Asking elaborate questions: Focus groups and the management of spontaneity

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschung

Authors

This paper analyzes question formats in a corpus of German market research focus groups. In particular, it identifies and studies the use of 'elaborate questions' (questions which include a range of reformulations and rewordings). The analysis highlights three functions of such questions in focus groups: (a) they are used to guide participants and head off trouble where the question type is 'non-mundane'; (b) they help secure participation by providing an array of alternative items to respond to; (c) they guide participants to produce a range of opinion relevant responses. More generally, they help manage a dilemma between the requirement that the talk should be both highly focused on predefined topics and issues, and at the same time spontaneous and conversational. The analysis provides a range of interactional evidence for the pragmatic role of these formats.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftJournal of Sociolinguistics
Jahrgang3
Ausgabenummer3
Seiten (von - bis)314-335
Anzahl der Seiten22
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 08.1999
Extern publiziertJa

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Subversive Gamification
  2. European hospitals as a Source for Platinum in the Environment in Comparison with Other Sources
  3. Die Aufgabe der Fünfziger
  4. Comparative efficacy of seven psychotherapeutic interventions for patients with depression
  5. Relative inequality and poverty in Germany and the United States using alternative equivalence scales
  6. Verzug beim Napf-Rückwärts-Fließpressen
  7. Koordination verbessern
  8. Die Welt steht Kopf
  9. Firm size, firm age and job duration
  10. Zusammenhang zwischen Burnout und Persönlichkeit
  11. Global economic implications of alternative climate policy strategies
  12. Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources
  13. The transaction costs of eProcurement
  14. Wege zur Neuorientierung des Wissensmanagements
  15. Similar performance in central and range-edge populations of a Eurasian steppe grass under different climate and soil pH regimes
  16. Didaktik privater Rechtsgestaltung
  17. Buche oder Eiche
  18. Change-Beneficial Process Architectures and the Human as a Change Enabler
  19. Visual Accounting
  20. Die große Flut und die Arche
  21. Krieg in der Zivilgesellschaft
  22. Reflexive Responsibilisierung
  23. Effects of global climate change on geographic distributions of vertebrates in North Queensland
  24. Restoration mechanisms at moderate temperatures for As-Cast ZK40 magnesium alloys modified with individual Ca and Gd additions
  25. Das Echo des Propheten Jesaja
  26. DRM... TRIPS... WIPO...
  27. Validität des NEPS-Mathematiktests für die neunte Klasse
  28. Biodegradability of the Anti-Tumour Agent Ifosfamide and its Occurrence in Hospital Effluents and Communal Sewage
  29. Prüfung von Nachhaltigkeitsberichten
  30. Tourism and Love
  31. Wissen und Governance
  32. The cost of depression
  33. Context of social action