Book Review “Advanced Focus Group Research”

Abstract

This article is a review of the book, “Advanced Focus Group Research” by Edward F. Fern, Sage Publications, London.  The author has a high reputation in qualitative marketing research, especially for small-group research, focus group research, and qualitative research methodology.  The book was published in 2006 with the purpose of providing beneficial information about focus group research for academicians and practitioners. Different from other handbooks of focus group research, the extensive principles for using focus group in different contexts were addressed for the correct use and implementation. In addition to extending knowledge of focus group research, the book incorporated and analyzed the insightful findings from different studies about the qualitative research amongst different countries around the world so as to portray the nature of focus group process and type of respondents from different cultures.  The contents in this book were divided into 10 chapters. In the early chapters, the author introduced all components in small-group research, for example, group composition, the research setting, the focus group moderator, and so forth.  Later on, in chapters 7-10, the author integrated advanced knowledge in focus group research and applied to different typologies of focus group research; exploratory, experiential, and clinical research group.  The book is very helpful for experienced interviewers or moderators who desire to gain the insight in conducting focus group research from academic point-of-view.

Keywords: qualitative research, focus group research, small-group research