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Interviewing the Moderator: An Ancillary Method to Focus Groups

Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark

Anna Birna Almarsdóttir

University of Iceland, Reykjavík

Ingunn Björnsdóttir

Pharmaceutical Society of Iceland, Reykjavík

There has been an upsurge of academic interest in using focus groups (FGs) as a main or stand-alone qualitative method. In this article, the authors introduce a recently developed ancillary method to FGs called interviewing the moderator. The method is employed immediately after an FG and consists of a one-on-one interview with the FG moderator by another member of the research team. The authors argue, with reference to a specific study, that interviewing the moderator adds a new and valuable dimension to group interviews used in research. They describe how this method came about and provide a concrete example of its use in a recently completed research project. They discuss several advantages of the interview, among them that it provides information about group interaction and participant behavior, and furnishes additional data on what is discussed when the tape recorder is turned off.

Key Words: focus groups • moderator • methodology • Iceland

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