It's Good to Talk
The Focus Group and the Sociological Imagination
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3215364 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alan Johnson (0009-0006-3869-8581, Edge Hill University College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 517-538 |
| Publication date | 1996-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-954x.1996.tb00435.x |
| OpenAlex | W2046033906 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 53 |
| References cited | 24 |
This paper argues that the critical social scientist can employ the focus group - group discussions focused by a facilitator around a particular topic or area of experience - to recast radically both the social relations and the object of the research process. I explore the potential of the focus group to cultivate the sociological imagination in both the facilitating social scientist and the participants: in Bhaskarian terms, a 'transformational act', raising consciousness and empowering participants, rupturing rather than reproducing underlying relations of exploitation and domination. The hitherto dominant forms of focus group research are criticised as being embedded in the epistemological and methodological assumptions of positivism, behaviourism and empiricism, and in social relations which service power. The qualities of the focus group which have attracted the marketer and advertiser - access to the experiential knowledge, opinions and world-view of the participants, in a context of synergic interaction - are examined. The paper argues for an alternative, radical use of focus groups, based on the new politics of knowledge associated with movements of social resistance. The relationship between this radical conception of focus groups and both Habermas's theory of communicative action and Bhaskar's critical realism is discussed and examples of the potential for focus groups to democratise governance and service provision are offered
Epistemology · Focus group · Sociology · Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
It's a Museum, But Not as We Know It
Balancing the equation
El grupo de discusión
Sentipensando and Unlearning
Focus Groups
The use of focus group discussion methodology
Researching Religion, Disability, and Sport
Prising Open the Black Box
Intergenerational Community Visions in Appalachian Ohio
An application of systems thinking to group‐based organisations
Conversations in the Rainforest
Symbolism, signs, and accounts of electric vehicles in California
Toward more Sustainable Plagiarism Policies in an AI Higher Education Environment
Defining Minimum Income (and Living) Standards in Europe
Narrative claims on regions
From the arcane to the mundane
Strategizing‐as‐(Flexible) System
“It was fun… but we don’t usually talk about these things”
Community context, human needs, and transportation choices
Hearing girls’ silences
Focus groups, feminist research and farm women
Clinical Priorities
Focus groups and the collective construction of meaning
The new genetics and health
Badania fokusowe. Problemy metodologiczne i etyczne
Focus Groups in Social Research
Focus Groups
Transformational Potential of Focus Group Practice in Participatory Action Research
Striving for the self
Focus group method and methodology
Community listening sessions
Beyond porn literacy
Mixing Qualitative Methods
Focus group methodology
Focus Group Interviews
Focussing in on focus groups
The validity and reliability of focus groups as a research method in adult education
Communication, Recognition and Social Work
School, images of the futures and social processes in classrooms
Thinking critically and creatively about focus groups
Technological aids
Performing Hybridity or Deflecting Islamophobia? Adaptable Identity Management amongst Young British Pakistani Muslims
Using Virtual Focus Groups in Qualitative Research
Estigmatización territorial y salud
Focus Groups in Health Research
Clinton Faces Nation
Analysing the ways of participating in interview settings
Thinking through lines
Analysing group dynamics within the focus group
Using focus groups
I Didn't Know I Was Isolated Until I Wasn't Isolated Any More
The Social Contexts of Focus Groups
Focus groups
The dominant ideology thesis
When to Use Focus Groups and Why
The Design and Analysis of Focus Group Studies
Against postmodernism
Focus Groups as Qualitative Research
Successful Focus Groups
Capitalist Democracy in Britain
Jurgen Habermas
The sociological imagination
The Focussed Interview and Focus Groups
The Poverty of Postmodernism
Critical Social Research
In the Tracks of Historical Materialism
The Focused Interview
| Unique citing works | 53 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,83 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 2026 (30) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 50 |