Online focus groups as a tool to study policy professionals
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Scholars interested in political elites and policy professionals only sporadically rely on focus group methods. In this article, we argue why this is a missed opportunity. Based on our own recent research experience, we suggest three innovations to the focus group method that should make it appealing for political scientists who study professionals active in the policy process. First, focus groups allow for the study of the interactions between political elites in ways other methods cannot. Second, the method can be used for hypothesis testing when focus groups are designed accordingly. Third, the option to conduct focus groups online has major advantages in terms of participant costs, ease of recruitment, and, potentially, research equity. We hope that our suggestions are useful for researchers wanting to build on any one—or all—of these innovations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Research and Politics |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISSN | 2053-1680 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
The research team thanks Ellis Aizenberg for her cooperation on the InterCov project, as well as Mikko Damgaard Sørensen and Joshua Meijer for valuable research support. The authors are also grateful to the Public Administration and Public Policy Group at the University of Copenhagen and to the anonymous reviewers for excellent comments. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the External funding was received from the Danish Society for Education and Business (DSEB) supporting the execution of this research (Tietgenprisen 2020; awarded to Wiebke Marie Junk).
Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the External funding was received from the Danish Society for Education and Business (DSEB) supporting the execution of this research (Tietgenprisen 2020; awarded to Wiebke Marie Junk).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
- focus groups, interview methods, lobbyists, policymakers, political elites
Research areas
ID: 374835620