Focus groups for sensitive topics work best when all the participants share the same experiences or perspectives with regard to that topic. If you cannot generate that kind of "homogeneity," then individual interviews might be best. My recent book discusses this in some detail, Basic and Advanced Focus Groups (SAGE).

Yes, I agree with Dr David L Morgan; I researched living with faecal incontinence and used semi-structured interviews. However, in:

Chelvanayagam, S., & Norton, C. (2000). Quality of life with faecal continence problems. Nursing times, 96(31 Suppl), 15.

Sonya Chelvanayagam and Prof Christine Norton used focus groups very successfully as they had the 'homogeneity' that Dr Morgan described above.

If you are really talking about sensitive subjects, students in group settings may be reluctant to speak up, so you may not fully capture their experiences and thoughts. Privacy is better ensured by individual interviews.

Lynne - I think that we are mostly in agreement so far. Sensitive/emotive subjects favour individual 'private' interviews. Recruiting for focus groups would, most likely, attract fewer participants. The attached chapter may assist - it discusses sampling and data collection in qualitative research and highlights strengths and weaknesses of both. Depending on how sensitive the topic matter is - snowball sampling can be one of the more effective recruitment strategies.

Dean Whitehead actually, I have encountered cases where the chance to talk to similar others about sensitive topics in a focus groups can be an incentive to participate. But that is anecdotal, and I know of no research whatsoever that has ever compared people's willingness to talk about sensitive topics in individual versus group interviews.

This will be helpful:

Bernard, H. (2006). Research method in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative

approaches (4th ed.). Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

Focus group and interviewing could deal with sensitive issues. What is most important is the approach. You should have due ethical consideration and the participant should have your confidence.

One of the sensitive studies I conducted focused on the effectiveness of arbitration as a dispute resolution method in construction. By its very nature, Arbitration is a confidential but adversarial process. I faced the challenge of collecting data from five participants in each case, for a total of five cases. Considering the confidential nature of and the degree of hostility arising from the process and the outcomes, I had no choice but to use semi-structured interviews. With the privacy of the participants guaranteed, they provided rich and converging accounts of their experiences.

Without knowing the nature of study and sensitivity ,it's not justifiable to apply this.However if you try to highlight group behavior, focus can be applied

Interview is likely to provide indepth details on the sensitive topic along with confidentiality and privacy, while

FGD may provide superficial information and sensitive information may be held back due to obvious reasons.

You may also consider reading the following text:

'Doing research on sensitive topics' by Raymond M. Lee.

Rajiv Kumar Gupta Have you ever conducted a focus group on sensitive topics? If not, then what is the basis for what you consider "obvious"?

I have done many focus groups on sensitive topics, and as I said earlier, the key element is for the participants to have shared shared experiences. Indeed the literature is full of studies using FGD for sexual behavior, stigma causing illnesses, etc. etc.

Lynne A. Potvin - While it’s true that focus group participants have less speaking time than if they were being interviewed individually, what does get revealed is the group dynamic and how responses are potentially influenced in a group setting. If you want to go deeper on a topic, then in-depth interviews are the way to go. An in-depth participant has the undivided attention of the interviewer and subjects can be explored in more detail. Using in-depth interviews can be fairly good to conduct qualitative research about a topic that is sensitive in nature.

Yes it's true.. But when the idnvidual participants don't likely to reveal the mind on that case focus group can be applied.

We can use phenomenologycal Research, The one more thing phenomenological research its about "counciousnes", but still carefull about the ethical research wise. Netrality perspective..

Dear Lynne

Good luck with your PhD - I'm also immersed in mine. Mary Wilson mentioned earlier about the focus groups I facilitated with Christine Norton. Apart from collecting very rich data what we also discovered is how supportive the participants found the focus group particularly as our topic remains a taboo area. Therefore if your topic is a sensitive subject (as ours was) the participants may feel very supported. Also we found that an experience that one participant reported, triggered memories of similar (or very different) experiences for others in the group. These "triggers" provided much more information which you may not elicit in semi-structured individual interviews. if you would like a copy of the paper - let me know.

Best wishes

Sonya

Hello Lynne A. Potvin

I don't know if you saw this question?: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Hello_Can_you_recommend_any_literature_regarding_discussion_groups_and_focus_groups_held_online

Look at Dr David L Morgan's response; he has given the link for 'Qualitative Data Collection in an Era of Social Distancing'

Article Qualitative Data Collection in an Era of Social Distancing

I read it this morning (very good) and when I re-read your question and responses, I wondered if it would be helpful at this time.

May I join Sonya in wishing you good luck with your PhD,

Mary

Hello Sonya,

Good luck with your PhD. What are you researching for it?

Mary

Thanks Mary. I'm looking at end of life care for people with severe mental illness.

Thanks for sharing this, Sonya. A very important topic; again, good luck with it.

Depends on your research question

Lynne, I have just read your research interest in end of life care for people affected by adverse mental illness. This is an important area of work and using focus groups and case studies as a qualitative approach is fitting. Although it may be challenging for participants within your focus groups to disclose as much sensitive information as you may wish, you may think of ways of enabling this to happen. That is where min focus groups may help; if not perhaps you may end up having to talk to them individually, especially those less inclined to disclose their conditions. Good luck with your project.

Yes, I agree with Dr John Mendy. You sound as if you anticipate talking to individuals after an initial focus group contact because of the sensitive nature of the topic. You could then decide specifically what you were going to ask each individual.

Hi Lynne A. Potvin !

It depends on the outcome you want to have. I used both methods half a year ago two answer a questions with different kind of audience. On the one hand I had employees in a focus group. This was very helpful, because I started with some question to reflect and discuss on it. It was very fruitful and the different employees discussed in a very active manner. After putting all the gained information together I confronted company leaders with the results and made in-depth interviews. This was amazing and I get several interesting insights out of the interviews.

Maybe think about you research again and think about a split, making both. In the end it is more important to think about the research approach and what questions you need to be answered.

If you need some further discussion, please feel free to contact me.

Christian

Before going deep into the question, it is important to establish the type of interview you intend to use. Is it structured interview (quantitative method), key informant interview or in-depth interview? Well, I will suggest that you combine in-depth interview with FGDs. It will help you to get robust data to address the sensitive nature of your research.