1. What is focus group interview
   1. a qualitative research method
      1. gather insights and opinions from a small group of individuals
   2. bringing together a selected group
      1. share common characteristics or experiences
   3. asking open-ended questions
   4. encouraging participants to express their thoughts and opinions
      1. provide a deeper understanding of participants' perspectives
2. Focus group interview vs. One-to-one semi-structured interview
   1. a small group of participants (typically 6-10 people)
      1. one-to-one semi-structured interview
   2. allow for interactions among participants
      1. focus solely on the individual participant's thoughts
   3. broader range of opinions and insights as multiple participants contribute to the discussion.
      1. allow for a deeper exploration of an individual's experiences, as the interviewer can ask follow-up questions and probe specific areas of interest.
   4. participants can be influenced by each other's opinions or conform to social norms within the group
      1. individual participant's responses are not influenced by other participants
         1. independent perspective
   5. coordinating the schedules of multiple participants
      1. scheduled individually, allowing for greater flexibility.
3. Sampling for focus group interview
   1. Purposive (Strategic) sampling
   2. Illustration (Reichstadt et al. 2007)
      1. Strategy of reaching out:
         1. ● Posting flyers at various target facilities
         2. ● Obtaining recommendations from facility staff and participants (=> snowball)
      2. sample should not be too small
         1. difficult to develop a convincing explanation
         2. hard for one to make meaningful comparisons between groups
      3. sample should not be too large
         1. makes it hard to generaterich data for understandingmeanings
         2. but
            1. , overrecruitment of participants may be required
            2. participants’ ‘no-show’
      4. people reached total : aged 60-99
         1. 3 and 4 focus groups respectively from each of the 2 continuing-care retirement communities
         2. > 2 focus groups from 1 community continuing education programme
   3. Data collection from more focus group interviews can be stopped when:
      1. Comments and patterns of responses begin to repeat
      2. they can generate an approximate explanation about the concerned social phenomenon
   4. Large groups (>8) are not favoured
      1. harder to respond to viewpoints raised by different individuals
      2. higher tendency for one person to dominate the discussion,
      3. fewer opportunities of disagreements and lower diversity of viewpoints
      4. whether group dynamics maydiscourage some from voicing dissenting views
         1. Strategic grouping
            1. ● Non-Chinese students
            2. ● Local Chinese students
            3. ● Mainland Chinese students
4. principles adopted
   1. Starting points
      1. icebreaking and rapport-building
      2. Questions should be sensitive
      3. broader societal context
   2. ● Emphasis on inviting participants’ sharing of perspectives
   3. ● Room for disagreements, debates, or sharing of new/unexpected insights
5. explore participants' attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and experiences