David L. Morgan is a professor emeritus in Department of Sociology at Portland State University. He is a sociological social psychologist, who is widely known for his work on focus groups, including his book, Focus Groups as Qualitative Research, and as coauthor of The Focus Group Kit. In addition, he has worked extensively on mixed methods, including a book for SAGE, Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. Most recently, he has published Essentials of Dyadic Interviewing for Routledge, and A New Era in Focus Group Research, co-edited, with Rosaline Barbour, for Palgrave.
Providing a general introduction to focus group research, Morgan includes the appropriate reasons for using focus groups and what you can expect to accomplish with them. He provides a brief history of focus groups, a discussion of when to use focus groups and why, and several brief case studies illustrating different uses of focus groups. The author covers the timeline and costs associated with focus groups, including a discussion of the ethical issues involved in focus group research. Thoroughly covering all the information to help you start your focus group project, this guidebook is appropriate for anybody beginning a focus group, as well as managers or clients who will be using focus groups.
