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Open research questions in Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods

26 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 650 Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The focus group discussions highlighted six practical priorities for the next stage of NEMA’s development. 5.1 Clarify scope while preserving flexibility NEMA should agree a clear but flexible scope for its first year. This may include a UK-facing focus while allowing international comparison and learning. The network should clarify whether it focuses on older people, mid-life and future ageing, or the wider later-life course. Key terms such as ethnicity, migration and ageing should be defined in ways that guide the network’s work without oversimplifying people’s identities and experiences. 5.2 Establish a member-led governance and values framework NEMA should create a short engagement charter setting out its core values and ways of working. This should include commitments to reciprocity, anti-oppression, accessibility, cultural awareness, strengths-based representation and older-people-centred practice. The charter should be shaped by community organisations, practitioners, researchers and people with lived experience. 5.3 Build practical knowledge infrastructure NEMA should develop a simple shared directory or resource hub that brings together information on relevant organisations, community activities, digital inclusion support, language provision, research resources, funding opportunities and policy outputs. A newsletter and shared archive could help members stay informed even when they cannot attend meetings. 5.4 Convene regular communities of practice NEMA should hold three or four online communities of practice in its first year. These could combine short presentations from community, practice, policy and research perspectives with open discussion and practical problem-solving. Sessions should include space for early career researchers, community-led presentations and cross-sector exchange. 5.5 Advocate for and support community-led work NEMA should advocate for funding models that recognise and pay community organisations for their time, expertise and leadership. NEMA can help strengthen community-led work by sharing funding opportunities, supporting partnership development, providing research advice, signposting useful resources and helping community partners evidence the value of their work. NEMA should avoid asking communities to provide access, expertise or consultation without clear benefit. 5.6 Pilot applied workstreams NEMA should begin with one or two applied workstreams based on the strongest themes from the focus groups. Possible pilots include digital inclusion resources for older migrants, guidance on culturally appropriate service access, a briefing on demographic change and future service planning, or a community-led evaluation of accessible support. These pilots would help NEMA move from discussion to action.

    Building NEMA: A Focus Group Consultation Report on Developing the Network for Ethnicity, Migration and Ageing · 2026 · DOI

  • BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Virtual interviewing in qualitative research may promote inclusion, diversify samples, and maximize participation, but there is limited research regarding methodological best practices for marginalized study populations.

    Virtual interviewing with marginalized young adult mothers: appreciating the New Norm · 2023 · DOI

  • Given the lack of detailed, contextualised accounts on how researchers gain access to schools during or after a crisis, our experiences add to current understandings by providing an ‘on the ground’ account on how research can be stymied or end with mixed results when it is viewed as a difficult undertaking.

    Gatekeepers, guides and ghosts: intermediaries impacting access to schools during COVID-19 · 2022 · DOI

  • Future Research: Future research could examine how to manage or overcome the impostor phenomenon for students and professionals, focus on disciplines outside STEM, and investigate how socialization opportunities may be compromised due to this phenomenon.

    The Impostor Phenomenon Among Postdoctoral Trainees in STEM: A US-Based Mixed-Methods Study · 2020 · DOI

  • The findings support further research into this phenomenon to discern whether disclosing one’s story of sexual assault via social media can be seen as an avenue for positive coping and facilitate further resolution after a sexual trauma, specifically regarding a sense of empowerment and a sense of contributing to a larger online narrative of survivors.

    Posting the story of your sexual assault online: a phenomenological study of the aftermath · 2020 · DOI

  • Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study was that the authors did not conduct the interviews, and therefore reframing or adding questions to specifically unpack comments related to attitudes, feelings or the use of SNS in academia was not possible.

    Researchers’ attitudes towards the use of social networking sites · 2017 · DOI

  • This short report considers sensitivity and security of audio-recordings, drawing attention to a lack of guidelines for researchers on the preservation or destruction of such data.

    When to Delete Recorded Qualitative Research Data · 2008 · DOI

  • Most projects had health related themes, often prompted by dissatisfaction with treatment of parents by health professionals or by feelings of being marginalised by pregnancy and motherhood, as well as by the lack of evidence for their questions and concerns.

    Parenting Science Gang: radical co-creation of research projects led by parents of young children · 2020 · DOI

  • Visual timeline methods have been used as part of face-to-face qualitative interviewing with vulnerable populations to uncover the intricacies of lived experiences, but little is known about whether visual timelines can be effectively used in telephone interviews.

    Using Visual Timelines in Telephone Interviews: Reflections and Lessons Learned From the Star Family Study · 2020 · DOI

  • However, researching sensitive topics online can expose researchers to a range of emotional narratives, yet researcher emotion remains an area which is relatively underexplored in relation to online qualitative research.

    The emotional labour of researching sensitive topics online: considerations and implications · 2018 · DOI

  • Websites incorporating these narratives or personal accounts are known to offer support to carers of people with multiple sclerosis, but little is known about how carers make choices about what websites to visit and why.

    How do carers of people with multiple sclerosis engage with websites containing the personal experiences of other carers and patients? · 2015 · DOI

  • Little is known about how research participants deal with the ethical challenges involved in conducting fieldwork, or whether they succeed in making balanced ethical judgments in collecting images of identifiable people and places.

    Let's Play it Safe: Ethical Considerations from Participants in a Photovoice Research Project · 2014 · DOI

  • Finally, we argue that reflective conversations should be understood and handled as iterative, open, and inquiring processes within a trust relationship, and should not be limited to any particular value schemes of action research.

    Dissenting in reflective conversations: Critical components of doing action research · 2011 · DOI

  • This combination enables the creation of rich ethnography or, as Geertz (1973) has called it, “thick description,” not limited to the Internet alone.

    Internet Ethnography: Online and Offline · 2004 · DOI

  • Open questioning has yielded over the years to the dominance of closed questioning, in response to in-house experience with questions and the relentless rise in survey costs, not from methodological research of any scope.

    Strong Arguments and Weak Evidence: The Open/Closed Questioning Controversy of the 1940s · 1984 · DOI

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26 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 650 Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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