The validity and reliability of focus groups as a research method in adult education

The article examines the theory and practice of focus groups in adult education research. Three theoretical positions are described: radical hermeneutic, moderate interpretative and pragmatic realistic position trying to bridge the gap with positivist research. This last position has been chosen as the departure point for a further analysis of the focus group elements, which relate to validity and reliability. The research examines four European research projects in the field of adult education. The most important and surprising data are presented with reference to both socio-psychological and technical problems in the use of this method. The results highlight the importance and dynamics of all the elements discussed.     

Toward improved knowledge and policy on urban education

The essays in this volume mark a watershed in the study of urban public education in the United States. By virtue of their intellectual breadth and substantive concern for the welfare of city schools and students, these papers forecast an integration of political and organizational analysis of education in the big cities ‐connecting the structures and processes of policy‐making with the structures and processes that comprise the everyday lives of school administrators, teachers and students. These essays derive their theoretical and practical import from their ultimate focus on how city schools work and on the experiences that their students have in schools and classrooms. This focus on consequences for schooling as it is experienced in the city school marks a significant departure for students of urban school politics and policy in the US.