ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how focus groups are used in environmental research, beginning with an understanding of what they are and why they have become popular among researchers for various kinds of research projects. Focus groups have been used to study everything from bike sharing to organic farming to forest management to protecting national parks to wildlife conservation. One advantage of focus groups over individual interviews is that they may allow us to obtain the views of a greater number of individuals. There are a number of things to think about when we are deciding exactly who we would like to invite to participate in our focus groups. Each focus group was confined to a separate user group to take advantage of the shared experiences of members of that group.
