Abstract
Background Online focus groups have been increasing in use over the last 2 decades, including in biomedical and health-related research. However, most of this research has made use of text-based services such as email, discussion boards, and chat rooms, which do not replicate the experience of face-to-face focus groups. Web conferencing services have the potential to more closely match the face-to-face focus group experience, including important visual and aural cues. This paper provides critical reflections on using a web conferencing service to conduct online focus groups. Methods As part of a broader study, we conducted both online and face-to-face focus groups with participants. The online groups were conducted in real-time using the web conferencing service, Blackboard Collaborate TM. We used reflective practice to assess how the conduct and content of the groups were similar and how they differed across the two platforms. Results We found that further research using such services is warranted, particularly when working with hard-to-reach or geographically dispersed populations. The level of discussion and the quality of the data obtained was similar to that found in face-to-face groups. However, some issues remain, particularly in relation to managing technical issues experienced by participants and ensuring adequate recording quality to facilitate transcription and analysis. Conclusions Our experience with using web conferencing for online focus groups suggests that they have the potential to offer a realistic and comparable alternative to face-to-face focus groups, especially for geographically dispersed populations such as rural and remote health practitioners. Further testing of these services is warranted but researchers should carefully consider the service they use to minimise the impact of technical difficulties.
Highlights
Focus groups are a well-established qualitative research methodology that have become increasingly popular among social researchers over the last few decades[1,2]
Our experience with using web conferencing for online focus groups suggests that they have the potential to offer a realistic and comparable alternative to face-to-face focus groups, especially for geographically dispersed populations such as rural and remote health practitioners
Using textbased platforms changes the nature of focus groups, with the major criticisms being that you lose spontaneity in participant responses and visual and aural cues, which collectively promote the expression of emotions and can be very influential in directing participant interactions[2,3,8]
Summary
Focus groups are a well-established qualitative research methodology that have become increasingly popular among social researchers over the last few decades[1,2]. Using online platforms for focus groups has been trialled over the last 20 years with an increasing number of studies making use of asynchronous platforms (e.g. email and discussion boards) for their research[8,9,11,12]. This includes research with rural and remote nurses[4], travelling nurses[13], and gay and bisexual men with cancer[10]. This paper provides critical reflections on using a web conferencing service to conduct online focus groups
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