Focus group research in family planning and reproductive health care (original) (raw)

Box 1: Strengths and weaknesses of the focus groups method Strengths G Nobody has to speak on every issue G Responses are prompted by group members G Exposes participants to a range of opinions G Deliberation in group discussion (i.e. the more extreme first answers may be moderated) G Cost-effective compared to one-to-one interviews G Semi-structured research environment G Opportunity for follow-up and probing by facilitator and group G Helps develop theory Weaknesses G Expensive G Getting participants together/organising meeting is time consuming G Can be dominated be group members with strong personality, opinion or just 'loud' voice G Needs a skilled facilitator G Compared to conducting interviews there is less time for each individual to express ideas G Risk of ending up with conformity: minority views might not be expressed, or not be presented as strongly, as they might be in an interview 30-32-JFPRHC Jan 12/13/05