Focus Group Discussions: Three Examples from Family and Consumer Science Research

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of focus group discussions (FGDs) in family and consumer sciences research. First, we briefly describe theFGDmethodology in terms of question development, group composition and recruitment, interview protocol and logistics, and data analysis. Then, we show how we applied that methodology in three specific examples from our work with family and consumer sciences research projects. Our examples include (a) the consumer behavior of working female adolescents, (b) the work readiness of adult males with low educational attainment, and (c) the definition of parental involvement by mothers with young children.