focus group discussions – Field heroes 3

focus group discussions
Focus group discussion is one of the most important qualitative data collection tools, and basically aims to reach deep knowledge and clear perception about the topic under study by introducing the topic for discussion among a group of people who share the same conditions and situation, such as a group of employees, widows or displaced people, so that they have information and knowledge of the topic under study. The discussion is managed by a field researcher called a facilitator, and another researcher called documenter, so a set of questions is asked in order to know the opinions, views, feelings, beliefs and attitudes of the participants towards the topic under discussion.
Based on the above, focus group discussion can be defined as: (a structured discussion session includes a group of people who shares the same specific qualities and has knowledge of the topic under study so that the discussion can be guided using a set of questions prepared in advanced to reach deep understanding and clear perception of the topics under discussion).

When to use focus group discussion

1-Focus group discussion is used to identify attitudes and orientations of a certain category towards a certain topic.
2-It is used to reveal the precise details of the discussed topic, and to create a general idea about it.
3-Focus group discussion can be used in the primary phases of the study because it helps to collect data on the topic since it is an initial step before forming questionnaires. It can also be done after implementing the survey to clarify the results before final adoption.
4-It is used when we want to get qualitative data.

A series of guides for the data collectors to increase their skills in data collection for various research sectors.

Titles of the guides:

1. Data Collection ethics.

2. Individual and KI interviews.

3. Focus Group Discussion.

4. Field visit/Observation.

the third guide from the Field Heroes series is focus group discussions FGDs, which aims to develop the skills of enumerators and researchers in this field.
focus group discussions FGDs considers one of the hardest tools in data collection in terms of facilitating the session and ensuring the orientation of the discussions in a way that helps to obtain the data intended for the session, in addition to the sensitive role of the documented session and the ability to discuss and record useful information.

Worked on this guide:

Ghaith Humaidan: manager of data collection teams

Khaled Brram: data analysis officer

Emad Al-Sari: market analysis specialist

Anas Jamous: field coordinator for data collection

Azzam Al-hadi: data quality officer

supervision Ghaith Al Bahr consultant in statistical Studies

Design: Omar Ghafrah- Faysal Al-Mashhadani

Report language: Arabic