All other tools of data collection are based on one-to-one interaction via direct or face-to-face interview done by the researcher with the individuals in the community. Focus Group Discussion is a way of interviewing a group of people within the community together who can contribute to the topic of study. The researcher at times might feel the need to have interaction with more than one person on the same topic or the opinion of many people on the topic might prove beneficial to the research. In such a case Focus Group Discussion (or FGD) is conducted. While conducting an FGD, the group comprises of 8-10 people. A small group is manageable and the moderator can keep the conversation going. If the group is large, some might not feel comfortable to speak, while others might dominate the flow of conversation. In FGD, normally a heterogeneous group or different stakeholders are selected so that their views and opinions on the same topic can be understood. While conducting an FGD the researcher does not participate in it but observes and records the entire session.
This technique is more suitable for goal-oriented and action research, where one is focusing only on one aspect, like say introduction of polio vaccine in a village or assessing people’s attitudes to the introduction of a new welfare scheme. It is rarely used for quantitative research