مجموعات النقاش البؤرية : الأسس النظرية و الاعتبارات المنهجية

Abstract EN

For long times, social research has been limited to the use of the quantitative methods in studying social phenomena due to the common and firm belief among the researchers that objectivity and precise scientific research must be conducted in the same way as the natural sciences researches.

Thus, it has become a necessity for those researchers to reconsider such belief and realize that social phenomena have independent nature and are relatively different from natural phenomena.

In addition, the researchers of social phenomena have to develop other methods, and here appears the importance of the qualitative method in social research.

Focus group Discussion (FGD) is one of the qualitative research methods.

The aim of this study, therefore, is to define such method, shed the light on its importance in conducting social research, and to know the methodological procedures necessary for their use in social research.

It is an attempt to urge researchers in Egypt and the Arab countries to use such method.

The objectives of the study are as follows: definition of the Focus Group Discussion (FGD), introducing a systematic analysis of the field procedures of this method, and discussing advantages and benefits of the focus group approach.