Virtualization of Focus Groups and Interviews: Reflections in Psychosocial Research
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1110-9066
Bruno Bivort
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3319-7308
José Sandoval-Díaz
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7247-7113
Abstract
This article provides a comparative analysis of the methodological conditions associated with the in-person and virtual implementation of interviews and focus groups in qualitative psychosocial research. The analysis draws on specialized methodological literature and reflective materials produced by the research team during the virtual implementation of both techniques in a project conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical process followed a sequence of individual and team reflexivity, complemented by bibliographic triangulation and reflective thematic analysis aimed at identifying methodological lessons derived from the implementation of virtual interviews and focus groups. The results are organized around the procedural and ethical dimensions of both techniques. In virtual focus groups, key aspects include the management of the technological interface, ethical safeguards related to confidentiality, the increased demands placed on the moderator role, and the need for specialized technical support. Virtual interviews, in turn, present specific challenges related to rapport building, the management of interaction, and the protection of privacy throughout the research encounter. As a methodological contribution, the study shows that virtualization is not merely a change of channel but constitutes a specific configuration of the research encounter. It redistributes control over the conditions in which the encounter takes place, requires researchers to make explicit interactional and ethical processes that may remain implicit in face-to-face settings, and shifts the question of data equivalence toward an examination of the forms of interaction and accounts that each modality enables or restricts. These dimensions provide transferable criteria for choosing between modalities according to the research question, study population, thematic sensitivity, privacy conditions, and available sociotechnical infrastructure.
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