Focus groups as an inclusive data collection method: methodological discussion mobilizing the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation

• Grant number: 23/10058-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Public Policies
• Principal Investigator: Rogerio Schlegel
• Grantee: Gabriel Alves Ferreira
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Focal Group technique, which involves collective discussion between people guided by the researcher(s) and aimed at generating content for discourse analysis, is often used in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies, particularly social policies. This Scientific Initiation project aims to fill a gap in contemporary knowledge about Focal Groups, building on a dialogue with a broader project of a group from Department of Social Sciences. This project, entitled Responsible Innovation and Social Policy Resilience (IRR-PS), addresses responsible policy innovation on the social area; its main objective is to evaluate how Brazilian municipalities have adopted responsible sociotechnical innovations in response to the health and social crisis generated by Covid-19. The concept of "responsible innovation" has been used in the Global North to describe systems of innovations that aim to guarantee a better future through a collective, participative, sustainable and egalitarian governance. This IC will discuss and reflect on the potentialities and limits of Focus Groups in research related to responsible innovation, precisely because it is a promising technique for this purpose. The proponent will hold a conceptual discussion to promote the meeting between the analysis of public policies, the Social Sciences and the paradigms of responsible innovation. He will also conduct in-depth interviews with the participants of the main research Focus Groups and, as the IC end approaches, an autonomous discussion to test promising techniques and supposed best practices. Among the goals of this project are contributing to the main project, training the candidate for field work regarding FG, and generating contributions to the global discussion of responsible research.