What do you think, is it legit to campare focus groups that were conducted online with focus groups conducted "face-to-face"? Both online and face-to-face focus groups were held by same moderator using the same guidline (or a similar set of questions), all groups were transcribed vebatim and then categorized by means of a "narration analysis". Additional "field notes" for non-verbal sings were taken. However, I do have some concers, because face-to-face focus groups allowed more insights into non-verbal communication and interactions of participants, compared to online FGs. Thank you for your answers.
There have been a number of studies that compared face-to-face and online focus groups. The general conclusion is that the same topics get discussed, but that there is either less interaction or that the interaction is less active in online groups.
So, if your emphasis in on "what" was said (i.e., content) rather than "how" it was said (i.e., nature of interaction), then you are probably OK to combine the data.
This would depend entirely on your research question and what you as a researcher is looking forward to address.
Definitely, the face to face approach will generate more interaction as compared to the online approach.
Having said that, your research question will determine if this comparison is feasible or not.
Goodluck!
thank you very much for your answers, this is indeed very helpful. Since we will focus on the content (and not "how it was said") , we will probably be able to compare the two....