Focus groups: A culturally responsive tool for storytelling

Cultural groups have historically used storytelling to motivate, educate, and empower. While focus groups, a qualitative research method, have been recognized by culturally responsive evaluators as a powerful tool to access the stories of diverse populations, there is a dearth of information on the utility of focus groups to culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) practice. Accordingly, this paper discusses the contributions of focus groups to CR mixed methods evaluations. This paper will explain how mixed methods evaluators can use focus groups as a culturally responsive tool for storytelling, rationales for using focus groups for CRE mixed methods work, and the ethical considerations when using focus groups in CRE work.