It is unusual for one focus group to be enough, because you lack saturation. In particular, you might hear something completely different in a second group.
The major exception is when your target population its very rare, so that it would difficult to find more participants.
Best thing to do is look to the literature for your focal constructs to determine if your sample size is enough for qualitative studies. If you have a target journal (end situation for your publication and dissemination of your findings), that is the best indication of the adequacy of your sample. Include the found sources in your lit review as well to address concerns before they become an issue with future reviewers. With that said, your advisor will likely be the limiting factor of your sample size is enough.
Be careful when exploring sampling size to not lump your study in the same class as case studies. They tend to have smaller sample sizes because of the single company focus. Consider looking at European studies because qual studies tend to have around 12ish at minimum for topical saturation. With that said, how do you know you have topical saturation with your current sample? Have you made an argument in prose?
Yes, for a single focus group discussion, 8 members are more than sufficient. However, if you are working on more than one objective (such as in a thesis), then you could consider conducting more focus group discussions based on the objectives.
Also, it's always better to opt for a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, especially for a thesis because using both methods provides one with the opportunity to verify the results secured from each of the methods. For employing a quantitative method however, the sample size must be larger and depends on the size of the universe.
You can check this sample size table developed using the formula by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) if you decide to opt to use quantitative methods.
http://www.kenpro.org/sample-size-determination-using-krejcie-and-morgan-table/
Dear All, thank you so much for taking your time to answer my question. Your replies are very useful and much appreciated.
Hi Alina - I'm sorry for the late reply - a few more thoughts to add to the rest - but please note that I usually work with doctoral candidate, thus - First, I'd check to see if your school has requirements for a minimum number of participants or groups or subjects in a study. Check the thesis guidelines. Second, have you looked at studies that other students (graduates of your program or school) or other researchers have completed to see what they did? Look for how your study is similar/different from the others you identify. You can usually cite them as justification for the structure of your own study design. Third (and after doing the above), it is a good idea to ask your supervisor if they'd be satisfied with the number of participants and groups you've determined and your justification for determining that number.
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