Chapter
The Role of Focus Groups in Evaluation (IN: Evaluating Health Promotion: Practice and Methods, edited by M Thorogood & Y Coombes)
Branigan P~~Mitchell K
This chapter examines the role of focus groups in evaluating health promotion interventions. The chapter is not designed to demonstrate how to use focus groups but to show what is possible. 3 broad categories of focus group use are discussed: as a self-contained method of evaluation; as supplementary sources of data in studies that rely on some other primary method of survey; & as part of multi-method studies that combine two or more data gathering means. The role of focus groups in formative evaluation & in process & outcome evaluation is discussed. The last section of this chapter discusses advantages & disadvantages of focus groups, & the future role of focus groups in evaluation. (15 refs.)