Visual Focus Groups

The Visual Focus Group (VFG) is a creative, qualitative research method, which incorporates a collective drawing task within the structure of a focus group.

You can read my methodological article on the VFG in New Media & Society. It is available open access. The Supplementary Materials section provides additional information about the design of the VFGs.

If you are interested in using this method for academic research or advocacy purposes, and would like more information, get in touch with me – I would love to see this method used by others!

  • A group of research participants draw together on a piece of paper
    The collective drawing task within a diagnostic VFG
  • The internet is depicted as a dumpster fire, surrounded by stick figures representing different types of users
    An individual drawing from a speculative VFG
  • The internet is represented as a blank box, with a trap door at the top of the box, which can be accessed by Uncle Sam, representing the US government.
    Final group drawing from a diagnostic VFG
  • The internet is represented a stylized human figure half submerged in water, looking at its reflection
    A final group drawing from a speculative VFG

All images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

You can listen to me talk about the visual focus groups in this presentation I recorded for ICA 2020 (held remotely due to Covid-19).