Focus Groups

Richard Krueger is professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. He is an internationally recognized authority on the use of focus group interviewing within the public environment. For 25 years he served as evaluation leader for the University of Minnesota Extension Service followed by 10 years teaching graduate courses in program evaluation and research methodology. He is a former president of the American Evaluation Association and a member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.  In his spare time he repairs his motorcycle, swaps stories with friends, and shops for tools at the local hardware store. Maybe you’ve seen him there.  Mary Anne Casey is an evaluator, writer, and teacher. She has been an evaluation consultant at the international, national, state, and local levels on topics relating to health, public policy, community development, agriculture, and the environment. Mary Anne has had the privilege of asking questions and listening, and the challenge of providing useful, enlightening results to clients. She relishes analysis and finding just the right way to convey what people have shared. She weaves the lessons she has learned into her work, her writing on focus group interviewing, and her teaching at the University of Minnesota, University of South Florida, and University of Michigan. Mary Anne previously worked for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the state of Minnesota. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota. She gets her best insights while in the shower or on long walks.

"Krueger and Casey’s book does a magnificent job of incorporating both theoretical and practical approaches to the study of focus groups. It is the only hands-on book which explores the process of focus group research."

• PREFACEACKNOWLEDGEMENTS1. Overview of Focus Groups2. Planning The Focus Group Study3. Developing a Questioning Route4. Participants in a Focus Group5. Moderating Skills6. Analyzing Focus Group Results7. Reporting8. Focus Group Research9. Focus Group Interviewing with Young People10. International and Cross-Cultural Focus Group Interviewing11. Telephone and Internet Focus Group Interviewing12. Focus Group Interviewing Within the Organization13. Modifications of Focus Groups14. Answering Questions About the Quality of Focus Group Research