Using focus groups to study energy transitions: Researching or producing new social realities?

Abstract

In textbooks on the research methods used in social science, focus groups are presented as a suitable option for efficiently opening up new fields of analysis and understanding group reactions to particular problems. Furthermore, focus groups are seen as a more participatory means of conducting research. Against this background, we discuss the potentials and risks of utilizing focus groups to study the current energy transition in Germany. This paper is based on a critical reflection of the literature on focus groups and on our practical experiences using the method in three different research projects. We address three aspects of using focus groups: first, the specific role of focus groups within the methodological design of our research projects; second, the claim that the method is efficient and participatory; and third, the way focus groups interact with the social context of energy projects. We discovered that focus groups are a tool that not only allow us to form an understanding of complex and contested issues, but that conducting focus groups means producing or reproducing social realities by simultaneously changing social configurations and affecting the power relations in the socio-material arrangements of the energy systems involved.