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A Kaleidoscope of Voices: Using Focus Groups in a Study of Rural Adolescent Girls

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A New Era in Focus Group Research

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Abstract

In this yearlong research study examining rural adolescent girls’ narratives of identity, I did not originally propose to interview the girls in focus groups. However, in the isolated and small community context in which the girls lived, being singled out for individual interviews posed a significant threat to the girls and a misunderstanding of how the girls’ narratives of identity were developed. Where girls already experienced feelings of loneliness and fears that others might use relational aggression to further separation, being pulled aside or singled out for an interview was anxiety provoking. Such a realization reflects my misguided assumption as an outsider about the way in which narratives of identity were crafted, as in such a tight-knit community context, the girls’ stories of self were not individually developed but communally built. Using a relational framework, I explore my decision to use focus groups and the way in which focus groups might dispel the notion that identities are created as individual acts. Instead, evidence is presented to show that the development of a narrative of self in this context is a communal and negotiated process.

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  1. Department of Education, Tufts University, Medford, USA

    Erin E. Seaton

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  1. Erin E. Seaton
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Correspondence to Erin E. Seaton .

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  1. WELS, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

    Rosaline S. Barbour

  2. Portland State University, Portland, USA

    David L. Morgan

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Seaton, E.E. (2017). A Kaleidoscope of Voices: Using Focus Groups in a Study of Rural Adolescent Girls. In: Barbour, R., Morgan, D. (eds) A New Era in Focus Group Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58614-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58614-8_14

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