The author gives an analysis of the methodological advantages and disadvantages of using focus groups in practical ecclesiology. He makes a plea for including focus groups in a mixed method strategy in practical ecclesiological research, being attentive to their performative effects. He asks, if ecclesiology governs the methodological design of a practical-ecclesiological research project, should not methods that focus on conversational practices and how people build up a view out of the interaction that takes place within a group, be pulled into the heart of the research? In his reply to this question, the article gives a relational-constructionist, an ecclesiological and a theological rationale for using focus groups.
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J. Sim, ‘Collecting and analyzing qualitative data: issues raised by the focus group’, Journal of Advanced Nursing (1998), 28, pp. 345–352, at p. 346.
See Clare Watkins, ‘Practicing Ecclesiology: from product to process. The theological action research framework of theology in four voices, and the development of ecclesiology as a non-correlative process and practice’, Ecclesial Practices. Journal of Ecclesiology and Ethnography 2/1 (2015), pp. 23–39, at p. 36.
R. Gomm, Social Research Methodology: A Critical Introduction (London: Palgrave, 2004), p. 173.
Berg, p. 149.
Gomm, p. 172.
Carla Willig, Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology. Adventures in Theory and Method, (Buckingham / Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2001), p. 30.
Berg, p. 146.
Wellington and Szczerbinski, p. 90.
Bente Halkier, ‘Focus groups as social enactments: integrating interaction and content in the analysis of focus group data’, Qualitative Research 10/1 (2010), pp. 71–89. Also see M. Grønkjær, T. Curtis, C. de Crespigny and C. Delmar, ‘Analyzing group interaction in focus group research: Impact on content and the role of the moderator’, Qualitative Studies 2/1 (2010), pp. 16–30.
Boeije, p. 65.
Hennink, p. 5.
Gomm, p. 171.
Jenny Kitzinger, ‘The methodology of focus groups: the importance of interaction between research participants’, Sociology of Health and Illness 16/1 (1994), pp. 103–121, at p. 105.
Grønkjær et al., p. 24.
Hennink, p. 9.
Marian Pitts and Anthony Smith, Researching the Margins. Strategies for Ethical and Rigorous Research with Marginalized Communities (Houndmills, Basingstoke / New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), p. 140.
Vaughn, Shum and Sinagub, p. 48.
Wellington and Szczerbinski, p. 20.
Richard Osmer, Practical Theology. An Introduction (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), p. 48.
Hennink, p. 12.
Höhmann, Krech, p. 186.
Hermelink, p. 420.
See Harald Hegstad, The Real Church. An Ecclesiology of the Visible (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013).
Remco C.W. Feskens, Difficult Groups in Survey Research and the Development of Tailor-made Approach Strategies (Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht / Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2009), p. 51.
Feskens, p. 54 and pp. 59–68.
Scheyvens, Scheyvens, Murray, p. 179.
Dowling, p.32.
Henk de Roest, Communicative Identity. Habermas’ Perspectives of Discourse as a Support for Practical Theology (Kampen: Kok, 1998), pp. 219ff.
Bosco and Herman, p. 194.
Bryman, p. 480.
Hosking, p. 12.
Bouwen and Hovelynck, p. 128.
Bouwen and Hovelynck, p. 130.
Bouwen and Hovelynck, p. 138.
Dian Marie Hosking, ‘Telling tales of relations: Appreciating relational constructionism’, Organization Studies 32/1 (2011), 47–65, at p. 55.
Kitzinger, p. 111.
Cameron, p. 156.
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The author gives an analysis of the methodological advantages and disadvantages of using focus groups in practical ecclesiology. He makes a plea for including focus groups in a mixed method strategy in practical ecclesiological research, being attentive to their performative effects. He asks, if ecclesiology governs the methodological design of a practical-ecclesiological research project, should not methods that focus on conversational practices and how people build up a view out of the interaction that takes place within a group, be pulled into the heart of the research? In his reply to this question, the article gives a relational-constructionist, an ecclesiological and a theological rationale for using focus groups.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 972 | 89 | 3 |
Full Text Views | 239 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 91 | 5 | 0 |