FOCUS GROUPS ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA BUSN 364 – Week 14_2 Özge Can

What is Focus Group Research? Qualitative research technique in which people are informally “interviewed” in a group discussion setting The researcher gathers 6-12 people in a room to discuss issues, generally for about 45-90 minutes There is a moderator (facilitator) in the room to facilitate free, open discussion by all group members The group should be moderately homogenous Clear instructions and careful selection of participants

Purposes of Focus Groups Gathering opinions, beliefs, and attitudes about issues of study interest Encouraging discussion about a particular topic Providing an opportunity to learn more and deeply about a topic or issue Testing your theoretical assumptions Interpreting quantitative research results

Research Topics for Focus Groups: Public attitudes (e.g., workplace equality, social relations) Personal behaviors (e.g., dealing with cancer) A new product being introduced to the market (e.g., a new breakfast cereal) Improving an existing product or service A political candidate

Before the Focus Group: Define the objectives of the focus group Establish a timeline Identify the participants Generate the questions Develop a script/plan of the whole session Select a facilitator Choose the location Conduct the focus group!

During The Focus Group: Set the tone; participants should have fun and feel good about the session. Make sure every participant is heard; draw out quieter group members. Get full answers (not just "we need more money" but "we need more money to hire a receptionist to answer phones"). Monitor time closely; don’t exceed time limits. Keep the discussion on track; try to answer all or most of the questions. Head off exchanges of opinion about personal lives.

After The Focus Group: Interpret and report the results In your report: Summarize each meeting individually Analyze the summaries Write the report

Evaluation of Focus Groups Core Advantage: The natural discussion setting allows people to express opinions/ ideas freely and in detail Limitations: A “polarization effect” exists (attitudes become more extreme after group discussion) Only one or a few topics can be discussed in a group session Moderator may unknowingly limit open, free expression of members

Qualitative Data The data is in the form of text from documents, observational notes, open-ended interview transcripts, physical artifacts, audio-video tapes, and images and photos To qualitatively analyze data => systematically to organize, integrate and examine it; searching for patterns and relationships among specific details To analyze, we connect particular data concepts, make generalizations and identify broad themes

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data Analysis Similarities Inferential (both infer from empirical data to abstract ideas) Public and scientifically accepted methods/process Comparison is central Both avoid errors, false conclusions, misleading inferences Differences Quantitative Standardized Analysis follows data collection Generally deductive (tests existing theories) Use of statistical analysis Qualitative Less standardized, various Analysis as data is collected Generally inductive (builds a new theory) Use of non-statistical analysis

Explanations with Qualitative Data Not only descriptions in qualitative research; there are explanations too, BUT they are different from quantitative ones: Less abstract theory Rich in detail, sensitive to context Capable of showing complex processes of social life Provides supportive evidence to eliminate some theoretical explanation from consideration and to increase plausibility of explanation

Coding and Concept Formation Conceptualization: Grounded in data Categories based on themes Ideas and evidence interdependent Coding Data: Open coding Axial coding Selective coding

Coding and Concept Formation Open coding: The first coding of qualitative data that examines the data to reduce them into preliminary analytic categories or codes 1. It helps us see emerging themes at a glance 2. It stimulates us to find themes in future open coding 3. We can make a list of all themes in the study, which we reorganize, sort, combine or discard in further analysis

Coding and Concept Formation Axial coding: Second stage of coding during which the researcher organizes the codes, links them, and discovers key analytic categories Selective coding: Last stage in coding qualitative data that examines previous codes to identify and select data that will support the conceptual coding categories that were developed

Coding and Concept Formation Analytic Memo Writing: It is a special type of note involving the discussion of thoughts and ideas about the data and the coding process that you write to yourself. Each code or concept forms the basis of a seperate memo It links concrete data or raw evidence to abstract, theoretical thinking Memos form the basis for analyzing data in a research report

Coding and Concept Formation Analytic Memo Writing:

Qualitative Data in Field Research

Analytic Strategies for Qualitative Data Ideal Types: It is a model or mental abstraction of social relations or processes. The ideal types is an artificial device used as a pure standard against which data or reality can be compared. Successive Approximation: Repeatedly moving back and forth between the empirical data and the abstract concepts, theories, models, adjusting theory and refining data collection each time

Analytic Strategies for Qualitative Data Illustrative Method: Qualitative data analysis that takes theoretical concepts and treats them as “empty boxes” to be filled with specific empirical examples and descriptions. Evidence in the boxes confirms, modifies or rejects the theory. Domain Analysis: Qualitative analysis that describes and reveals the structure of a cultural domain (“minicultures” in a certain setting can be analyzed)

Analytic Strategies for Qualitative Data Narrative Analysis: Qualitative data analysis that presents a chronologically linked chain of events in which individual or collective social actors have an important role Narrative text refers to data in a storylike format that people apply to organize and express meaning and understanding in social life Tools of narrative analysis: path dependency, periodization, historical contingency

Analytic Strategies for Qualitative Data Negative Case Method: Analysis that focuses on a case that does not conform to the theoretical expectations and uses details from the case to refine theory Some types of negative evidence: Events that population is not aware or wants to hide, overlooked commonplace events