In past decades, focus groups have been regarded as an excellent technique to collect data for research due to the indispensable advantages. Therefore, the detailed content of the focus group will be investigated in this essay in order to enhance the ability to conduct the qualitative research more efficiently and effectively. At the outset, the definition of focus group will be illustrated, followed by the discussion of its benefits and inevitable limitations. Finally, the key ethical issues will be taken into account to aid the purpose of utilizing this technique properly.
Definition of Focus Group.
The focus group is a technique of data collection by means of forming a group of selected individuals to discuss and interact with a specific topic informally (Threlfall, 1999). The main feature for this technique is that the researcher is actively encouraging of group interaction and ensuring that group members talk among themselves instead of interacting with the researcher only in order to gain valuable data and insight (Barbour, 2008). In general, the researcher will form a focus group consisting of 6-12 individuals who are similar in some aspects, usually related to prestige or status, and provide an open-ended setting to allow participants to widely discuss a selected topic with each other to generate rich, detailed and collective information that cannot be obtained through other techniques such as individual interview (Morgan, 1993). Thus, as Morgan contended in his book, the focus group is "an excellent method at establishing the why behind the what in participant perspectives"" (Morgan, 1993).
Benefits of Focus Group.
One of the major benefits of focus group is its ability to assist a researcher to elicit information regarding participants' opinions, attitudes and even underlying beliefs, which are direct outcomes of specific group interaction occurred in focus group. Moreover, the extent of explicitness and consensus for information will evolve as well as be improved by members querying and explaining themselves to each other, constructing the answers of a certain questions in their own language (Wilkinson, 1999).
