The Sage Qualitative Research Kit Doing Focus Groups

Focus groups are an ever popular method for collecting qualitative data in the social sciences. Doing Focus Groups provides practical advice on planning and organizing successful groups. Rose Barbour discusses the advantages and limitations of using group discussion and demonstrates effective methods for collecting and analysing data.

Focus groups are an ever popular method for collecting qualitative data in the social sciences. Doing Focus Groups provides practical advice on planning and organizing successful groups. Rose Barbour discusses the advantages and limitations of using group discussion and demonstrates effective methods for collecting and analysing data.

Basic and Advanced Focus Groups illustrates both the different types of focus groups and how to decide among those options in order to produce the most effective focus groups possible. A variety of approaches to doing research with focus groups gives readers the tools to develop and examine their research designs, starting with the basics. Advanced coverage in each chapter takes an in-depth look at topics such as moderating focus groups, using mixed methods, and working with different sizes of groups. By taking a practical, applied approach, the author gives even novice students the knowledge and confidence to design and conduct effective focus group research, while simultaneously providing more advanced researchers with the tools and knowledge to refine their current practices.

This extensively revised edition of Focus Groups as Qualitative Research reflects the many changes that have occurred in the study of focus groups in recent years.

"This is an impressive collection that will form a must-have resource for those undertaking, teaching or studying qualitative research. It is nicely balanced to include practical advice and methodological discussion on a range of issues, including research design, data collection, analytical approaches and the political economy of contemporary qualitative research practice." - Amanda Coffey, Cardiff University The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit is a major event in the world of Research Methods publishing. The kit comprises eight quality volumes that provide practical and accessible advice on how to conduct state-of-the-art qualitative research. This is an ideal toolkit for students and researchers for use in planning and carrying out research in a variety of academic and professional environments. Each short text is written by leading researchers in each field, and provides the reader with a hands-on guide to what it is really like to do qualitative research in the field. Each book cross-references the other books in the kit, making this an invaluable tool for both teaching and for self-learning. Ideal for anyone in the social, health and educational studies fields, this is the perfect all-encompassing and detailed introduction to the practicalities of qualitative research. The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit contains the following titles Designing Qualitative Research Uwe Flick Designing Qualitative Research provides a comprehensive guide to devising an effective research design. Uwe Flick discusses each stage of the process of designing qualitative research in detail, including formulating a research question, selecting an appropriate strategy, conceptual framework and data source, and collecting and analyzing data. 1. What is qualitative research 2. From an idea to a research question 3. Sampling, selecting and Access 4. Qualitative research designs 5. Resources and stepping stones 6. Quality in qualitative research 7. Ethics in qualitative research 8. Verbal data 9. Ethnographic and visual data 10. Analysing qualitative data 11. Designing qualitative research - Some conclusions Doing Interviews Steinar Kvale Interviewing is an invaluable tool for the qualitative researcher. Steinar Kvale provides coverage of both the theoretical background and the practical aspects of the interview process, incorporating discussion of the wide variety of methods in interview based research and the different approaches to reading the data. Consideration is also given to the crucial issue of how to ensure scientific rigor. 1. Introduction to Interview Research 2. Epistemological Issues of Interviewing 3. Ethical Issues of Interviewing 4. Planning an Interview Study 5. Conducting an Interview 6. Interview Variations 7. Interview Quality 8. Transcribing Interviews 9. Analysing Interviews 10. Validation and Generalisation of Interview Knowledge 11. Reporting Interview Knowledge 12. Enhancing Interview Quality Doing Ethnographic and Observational Research Michael Angrosino Doing Ethnographic Research guides the reader through the whole research process, from site selection through the production of a final report, and provides an introduction to the variety of data collection techniques associated with ethnographic research. Illustrative case material is provided throughout to demonstrate how the guidelines set out here translate into real-life research situations. 1. Ethnography and Participant Observation 2. What Kinds of Topics Can Be Effectively and Efficiently Studied by Ethnographic Methods? 3. Selecting a Field Site 4. Data Collection in the Field 5. Focus on Observation 6. Analyzing Ethnographic Data 7. Strategies for Representing Ethnographic Data 8. Ethical Considerations 9. Ethnography for the Twenty-First Century Doing Focus Groups Rosaline Barbour Focus groups are an increasingly popular method for collecting qualitative data in the social sciences. Doing Focus Groups provides practical advice on planning and running such group successfully. Rose Barbour discusses the advantages and limitations of using group discussion and demonstrates effective methods for collecting and analysing data. 1. Introducing Focus Groups 2. Uses and Abuses of Focus Groups 3. Underpinnings of Focus Group Research 4. Research Design 5. Sampling 6. Practicalities of Planning and Running Focus Groups 7. Ethics and Engagement 8. Generating Data 9. Starting to Make Sense of Focus Group Data 10. Analytical Challenges in Focus Group Research Using Visual Data in Qualitative Research Marcus Banks Using Visual Data in Qualitative Research examines the wide range of uses of paintings, photographs, film, drawings and a host of other images in qualitative research. Marcus Banks discusses visual data produced by the researcher, and that produced by those under study, and provides a comprehensive introduction to the practice of visually-orientated research. 1. The place of visual data in social research: a brief history 2. Approaches to studying the visual 3.Visual methods and field research 4. Presenting visual research 5. Conclusion: images and social research Analyzing Qualitative Data Graham Gibbs Analyzing Qualitative Data outlines how to select the most appropriate tool for analysis and provides the reader with an awareness of the various challenges that are unique to interpreting the conceptual and subjective data generated in qualitative research. Graham Gibbs covers preparation of data, coding and categorizing, analyzing biographies and narratives, and discusses the use of computer assisted qualitative data analysis. 1. The Nature of Qualitative Analysis 2. Data preparation 3. Writing 4. Thematic coding and categorizing 5. Analysing biographies and narratives 6. Comparative Analysis 7. Analytic Quality and Ethics 8. Getting started with computer assisted qualitative data analysis 9. Searching and other analytic activities using software 10. Putting it all together Doing Conversation, Discourse and Document Analysis Tim Rapley Doing Conversation, Discourse and Document Analysis demonstrates how language-in-use can be researched, looking at a wide range of sources, including official documents, political debate, casual conversations, interviews and internet chat rooms. The issues that might be faced by those undertaking such research are tackled and practical solutions are explored. 1. Studying discourse 2. Generating an archive 3. Ethics and recording 'data' 4. The practicalities of recording 5. Transcribing audio and video materials 6. Exploring conversations 7. Exploring conversations about and with documents 8. Exploring conversations and discourse: some debates and dilemmas 9. Exploring documents 10. Studying discourse: some closing comments Managing Quality in Qualitative Research Uwe Flick The issue of quality in qualitative research is one that is often neglected. In Managing Quality in Qualitative Research attention is given to the fundamental question of how to define and assess the quality of research. Uwe Flick examines how to distinguish good research from bad research when it comes to teaching, planning, evaluating and publishing qualitative research. 1. How to manage, address and assess the quality of qualitative research 2. Standards, criteria, checklists and guidelines 3. Strategies of managing diversity 4. Concepts of Triangulation 5. Methodological Triangulation in Qualitative Research 6. Triangulation in Ethnography 7. Triangulation of Qualitative and Quantitative Research 8. How to Use Triangulation for managing quality - Practical Issues 9. Quality, Creativity, and Ethics: Different ways to ask the question 10.Managing Quality in qualitative research - a focus on process and transparency

Covers the range of practical tasks required in the course of a research project when using focus groups. This title emphasizes the clarifying purposes of the research project in order to collect data that meet the goals. It features a discussion of personnel and budgets.

The Focus Group Guide book is part of the six-volume Focus Group Kit, which offers the information needed to conduct a state-of-the-art focus group, from the initial planning stages through to analysing and reporting the data.

Fully updated and expanded to ten volumes, this Second Edition of The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit contains the essential, state-of-the-art tools for those engaging in qualitative research. Bringing together concise, practical texts by leading academics in the field, the Kit guides students and researchers through designing and carrying out research using the full range of qualitative methods, from focus groups and interviews to ethnography and discourse analysis. Containing three brand new titles, the kit updates and extends coverage across ethnography, grounded theory, triangulation, and mixed methods. All books are extensively cross-referenced, making this a cohesive and invaluable resource for those teaching or learning in the disciplines of the social sciences, health, and education. Each book is pedagogically supported to give each topic a concise, practical, hands-on "how-to" primer. The format includes: clear chapter objectives, boxed summary explanations, a summary list of key points at the end of each chapter, and further reading. Titles include: Designing Qualitative Research, Uwe Flick Doing Interviews, Svend Brinkmann and Steinar Kvale Doing Ethnography, Amanda Coffey (*NEW IN THIS EDITION) Doing Focus Groups, Rosaline Barbour Using Visual Data in Qualitative Research, Marcus Banks Analyzing Qualitative Data, Graham R. Gibbs Doing Conversation, Discourse and Document Analysis, Tim Rapley Doing Grounded Theory, Uwe Flick (*NEW IN THIS EDITION) Doing Triangulation and Mixed Methods, Uwe Flick (*NEW IN THIS EDITION) Managing Quality in Qualitative Research, Uwe Flick