Methoden vergleichen

	Longitudinale Fokusgruppe – Verfolgung von Gruppenperspektiven über die Zeit	Teilnehmende Beobachtung
Fachgebiet	Umfragemethodik	Qualitative Forschung
Familie	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Entstehungsjahr	1940s (focus groups); longitudinal variant refined 1980s–1990s	1922
Urheber	Adapted from Robert K. Merton's focused interview tradition; longitudinal design developed in social and health sciences	Bronislaw Malinowski
Typ	Qualitative longitudinal data collection	Method
Wegweisende Quelle	Morgan, D. L. (1997). Focus Groups as Qualitative Research (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. ISBN: 978-0761903437	Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books. ISBN: 978-0465026432
Aliasnamen	repeated focus group, panel focus group, longitudinal FG, follow-up focus group	ethnographic observation, participatory observation, overt observation, immersive observation
Verwandt	5	4
Zusammenfassung	A longitudinal focus group convenes the same group of participants in multiple sessions over an extended period — weeks, months, or years — to trace how their attitudes, experiences, or interpretations evolve in response to changing circumstances. Unlike a single focus group snapshot, the repeated-contact design captures the dynamics of opinion and meaning-making across time, making it particularly valuable in health, policy, and social research where change is the phenomenon of interest.	Participant observation is a qualitative research method in which the researcher embeds themselves within a community, organization, or social setting for an extended period, engaging in the activities and relationships of the group while systematically observing and documenting behavior, interactions, and cultural meaning. Pioneered by Malinowski in the 1920s and developed in anthropology, the method has been adopted across sociology, education, health sciences, and organizational research. The researcher functions as both insider (participating in group activities) and outsider (maintaining analytical distance), generating thick description—rich accounts of context, behavior, and meaning that reveal how people actually live and interact.