Asking elaborate questions: Focus groups and the management of spontaneity

By Claudia Puchta, Jonathan Potter. 2002

98 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper analyzes question formats in a corpus of German market research focus groups. In particular, it identifies and studies the use of ‘elaborate questions’ (questions which include a range of reformulations and rewordings). The analysis highlights three functions of such questions in focus groups: (a) they are used to guide participants and head off trouble where the question type is ‘non-mundane’; (b) they help secure participation by providing an array of alternative items to respond to; (c) they guide participants to produce a range of opinion relevant responses. More generally, they help manage a dilemma between the requirement that the talk should be both highly focused on predefined topics and issues, and at the same time spontaneous and conversational. The analysis provides a range of interactional evidence for the pragmatic role of these formats.

Subfields: Language and Linguistics, Sociology and Political Science, Human-Computer Interaction

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d6148675069d87ba3a3728796c99992bf5382297

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Citations in the corpus

Talking With Your Mouth Full: Gustatory Mmms and the Embodiment of Pleasure (2002, background): “For example, having an attitude is regarded as something that is achieved through talk—a practice, rather than an internal, cognitive state (Burningham, 1995; Potter, 1998; Potter & Wetherell, 1987; Puchta & Potter, 1999; Verkuyten, 1998).”
Student-Initiated Advice in Academic Supervision (2009, background): “9 It has been suggested by a number of researchers that a multiunit question is a useful device for inviting an extensive (multiunit) response ( Puchta & Potter, 1999 ; Sacks, 1995 Volume 2, p.”
"Active Listening": Formulations and the Elicitation of Feelings-Talk in Child Counselling (2005, methodology): “Child counselling is akin to other forms of counselling in that it is a practice motivated by what Silverman (1996) described as “an institutionalised incitement to speak according to its own practical theories” (p. 208). This incitement to speak is not always straightforward. In the organizations s”
`Natural' and `contrived' data: a sustainable distinction? (2002, background): “Indeed, by turning what is commonly regarded as a ‘resource’ (albeit an inherently flawed one) into a ‘topic’, an increasing number of researchers using discursive psychology and CA have been able to show how ‘survey talk’ (Houtkoop-Steenstra, 2000), ‘interview talk’ (Heritage and Greatbatch, 1991; ”
Qualitative interviews in psychology: problems and possibilities (2005, background): “…and Antaki, 1996) the organization of interaction in social science and market research focus groups (Myers, 1998; Myers and Macnaghten, 1999; Puchta and Potter, 1999, 2002, 2004; Puchta, Potter and Wolff, in press) and the administration of psychological tests (Marlaire and Maynard, 1990;…”
Dialogue in Focus Groups: Exploring Socially Shared Knowledge (2007, background): “For example, in marketing research, many focus groups have been staged more or less as group interviews (Puchta and Potter, 1999).”