Analysing group dynamics within the focus group

Focus groups are routinely used as a research tool in a wide variety of settings. Based on recent experience with poverty research, we argue this method needs to be problematized and further rethought. The article draws on focus group studies conducted over seven years to argue that the method routinely excludes a key area of group interaction: group dynamics. Our work underlines how these are central to shaping group participation as well as the themes, absences and forms of reporting in studies. We employ Whitaker and Lieberman’s (1964) focal conflict theory as a methodology to follow the configuration of these dynamics within a group setting. Drawing on this analytic framework, and examples from the study, we argue that an orientation to group relations is essential to expanding the method’s sensitivity as an effective research procedure.