Review Essay: Focus Group Practices: Studying Conversation

Abstract

Focus Group Practice aims at analyzing the interactional process that supports the success of focus groups. The book makes specific observations of what effective focus group moderation can accomplish. Informed by theoretical and methodological approaches taken from conversation and discourse analysis, this work aims at an analysis of the micro-practices that characterize the focus group process. The seven chapters of the book include recommendations for moderators as well as researchers interested in studying focus group methodology as a subject in itself. The book, an analysis of what goes on in the form of conversational processes, is purposely not a "how to" of focus groups, but rather a careful unveiling of the "choreographic" movements that lead to successful group interviews. It includes a series of brief examples of market-research focus groups and pedagogical definitions of conversation analysis and discursive psychology key concepts. A set of principles related to what creates an effective focus group interaction organizes each chapter (interaction, informality, participation, and opinions). Also included are some conversational analysis artifacts like explanations about how transcription is employed in conversational analysis. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs050293