POL 2101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Focus Group, Active Listening

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 2101
• Professor: Andre Lecours

Document Summary

Qualitative interviews allow the researcher to pursue issues in depth and give respondents more freedom to direct and flow of conversation. Effective interviewing involves skills of active listening and the ability to direct conversations unobtrusively. Qualitative interviews are often used in combination with other research methods, such as field research; however, they may also be used in primary means of gathering data. To create a focus group, researchers bring subjects together for an interview and observe their interactions as they explore a specific topic. Focus group interviews stimulate viewpoints from respondents that may not be readily elicited in an individual interview: they also allow researchers to examine how people make sense of issues in a collective manner. A focus group is led by a moderator who helps to facilitate discussion and ensure that no person dominates the conversation, while inferring as little as possible. It is the best to both tape focus group interviews and take notes during each session.