Purpose
The purpose of this exercise was to discover how students perceive the use of alcohol, focusing on the differences between their countries of origin and Scotland. The particular theme was selected, because since I moved in Edinburgh, I noticed that alcohol consumption is one of the usual subjects of discussion among international students. I observed that this is an issue, which troubles many non-UK students. More specifically, every time I was in the company of young people from different countries, we used to discuss about the differences we notice regarding the way that Scottish people entertain themselves, the important role that alcohol holds in their lives and what differences they observe in comparison to their countries. Furthermore, alcohol consumption is a part of a county’s culture; so whether people drink or not, the way that they see alcohol and their ways of entertainment can reveal and help us to explore the culture, customs, habits and the way of thinking of different people from different countries.
Why focus group?
The reason why I chose focus group as method of my study was because I didn’t want just some information about their counties or their experiences and their beliefs about alcohol consumption in Scotland. Instead the most important and essential features of the study, that I wanted to accomplish, were the creation of data from the participants, their selves, through their interaction. It was very essential to see how they exchange their background habits and their views about a new, different country. What is more, I wanted to observe what kind of associations they will use to talk about their countries, and how they will link their culture with the others and the Scottish, with no Scotti...
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Focus groups can be used in my Applied Project, and in general, to gain a more accurate idea of how people feel or think. Bryman and Bell (2015) point out that when an interviewer only has one person to interview, that person may say untruths, knowingly or unknowingly, and in a group setting others are more likely to call that person out. More than one person allows individuals to possibly dig deeper in how or why they feel or think a certain way because people tend to feed off of each other and can bring discussions out of others. I may gather a bit more how followership is viewed, dealt with, and ways to improve the understanding and actions of various followers.
Then they attended a focus group meeting where they consented to participate in the study. They were paid $25. They were made aware of the article’s goals and rules. Technology use was discussed in relation to two out of the three possible domains within each group. Each discussion was introduced with an icebreaker. There was a five minute break between the first domain discussion and the Background questionnaire. Then the second domain was discussed followed by another five minute break. After the participants were given the Technology Experience Questionnaire. Discussions were audio recorder and
While traditional focus groups and their face to face method of collecting data has proven to be effective, the internet has proven to be both more effective and more convenient. A traditional focus group normally consists of about 10 people, while an online group can reach thousands of participants. The DiscoverWhy group is one such group that holds online polls and focus groups for various companies. In order to test the effectiv...
This research paper will help enable sociologists to determine what the ongoing effects have on an alcoholic and further provides information on the long-term effects that society has to deal with. The significance of alcoholism and sociology is the ability of sociologists to research and discover how human behaviour is affected on many aspects of its effects on a person. An alcoholic can be described as someone who is addicted to drinking alcoholic beverages in excess. What starts out as social drinking can lead to excessive drinking and the many problems associated with alcohol abuse and i...
Liamputtong, P. & Ezzy, D., 2005, Qualitative research methods, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 12-31.
During Phase II of the study, I will collect qualitative data via focus groups. The data collected
Through my interactions, I communicated with young students and their home group teacher. I spent one hour teaching the first focus group on day one of the study. The group consisted of five reception students who were between the ages of five and six year’s old and contained two females and three males. On the second day of the study, I instructed three girls and two boys within the same ages and found this group to
Marshall, C, Rossman, Gretchen B, (2006). Designing qualitative research, 4th edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
The focus groups were transcribed by the third author and a thematic and semantic analysis was conducted (Berne, Frisén, & Kling, 2014). The transcription process allows the authors to be able to look at all the data for analysis.
Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Alcohol plays too significant a role in society today and should be an after thought as opposed to the most essential addition to any social event. Alcohol creates numerous social, economic, and health problems that could very easily be stopped if it played a less influential role in every day events. The use of alcohol is prominent in, but not limited to three social circles that include students, family groups, and religious gatherings. Experts have much to say about alcohol use and abuse in these three categories, including all of the negative aspects of drinking.
A research objective of the study is a comprehensive, brief, demonstrative declaration that provides guide to explore the variable (Patidar 2013). The importance of an objective is to guide what data will be needed, narrow the research and help with the development of the methodology (Masatu 2015). The objective of this study will be both exploratory and descriptive because the research will also rely on secondary data that will require a literature review. A case study approach that includes face-to-face and focus group interviews. Exploratory research design does not provide the final answer that concludes the research question but looks at the
A focus group is, according to Lederman is ‘a technique involving the use of in-depth group interviews in which participants are selected because they are a purposive, although not necessarily representative, sampling of a specific population, this group being ‘focused’ on a given topic’. Participants in this type of research are, therefore, selected on the criteria that they would have something to say on the topic, are within the age-range, have similar socio-characteristics and would be comfortable talking to the interviewer and each other.