COLLECTING AND ANALYSING QUALITATIV...

COLLECTING AND ANALYSING QUALITATIVE DATA: ISSUES RAISED on THE FOCUS GROUP

J Sim Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol 28 (August 1998) 345-352

An understanding of health and illness behavior and of professional interventions in health care is concluded only when it includes the subjective reality of health and illness as they affect the individual. like understanding requires the use of qualitative research orders because they are sensitive to personal experiences, perceptions, beliefs, and meanings related to individuals.

The focus assign places to or focus group interview is a means of gathering qualitative data within nursing.

Focus groups

* explore the views of a number of persons economically,

* furnish information about the dynamics of attitudes and opinions in the connection of interaction between and among participants,

* encourage participants to expres their views spontaneously,

* show a safe environment in which participants can expres their views, and

* provide participants with support and empowerment.

In addition to their use as a primary data collection manner focus group interviews can be used to determine appease of a more structured scrutinize instrument such as a questionnaire.

extended used in market research, focus clusters have more recently gained popularity as a way of gathering qualitative data in the close attention of health, health care, and other social processe Centering forward a specific topic or issue, the focus arrange has been used to subject of attention clinical, managerial, professional, and lay aspects of health. across the image of foci in nursing and related research.

Characteristics of focus assemblages The ideal number of participants in a focus dispose ranges from eight to 12 although clumps of four to six clan have been used successfully. A moderator or facilitator coordinates the assemblage interview. By capitalizing on the interaction between and among participants, the moderator generates primarily qualitative data. The character of the moderator is crucial to the nature and quality of the data mustered The moderator's verbal and nonverbal winks affect the group's interaction--the moderator must neither dominate nor inhibit the discussion.

Just as the part of the moderator in a focus assign places to is critical, so too is the means on which data are recorded. Typically, the focus cluster is recorded on an audiotape. This not sole allows verbatim analysis, but also unrestraineds the moderator to interact with participants and to note their nonverbal cues

Analyzing data. Analysis of focus cluster data follows the same processe as for qualitative data from other sources (eg documents, narratives). An inductive approach based upon content analysis is used. near issues inherent in analyzing focus dispose data relate to the analysis of qualitative data generally. Other issues, however, as it is as consensus and dissent, puissance of opinion, and generalization pertain specifically to the analysis of focus clump data. For example, focus form into groupss explore collective phenomenology and may indicate attitudinal consensus poorly. In addition, although focus form into groupss reveal the nature and range of participants' views, they are les able to reveal the potency of these views.

Qualitative research approaches are valuable to succors The focus group, as any approach, should be choiceed for its appropriateness to the research question. Similarly, as with all techniques, attention must be paid to methodological issues.

EDWINA A. McCONNELL

RN PhD FRCNA Nursing Reserach Committee

COPYRIGHT 1998 Association of Operating sweep Nurses, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group