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The inclusion of a chapter on focus groups in this second edition of Qualitative Research reflects the huge gain in popularity of this method across the social sciences over the past decade or so. Focus groups are now also thoroughly familiar to the general public, particularly in the contexts of'public opinion'polling (eg Elliott, 1998; Kershner, 1998) and consumer affairs (eg Aubry, 2003; Knott, 1998). According to the media, politicians hone their images based on focus group assessments (Brooks, 1998), and market research agencies even recruit 3-year-olds to focus groups to tap into their purported'pester power'(Swain, 2002).

Although the use of focus groups in social science can be traced back as far as the 1920s, 1 prior to the late 1970s their main use was as a market research tool, and most published studies were in the field of business and marketing-still an active area of focus group research today …