The methodology of Focus Groups: the importance of interaction between research participants

What are focus groups? How are tbey distinct from ordinary group discussions and wbat use are tbey anyway? Tbis article introduces focus group metbodology, explores ways of conducting sucb groups and examines wbat tbis tecbnique of data collection can offer researcbers in general and medical sociologists in particular. It concentrates on tbe one feature wbicb inevitably distinguisbes focus groups from one-to-one interviews or questionnaires namely the interaction between research participants and argues for tbe overt exploration and exploitation of sucb interaction in tbe researcb process.