Focus group interviews . Part 3 : anaiysis Owen Doody

The use of focus group interviews as a means of qualitative data collection has gained popularity in health service research in recent years. Despite their popularity, analysing qualitative data—particularly focus-group interviews—poses a challenge to most researchers. This article follows the authors' previous articles on; focus group theory, and the preparation and conduct of focus group interviews. Despite the publications on conducting focus groups, little information exists regarding the analysis of data gathered in such groups in health services. The present paper focuses on the concepts and application of data analysis and the use of analysis fi-ameworks. The article aims to assist researchers and provide practical steps for the analysis of focusgroup data. Thus, the authors provide a framework for analysing focus group data through identifying data analysis techniques suited for the study of these data.