The use of Facebook for virtual asynchronous focus groups in qualitative research

Abstract

The Internet and the development of more user-engaging applications have opened a whole new world for researchers as a means of recruitment and data collection source. This paper describes the methodological approach of a research study that explored the experiences of Australian military spouses who packed up their family and home to accompany their spouse on an overseas posting. The study used Facebook as a recruitment tool and then as a data source through the conduct of an asynchronous virtual focus group. This paper outlines the advantages and disadvantages of this unique data source as a means of capturing the voices of a hard-to-reach population.

Keywords:

• focus groups
• Facebook
• social media
• online research

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the women who participated in this study. Their voices and sacrifices often go unnoticed and unheralded, and yet they continue on nonetheless, holding the family together and accepting all that comes their way, in support of their partner’s military career.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Narelle Biedermann http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8344-5069