Using WhatsApp for focus group discussions
Ecological validity, inclusion and deliberation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12697310 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Colom (0000-0003-3696-1463, The Open University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 452-467 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Qualitative Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-7941 • E-ISSN: 1741-3109 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1468794120986074 |
| OpenAlex | W3124813419 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 39 |
| References cited | 33 |
WhatsApp’s ubiquity in many people’s everyday lives points at new possibilities for conducting online and mobile focus groups. Yet, research on the benefits and potential pitfalls of this is negligible. This paper offers new empirical insights from using the method as part of a digital ethnography with young activists in Western Kenya. The presence of WhatsApp in participants’ everyday lives offers a context with high ecological validity. The paper suggests that this opens up new options for designing online focus groups, transcending the traditional categorisation between synchronous and asynchronous interactions and some limitations of both approaches. WhatsApp also offers opportunities for creating more inclusive group discussions. Using discourse analysis of the WhatsApp focus group, the paper also finds that this familiarity and inclusivity affords the potential for group deliberation, which can be particularly valuable in participatory research
Asynchronous communication · Citizen journalism · Context (archaeology · Deliberation · Ecological validity · Ethnography · Focus (optics · Focus group · Geography · Inclusion (mineral · Participatory design · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Engineering · Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
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Hybrid ethnography
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The banality of WhatsApp
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Methodological Reflections on the Use of Asynchronous Online Focus Groups in Health Research
WhatsApp as 'digital publics
Technologies, Texts and Affordances
| Unique citing works | 39 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 7,8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 39 |