Abstract
I found myself both excited and exasperated—in equal amounts—by the appearance of yet another book on focus groups. There is certainly always room for a new ‘take’ on an established topic, but I am not persuaded that this latest offering quite rises to the challenge. First, the case for producing this volume hinges on a somewhat partisan reading of the literature. The author claims that there is an important gap with respect to both the use of focus groups with vulnerable groups and discussion of virtual focus groups. Although it is certainly fair to say that these topics may not have received so much attention as have other aspects of focus group usage, their coverage within this new book does not, in itself, make for a convincingly unique selling point, as several authors have already addressed these issues.
Although Liamputtong advocates less-structured groups, she provides very little in the way of justification for this focus. I would have liked to have seen some more discussion of the differences between the more structured use of focus groups and the approach that is championed here. Even where the intention is to bring individuals together for a free-flowing discussion, elements of structure (location, group membership, and the introduction provided by the researcher) are all likely to shape the interaction, regardless of whether these are decisions consciously made by the researcher or whether they are simply attributes of specific settings utilized for research purposes. There are also some unexamined claims, such as that focus groups put control of interaction into the hands of the participants. This ultimately depends on the context in which focus groups are being used, the content of any question and stimulus material employed, and the individual style of the moderator(s).
Liamputtong’s plea for less-structured focus groups notwithstanding, this volume does give some helpful hints on the practicalities involved in drawing up a question guide, for example (p. 76), and a data collection template (p. 83). The advice on moderating online focus groups (Chapter 9) is also a welcome inclusion.
As one would expect, given Liamputtong’s track record with regard to writing about researching the vulnerable, the section on ethics (Chapter 2) is particularly strong. I also particularly liked the section on focus groups in multimethod studies (Chapter 6). Here, Liamputtong provides very useful insights into the use of focus groups within the context of community-based participatory research and their use alongside the photovoice approach. It is here and in Chapter 7 (dealing with sensitive topics and vulnerable groups) and Chapter 8 (on cross-cultural research) that Liamputtong’s expertise really comes into its own.
Again, some helpful guidance is offered (in Chapter 10 on managing and making sense of focus group data) in relation to analytic questions one can pose in analyzing group interaction. It is a pity that advice on transcription does not appear until this relatively late stage, as such decisions inevitably shape the whole process, including the data generated. Although this chapter contains some sound advice, it is frustratingly short, and I would have liked to have seen more worked examples of analysis of focus group data. However, a wide-ranging volume such as this cannot hope to cover everything to the satisfaction of all readers.
The exercises provided at the end of each chapter are generally discursive and would have benefited from more focus on specific tasks involved in focus group research. A relatively small, but nevertheless worrying, irritation for this reviewer related to the unacknowledged appropriation of several of my own more esoteric examples, invoked here to make exactly the same points. Two examples include the article by Black and Smith relating to a study carried out during the immediate aftermath of Princess Diana’s death (p. 7), and the study of Scottish jazz musicians by MacDonald and Wilson (p. 13). I suspect that other focus group writers will stumble across further unattributed examples gleaned from their own work.
Liamputtong displays familiarity with focus group usage in an impressive range of disciplines and over a wide variety of research topics. In summary, this book provides a very competent distillation of existing work on focus groups, but fresh insights are limited, and the volume does not add significantly to the canon. I suspect, however, that research methods textbooks are a bit like celebrity exercise videos, with sales dependent on the loyalty to a brand or named personality. This book will be eagerly welcomed by students and researchers in anthropology, or those carrying out cross-cultural or participatory research, and will undoubtedly provide an extremely valuable resource within these fields.