| Abstract [eng] |
As computer technology increasingly infiltrates the work of academia, researchers begin to look for better solutions to past research dilemmas. Internet focus groups are one of the newest research methods used in social science research. Abroad, this method has been used for 10-15 years in the majority of areas of social science such as sociology, psychology, education, healthcare, information studies, management, economics and others. This method, and especially its further development, have attracted a lot of interest. In Lithuania, on the other hand, the use of internet focus groups has just begun; they are being used by local offices of international market research firms (of course, the areas of research are market research and its solutions), which are mainly drawing on the expertise of their foreign partners. The method is not yet used in Lithuanian research institutes and universities, nor is it mentioned in textbooks. Review of the scientific and methodological literature, presented in this work, distills the unique characteristics of internet focus groups, as well as the possibilities of their application. An empirical case review – a real-life application of the two methods being compared to research the same problem – confirmed several advantages (saving on time and financial costs, needed for conducting research) and disadvantages (fewer questions are addressed, lack of depth in data) of online focus groups. However, the empirical case review did not confirm that the likely bigger honesty of participants as well as likely higher rate of off-topic discussions. This allowed to confirm the main thesis of this work, as follows: internet focus groups, due to unique advantages of the method, as well as partial retention of the advantages of traditional focus groups and offsetting of the disadvantages (saving on time and financial costs as well as bigger participant confidentiality) may be used as an alternative to traditional focus groups. However, the decision to use this alternative must be based on assessed risks and challenges as well as the research question(s) of the study, required format and level of data. |
