Reply must be at least 200-300 words and at least 2 citations from sources such as your textbook, peer-reviewed journal articles, and the Bible. The thread and replies must follow current APA format.
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2018). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781337091824.
**Brian***
Focus groups are of great significance to their constituent members since they help brainstorm for solutions. Albeit focus groups typically have about 5 to 15 members, the combination of these individuals contributions ultimately ends invaluable to the solution of problems. As such, focus groups tend to be successful in their focus on particular products, marketing themes, or political discussions. While interviewing focus groups, one can use conversation or interview guiding. However, due to the inherent nature of most focus groups, I would choose to use conversation in my interview. A conversation interview style rhymes best with a focus group, which almost always results to verbal discussions or debates to brainstorm for suitable solutions.
The main reason why I would choose conversation over an interview guide is that I think conversation is the best and most logical option to evaluate a group that utilizes conversation in its operations. Focus groups lose all usefulness and integrity when their members cannot converse and discuss their issues. The same can also be said about breaking up the focus group into individual members. Interview guiding may require that I talk to the focus group members individually. In such a case, I believe I would not benefit from the information would be gained from a conversation-style interview, preferably with the whole group. Also crucial in making this choice is the aspect of time and cost. Interview guiding may be more time consuming since I would have to systematically follow sections of my semi-structured interview (Qu & Dumay, 2011). Herewith, proper documentation is necessitated and may take the lengthy process of note-taking. Similarly, interview guides may consume more resources to document information and potentially interpret or analyze data. With conversation, I can reduce the wastage of time and funds by simply recording the interview.
I would also stick with conversation over interview guiding if I were searching for study subjects. Researchers are often challenged by people’s unwillingness to be documented and be subjects of a study. However, conversation can be instrumental in reducing this attitude since the interview would be less formal, and my potential subjects can relax and trust me more. In an informal setting, my potential participants would also be likely to open up and divulge more information regarding the study. An intimidating environment such as in interview guiding would have a high chance of reducing the rapport between interviewer and interviewee. Due to these reasons, I would stick with conversation when searching for study subjects.
There are a few groups I would be interested in studying that would consider me an insider. An excellent example is the Students Demand Action group, which campaigns against gun violence (Tulp, 2018). With the prevalence of gun violence in the United States, this group would regard a student such as myself an insider since it comprises of learners in American schools and colleges. Consequently, this group would be supportive of my study, mainly because the research would help the understand issues such as legislation, policies, and other aspects of social living. More importantly, the group would cherish an opportunity to increase its publicity since more awareness implies better results for its campaigns.
From the above discussion, the reasons why conversation is better than interview guiding in interviewing a focus group are explained. Factors such as appropriateness, time spent in the interview, and cost-friendliness are all crucial. It would also be prudent to retain conversation when searching for study subjects primarily because potential participants would be most comfortable in such a setting. Finally, the Students Demand Action group would consider me an insider since I am a student who also focused on curbing gun violence.
References
Qu, S. Q., & Dumay, J. (2011). The qualitative research interview. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 8(3), 238-264.
Tulp, S. (2018). These 7 Anti-Gun Violence Groups Are All Led by Young People. YR Media. Retrieved 19 Nov. 2019 from https://yr.media/news/7-anti-gun-violence-groups-led-by-young-people/
