Focus Group Discussion: A Review

Abstract

People with comparable backgrounds or experiences are brought together for a focus group conversation to discuss a particular topic of interest. Questionnaires are used in this type of qualitative research to elicit participants' views, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, or ideas. Participants are permitted to converse with other group members during focus group talks, which, in contrast to other research methodologies, promote conversation amongst participants. This typically entails group interviewing, with typically 8 to 12 participants in the group. A moderator (interviewer) guides the discussion, which is loosely structured and covers a range of interesting subjects. FGD involves holding a structured conversation with a chosen group of people to learn about their perspectives and experiences on a subject. FGD is ideally suited for gathering multiple viewpoints on the same subject AND Facilitates knowledge of how members in a group are influenced by one another and their shared understanding of daily life. Since effective group leadership and interpersonal skills are necessary to successfully moderate a group, the moderator's position is crucial. This review article discusses the history of Focus group discussion, purposes, types, characteristics, planning, uses steps and limitations of FGD.