Methodological Aspects of Focus Groups in Health Research: Results of Qualitative Interviews With Focus Group Moderators
Open accessAbstract
Although focus groups are commonly used in health research to explore the perspectives of patients or health care professionals, few studies consider methodological aspects in this specific context. For this reason, we interviewed nine researchers who had conducted focus groups in the context of a project devoted to the development of an electronic personal health record. We performed qualitative content analysis on the interview data relating to recruitment, communication between the focus group participants, and appraisal of the focus group method. The interview data revealed aspects of the focus group method that are particularly relevant for health research and that should be considered in that context. They include, for example, the preferability of face-to-face recruitment, the necessity to allow participants in patient groups sufficient time to introduce themselves, and the use of methods such as participant-generated cards and prioritization.
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The positive effects of group discussions can be attributed to active involvement of nurses in learning, group discussions on learning materials, and exposure to realistic or simulated situations and cases.
“The positive effects of group discussions can be attributed to the active involvement of nurses in the process of learning, their group discussions on learning materials, and their exposure to realistic or simulated situations and cases [57].”
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- Authors
- Tausch, A. P., & Menold, N.
- Affiliations
- GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Tausch, Anja P.
- Venue
- Global Qualitative Nursing Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-01-01
- Volume
- 3
- Pages
- 2333393616630466-2333393616630466
- ISSN
- 2333-3936 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5342644
- OpenAlex
- W2307143100
- Cited by
- 287
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 44 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 28.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Global Qualitative Nursing Research (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Delphi Technique in Research
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Keywords
- focus groups, health research methodology, patient perspectives, healthcare workers, electronic personal health records, participant recruitment, participant communication, priority setting
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