Focus groups and the collective construction of meaning: Listening to minority women

This article reflects critically on the experience of using focus groups as a central method in a research project on minority women. The importance of using focus groups as a data collection method in feminist research is widely acknowledged. Yet, despite numerous accounts of the central importance of analysis at the interactive level, analysis of focus groups has been conducted primarily at the individual level. Based on close analysis of focus groups conducted within the context of research among minority women in Israel, the article carefully maps out the process of interpreting collective constructions of meaning and identifying dynamics between participants by focusing on the interactive level of analysis. The dimensions and modes of analysis we employ draw on recent feminist theories of silence and voice that allow for a more nuanced mode of listening to produce a deeper understanding of the research dynamics.