Ethnographic focus groups in communities of practice: Maximal variation and emic perspectives

Abstract

This article introduces the method of ethnographic focus groups, arguing for the advantages of extending focus group methodology to include an ethnographic component and composing groups based on participants’ membership in communities of practice. Combining the situated and focused interactions from focus groups with the in-depth knowledge gained from ethnographic observations, ethnographic focus groups allow for a multi-sited research design and access to a broad variety of views on a social phenomenon. Based on our own fieldwork for a project investigating language ideologies of English in Denmark in different communities of practice, we demonstrate how ethnographic observations are integrated into the research design, data generation and analysis of focus groups. The article culminates in a seven-step reflection guide to designing and conducting ethnographic focus groups.