![]() ![]() Within the repertoire of tools that conservation biologists can use, focus group discussion is a commonly used method. From being an outlier and on the sidelines of the discourse on conservation, the importance of understanding human perspectives is now centre stage in conservation decision making (Bennett et al., 2017 Khadka, Hujala, Wolfslehner, & Vacik, 2013 Paloniemi et al., 2012). We have provided guidelines to improve the standard of reporting and future application of the technique for conservation.Ĭonservation social science has come of age (Bennett et al., 2017). Rarely have the studies provided any information on the rationale for choosing the technique. More than half of the studies ( n = 101) did not report the sample size and group size ( n = 93), whereas 54 studies did not mention the number of focus group discussion sessions while reporting results. We noted serious gaps in the reporting of the methodological details in the reviewed papers. ![]() Most of the studies were in Africa ( n = 76), followed by Asia ( n = 44), and Europe ( n = 30). Four main themes emerged from the review: understanding of people's perspectives regarding conservation (32%), followed by the assessment of conservation and livelihoods practices (21%), examination of challenges and impacts of resource management interventions (19%) and documenting the value of indigenous knowledge systems (16%). Focus group discussion sessions lasted for 90 (median) minutes. There were seven (median) focus group meetings per study. The number of participants per focus group (where reported) ranged from 3 to 21 participants with a median of 10 participants. Rarely was the method used as a stand-alone technique. The screening process resulted in 170 articles, the majority of which (67%, n = 114,) were published between 20.We then discuss in detail the empirical applications of this technique in conservation based on a structured literature review (using Scopus). We begin with a brief explanation of the technique for first-time users. ![]()
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December 2022
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