Methodological and Practical Considerations for Cross-Cultural Focus Groups on Sensitive Topics within Criminal Justice and Criminology

Authors

Hillary Mellinger, Washington State University
Belén Lowrey-Kinberg, University of California-Irvine
Maya Pagni Barak, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Abstract

Cross-cultural focus groups offer several advantages over other qualitative methods, particularly when the research goal is to better understand individual and collective perceptions, opinions, or conceptualizations of issues salient to marginalized groups. However, cross-cultural focus groups also pose several unique challenges despite their advantages. Therefore, more scholarly attention needs to address how to overcome these challenges. In this article, we tackle three issues related to cross-cultural focus groups: (1) defining homogenous regarding focus group formation; (2) incorporating intersectionality into cross-cultural focus groups while maintaining homogeneity in crucial aspects of participants’ identities; and (3) overcoming unexpected practical challenges that may appear when cross-cultural focus groups are conducted. In so doing, we contribute to the literature on conducting cross-cultural focus groups on sensitive criminal justice and criminology topics.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Mellinger, Hillary; Lowrey-Kinberg, Belén; and Barak, Maya Pagni (2023) "Methodological and Practical Considerations for Cross-Cultural Focus Groups on Sensitive Topics within Criminal Justice and Criminology," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 12: No. 3, Article 1.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol12/iss3/1