Overview
This live online one-day Zoom course provides you with an overview of the main principles of focus groups as a qualitative research method, factors to consider in the design of your focus groups, and key moderator skills when running your focus groups either face-to-face or online.
Focus groups are a popular qualitative research method but it is vital to understand the kind of data they generate and the importance of group interaction for generating insightful and useful data. As a research method, focus groups require considerable questioning and moderation skills.
This interactive online course helps you to improve the quality of your focus group research. It provides participants with a clear understanding of when and how to use focus groups as a qualitative method. We also consider how to modify the style and approach of focus groups depending on the sensitivity of the research topic, the nature of the participants, and the mode of delivery (i.e. f2f or online).
By the end of the course participants will be equipped to independently design, undertake, and moderate focus group discussions.
Course content typically includes:
- The principles of focus groups as qualitative research method
- The importance of group interaction
- Designing your focus group study
- Composition of focus groups
- Running focus groups f2f and online
- Recruitment and logistics of focus groups
- How to effectively moderate your focus groups
- Dealing with challenging situations
- Ensuring rigor in the design of a focus group study
- Experience as moderator running a mock online focus group