ABSTRACT
By their nature, the social and behavioral sciences are an ever-evolving field of study, soliciting creative approaches to old problems and calling for research attention to turn toward emerging social issues. The dynamic and ever-changing nature of life calls for individuals with knowledge of research methods to understand and provide systematic evidence about issues and events that affect everyone. Focus group is a “qualitative” research technique designed to gain insight into the participant’s subjective experience, motivation, or feelings and all are based in spontaneous group interaction. The hazardous waste risk survey involving in-person interviews illustrated several areas in which focus groups contributed to the development of the survey questionnaire and experimental design. In the hazardous waste focus groups, we asked the participants how much they would be willing to pay to reduce the risk of exposure from a hypothetical landfill that contained hazardous wastes.
