BU Research Blog

You are warmly welcomed to the next research process seminar. Hosted by the Faculty of Media and Communication but open to all.

Culturally Responsive Focus Groups: Purposes, Practices, and Possibilities

I will explore the purposes and practices of culturally responsive (CR) focus groups as a powerful qualitative research method, based on my book, Focus Groups: Culturally Responsive Approaches for Qualitative Inquiry and Program Evaluation (Hall, 2020). Culturally responsive focus groups go beyond traditional approaches by intentionally centering the cultural contexts, lived experiences, and knowledge systems of participants—especially those from historically marginalized communities.

Participants will gain insight into what makes a focus group culturally responsive and how this orientation influences decisions across the research design, from recruitment and protocol development to facilitation and analysis. I will outline when and why CR focus groups are particularly valuable, and I’ll share key considerations for their successful implementation, including attention to power dynamics, group composition, language, and cultural humility.

About the speaker

Jori N. Hall is a President’s Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. Hall’s research is concerned with social inequalities andenhancing the robustness of social science research methodologies. Her scholarly pursuits address issues of research methodology, cultural responsiveness, and the nuanced interplay of values and privilege across evaluation, education, and health domains. Hall has published numerous peer-reviewed works in scholarly venues. She is also the author of the acclaimed book “Focus Groups: Culturally Responsive Approaches for Qualitative Inquiry and Program Evaluation.” Notably, she was honored as a Leaders of Equitable Evaluation and Diversity (LEEAD) fellow by The Annie E. Casey Foundation. She was also the Co-Editor-in-Chief for the “American Journal of Evaluation.”

About the research process seminar series:

The purpose of this research seminar series is different to your typical research seminar and conference presentation. Instead of presenting the results and outcomes of research, we want to share good practices around the process of doing research. This might often involve a focus on research methods but it also includes aspects of publishing, writing, time management, career management etc.

The idea here is that the speaker takes us through the anatomy of the project or approach focussing particularly on the process – the challenges, the successes, and the failures. For the audience, we walk away with a practical application of a method or approach we may not be familiar with or may not have applied in this way before. Our ambition is to make us all better researchers as a result.

2-3pm, Tuesday 24^th June on Zoom

And if you want the recording but can’t make the event then please register and I will send it to you.

all the best

Dan