Challenges in Capturing Focus Group Data for Social Research

Social scientists make use of focus groups during their social research to capture information about social norms and various opinions and views. This is a qualitative data collection method in which researcher(s) and participants meet as a group to discuss a given research topic. The group dynamic and its diversity increase the richness of focus group data and give a complete picture of how a particular issue affects a community. However, it is not that easy to capture data through focus groups compared to one-on-one interviews and focus group transcription can contribute considerably towards easing the burden. Let’s take a detailed look at the major challenges involved and how transcription is crucial in each case.

Enormous Amount of Handwritten Notes

Researchers are required to take detailed notes on what they observe and on what participants say during the focus group. This would help them to develop more effective focus group data. However, there would be an enormous amount of handwritten notes such as identifying the speaker, quotes or the main idea of what a speaker said during the focus group sessions, questions and responses, researchers’ observations and so on. In addition to that, the researcher may need to jot down the speaker’s body language, moods, attitudes and the general environment. This kind of hectic note-taking would be time-consuming for researchers and detract their attention from clearly analyzing the opinion, views and behavior of the participants. You can save a lot of time by recording the audio/video of the focus group session and getting it transcribed by skilled and experienced transcriptionists. This would result in standardized documentation as well.

However, relying upon transcription services doesn’t mean elimination of note-taking because field notes would serve as a backup when the recording fails. Field notes are also helpful for transcriptionists to clarify and add contextual details to what participants may have said.

Maintaining the Confidentiality

Everything shared during the focus group should be treated as confidential. Researchers need to keep piles of handwritten notes and recordings carefully and handle them with care when using them frequently for preparing the thesis. If the recordings are sent to a reliable transcription company that has in place all measures to ensure confidentiality, you can stop worrying about any possible breach of privacy. At the same time, you can receive the focus group data in a standardized manner through effective thesis transcription.

Identifying Individual Participants

In order to maintain confidentiality, participants are assigned a number, letter, or pseudonym. Seating chart is arranged and each individual participant is identified by their seat number. However, there would be confusion while preparing the thesis with the handwritten notes and the researcher may need to listen to the recording again and again to confirm specific details. The researcher can lose a lot of time over this. With the video recording and necessary instructions, skilled transcriptionists can better indicate the specific comments by a participant without revealing the identity.

You can transcribe the entire focus group session verbatim with the help of a transcription service provider, which may not be possible with traditional note-taking. Time stamps can be included at the appropriate places without much confusion.

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