The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Focus Group Method: Doing Research Inclusively and Supporting Social Inclusion

Focus Group Method: Doing Research Inclusively and Supporting Social Inclusion
Focus Group Method: Doing Research Inclusively and Supporting Social Inclusion
This chapter relates to the inclusive or democratic turn in social science research. Increasingly researchers are seeking to shift the dynamics of research production away from doing research on people, mining them for information, and towards researching with participants and recognizing that research needs to be purposeful and beneficial for participants. One important way of doing this is by creating vibrant interactive spaces in which best use can be made of participants’ potential not just to contribute, but to learn from each other’s contributions and come to know themselves and their own situation a little better. Focus groups can create these spaces, especially when the researcher is alert to their inclusive and transformative potential and open to the idea of hybrids of focus groups and other methods. Taking a Freirean approach to the focus group method, the authors have been using focus groups to support participants’ power in the research process. This comes through embracing the praxis of defining their focus collaboratively and by embedding the research authority in the interactive space between individuals. The chapter shows how focus groups can be political or playful as a means of co-production. This will be illustrated using data from studies involving people with intellectual disabilities, where the mutual support among those in dialogue is evident. The authors argue that the experience of taking part in focus groups enhances the social inclusion of those involved.
focus groups, inclusion, Participatory methods, co-production, collaboration, democratization
1-21
Springer
Nind, Melanie
b1e294c7-0014-483e-9320-e2a0346dffef
Kaley, Alex
9cd1a272-42f2-4801-9ab9-38f2febba2e9
Hall, Edward
9b96d05e-363b-4c84-b658-d09b57a0204f
Liamputting, Pranee
Nind, Melanie
b1e294c7-0014-483e-9320-e2a0346dffef
Kaley, Alex
9cd1a272-42f2-4801-9ab9-38f2febba2e9
Hall, Edward
9b96d05e-363b-4c84-b658-d09b57a0204f
Liamputting, Pranee

Nind, Melanie, Kaley, Alex and Hall, Edward (2020) Focus Group Method: Doing Research Inclusively and Supporting Social Inclusion. In, Liamputting, Pranee (ed.) Handbook of Social Inclusion: Research and Practices in Health and Social Sciences. Springer, pp. 1-21.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

This chapter relates to the inclusive or democratic turn in social science research. Increasingly researchers are seeking to shift the dynamics of research production away from doing research on people, mining them for information, and towards researching with participants and recognizing that research needs to be purposeful and beneficial for participants. One important way of doing this is by creating vibrant interactive spaces in which best use can be made of participants’ potential not just to contribute, but to learn from each other’s contributions and come to know themselves and their own situation a little better. Focus groups can create these spaces, especially when the researcher is alert to their inclusive and transformative potential and open to the idea of hybrids of focus groups and other methods. Taking a Freirean approach to the focus group method, the authors have been using focus groups to support participants’ power in the research process. This comes through embracing the praxis of defining their focus collaboratively and by embedding the research authority in the interactive space between individuals. The chapter shows how focus groups can be political or playful as a means of co-production. This will be illustrated using data from studies involving people with intellectual disabilities, where the mutual support among those in dialogue is evident. The authors argue that the experience of taking part in focus groups enhances the social inclusion of those involved.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 19 August 2020
Keywords: focus groups, inclusion, Participatory methods, co-production, collaboration, democratization

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 447265
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/447265
PURE UUID: 8e149b43-a1e7-436a-b55c-8a48078ad91d
ORCID for Melanie Nind: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4070-7513

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 08 Mar 2021 17:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:42

Export record

Contributors

Author: Melanie Nind ORCID iD
Author: Alex Kaley
Author: Edward Hall
Editor: Pranee Liamputting

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×