This book critically examines the potential of, and suggests ways forward in, harnessing a versatile and powerful method of research - focus groups. The book challenges some of the emerging orthodoxies and presents accessible, insightful and reflective discussions about the issues around focus group work.

Introduction - Jenny Kitzinger and Rosaline S Barbour The Challenge and Promise of Focus Groups The Impact of Context on Data - Judith Green and Laura Hart Combining Focus Groups and Interviews - Lynn Michell Telling How it Is; Telling How it Feels Are Focus Groups Suitable for `Sensitive′ Topics? - Clare Farquhar with Rita Das How Useful Are Focus Groups in Feminist Research? - Sue Wilkinson Do Focus Groups Facilitate Meaningful Participation in Social Research? - Rachel Baker and Rachel Hinton How Useful Are Focus Groups for Obtaining the Views of Minority Groups? - Lai-Fong Chui and Deborah Knight Are Focus Groups an Appropriate Tool for Studying Organizational Change? - Rosaline S Barbour Can Focus Groups Access Community Views? - Claire Waterton and Brian Wynne Some Issues Arising in the Systematic Analysis of Focus Group Materials - Jane Frankland and Michael Bloor The Analytical Potential of `Sensitive Moments′ in Focus Group Discussions - Jenny Kitzinger and Clare Farquhar Can Focus Groups Be Analyzed as Talk? - Greg Myers and Phil Macnaghten Theorizing Subjects and Subject Matter in Focus Group Research - Sarah Cunningham-Burley, Anne Kerr and Stephen Pavis Afterword - Rosaline S Barbour and Jenny Kitzinger

`If you are considering focus group methodology in your own research this will provide you with a good starting point taking you through the epistemological and political issues of such research in process′ - European Journal of Communication