Focus groups and ecological practices: a psychosocial approach

Abstract

International audience ; The aim of this article is to show that focus groups (FGs) are a relevant method forthe study of social representations of ecological practices and the meanings they haveacquired in different socio-cultural contexts. First, relevant theoretical elements aboutecological practices and representations are mentioned. Then, our different steps ofdesigning FGs are detailed. A comparison between French and German FGs illustratesdifferent processes of social representations and evidences how the tasks andstimuli structure group discussions about practices. Results highlight the role of themajority's opinion in facing scientific uncertainty and in the evaluation of ecologicalpractices. They also point out different ways of anchoring them. For the French participants,ecological practices are means of acting according to political values, whereasfor the German group members, they are compromises between individual and altruisticinterests. Furthermore, the potentialities of FGs are discussed.