How to Code Focus Group Data Like a Conversation (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Don't treat coding focus group like coding individual interviews. For individual interviews, it's you and participants. You are having conversation with participants and you are gathering that information. Sometimes participants will not elaborate upon what they have told you. Sometimes each of the responses is isolated. It's not really dependent on the previous statement, right? But focus group is very different. Treat focus group as people coming together to construct knowledge. So you can see in focus group that an issue is brought up and people build on the issue. People elaborate. People go contrary to what the initial issue is. You have to look at conversational dynamics, right? Let's say you ask one of the participant a question. They respond. Another person comes in. Maybe add more information to that or give examples or say something that is contrary. So you have to look at all the dynamics as you are going through the data, right? Is information identified as significant? Add any value or more information to the previous statement participant has made? Was it a standalone statement? Is it built upon the previous one? You have to look at all these things as you go through the data, right? I think that's what is unique about focus group. So you have to be aware of that as you go into the data. See how the pattern of conversation is happening. So that's how you have to think about it.