The use of focus group interviews in Asian medical education evaluative research

Objective To evaluate the use of focus group interviews in Asian medical ed ucation evaluative research. Methods Randomly selected medical students were invited to participate in 3 0 focus group interviews to provide in-depth data about the effect on their learning of the introduction of early clinical skills. Efforts were made t o meet all the students to help them understand the objectives of the focus group. Confidentiality was emphasised and a non-faculty interviewer was re cruited for the interviews. Results The students considered the use of focus groups to be a more meanin gful way of collecting students' opinions than other methods, for example s tructured questionnaire, because it allowed an interactive discussion. They also felt that having an independent non-faculty interview moderator had e ncouraged them to express their opinions more candidly during the interview s. Conclusion The use of focus group interviews among Asian medical students f or evaluative research is practical and efficient.