Focus Group Methods and Role-Playing Games: Potential and Limitations for Socially Sensitive Research

Main Article Content

Artur Holavin

Abstract

The text discusses existing limits to the use of focus group methods, especially when it comes to sensitive research topics. Based on my experience of participation in an international research project on sexual bullying, i point out the issues of distrust, conformism promoting group dynamics, and the limits of post hoc “rationalized” discourses among focus group subjects. Drawing upon my experience of nonformal educational “learning by doing” projects, i propose the use of role-playing and simulation elements as supplementary methods to tackle the above-mentioned issues. In conclusion, i summarize possible methodological advantages of the use of role-play elements in qualitative sociological research, as well as some possible epistemological limits of the method. In russian.

Keywords

Role-Playing Games, Focus Groups, Sexual Bullying


Abstract 283 | PDF (Русский) Downloads 203 HTML (Русский) Downloads 84

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).