for the gendered racialized experiences of Black girls and Black women, (2) share insights from the field where focus groups provide psychological safety and group collectivism, serve as an adaptive coping mechanism, and provide space for authentic communication styles, (3) consider areas for improvement and best practices for focus groups in research design, data collection and analysis, and (4) provide ethical considerations related to focus groups as counterspaces. Implications for critical research methodology approaches centering Black girls and Black women and the broader impact on the field of educational psychology are discussed.