The Search for a Method by David E Morrison

The Search for a Method by David E Morrison

Covers the origins, path and practice of focus group research. This book provides a methodological critique and details the historical context of the research setting created by Lazarsfeld. It shows how focus groups grew out of a tradition of quantitative research. It is intended for those involved in research and its methodology.

A remarkable achievementThis is a beautifully integrated volume on the contexts and beginnings of the focus group technique blending at least two knowing and engaging books, each based on extensive documentary and field research. The one book provides a penetrating biographical account of Paul Lazarsfeld's pioneering work in communication and media research. The other provides the definitive historical account of the emergence of the focussed group interview that developed into the focus group which is widely used (and too often abused) in academe, the marketplace and the political arena, commonly for the formation of public and private policy. Morrison recognises and demonstrates that, like most scientific discoveries and technical inventions, the focus group technique was a joint product of its ultimately accredited originators and the socio-cognitive environment in which it emerged. (Granted that my opinion of this scholarly work may be affected by my place in its pages, I can truly say that this is the most deeply informed volume on its twin subjects that I know of.) Robert K. Merton, University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

DR. SRIDHAR RAMAMOORTI, ACA, CPA/CITP/CFF/CGMA, CIA, CFE, MAFF, CFSA, CGAP, CGFM, CRMA, is currently an Associate Professor of Accounting and Director, Corporate Governance Center, at Kennesaw State University. A former University of Illinois accountancy faculty member, he has worked for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, and is a former corporate governance partner with Grant Thornton. A board member of the Institute for Truth in Accounting and Ascend, he chairs the Financial Executives International's Committee for Governance, Risk, and Compliance.

DAVID E. MORRISON III is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. An advisor to the Institute of Fraud Prevention (IFP) of West Virginia University since 2008, he is also a past president of the Academy of Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) member, and a Tomkins Institute board member. He works full time as a principal at Morrison Associates, Ltd., with a career focused on leadership and executive development.

JOSEPH W. KOLETAR, DPA, CFE, is an independent forensic investigator and consultant. He has held senior positions such as principal and director with Ernst & Young and Deloitte in the firms' forensic and investigative practices. Before joining the private sector, Dr. Koletar spent twenty-five years as a special agent in the FBI, the last seven in senior executive positions. He was formerly chairman of the Board of Regents of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

KELLY RICHMOND POPE, PHD, CPA, is an Associate Professor in the School of Accountancy at DePaul University and founder of Helios Digital Learning. She is the creator of the award-winning white-collar crime documentary Crossing the Line: Ordinary People Committing Extraordinary Crimes. Her work has been published in numerous academic journals such as Behavioral Research in Accounting, Journal of Business Ethics, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. She also writes for Forbes.com, Newsweek Daily Beast, and PBS's Need to Know. Prior to academia, she worked as a forensic accountant for KPMG LLP. In 2012, Dr. Pope was elected to the AICPA Governing Council for a three-year term.