The Search for a Method: Focus Groups and the Development of Mass Communication: Focus Groups and the Development of Mass Communication Research - Softcover

David E. Morrison

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860205402 ISBN 13: 9781860205408

Publisher: University of Luton Press, 1998

Synopsis

""This is a beautifully integrated volume on the contexts and beginnings of the focus group technique."" -Robert Merton, professor emeritus, Columbia University Covering the origins, path, and practice of focus group research, this book provides not only a detailed methodological critique but also a focused look at the beginnings of modern modes of mass communication research. It details the historical context of the research setting created by Paul Lazarsfeld and shows how focus groups grew out of a tradition of quantitative as opposed to qualitative research. This study draws on unique sources, notably interviews with Lazarsfeld and his key early associates, together with Lazarsfeld's private papers and correspondence.

About this title

Product Description

MORRISON, D.E. THE SEARCH FOR A METHOD. FOCUS GROUPS AND THE DEVELOPMENTOF MASS COMMUNICATION RESEARCH. LUTON, BEDFORSH., 1998, xv 294 p.,. Encuadernacion original. Nuevo.

Review

"A remarkable achievement. This is a beautifully integrated volume on the contexts and beginnings of the focus group technique blending at least two knowing and engaging books, each based on extensive documentary and field research. The one book provides a penetrating biographical account of Paul Lazarsfeld's pioneering work in communication and media research. The other provides the definitive historical account of the emergence of the focussed group interview that developed into the focus group which is widely used (and too often abused) in academe, the marketplace and the political arena, commonly for the formation of public and private policy. Morrison recognises and demonstrates that, like most scientific discoveries and technical inventions, the focus group technique was a joint product of its ultimately accredited originators and the socio-cognitive environment in which it emerged. (Granted that my opinion of this scholarly work may be affected by my place in its pages, I can truly say that this is the most deeply informed volume on its twin subjects that I know of.)" Robert K. Merton, University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Luton Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1860205402
• ISBN 13: 9781860205408
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: David E. Morrison