Enhancing focus group research through blockchain technology
Abstract
This paper proposes the utilisation of blockchain technology to improve focus group research, to address long-standing challenges in participant recruitment, data security, transparency and incentivisation. Traditional focus group methodologies often suffer from logistical limitations, recruitment issues, privacy concerns and data management inefficiencies. Blockchain’s decentralised, transparent and immutable architecture offers innovative solutions to these issues. Specifically, the paper explores how blockchain can enhance participant anonymity and authenticity, automate fair and timely incentive distribution and facilitate secure, real-time collaboration across geographic boundaries. Through a synthesis of academic literature and conceptual application, the paper contributes to the growing discourse on blockchain in qualitative research and offers actionable insights for qualitative researchers seeking to explore ways to integrate blockchain into their methodological practices. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Dr Brian Whelan is an assistant professor of marketing at Western Carolina University (WCU) and a member of the undergraduate and graduate programmes at the WCU College of Business faculty. He has over 20 years of industry experience, holding senior-level roles in marketing, branding, corporate communications, public relations and product management for some of the world’s largest financial services firms. Before entering academia full time, Dr Whelan was a managing director and a global head of corporate and strategic communications at Barings, a leading global investment management firm with over US$400bn in assets under management. In this role, Dr Whelan was responsible for managing the firm’s corporate and strategic communications and public relations initiatives across the USA, Europe and Asia Pacific. Prior to joining WCU, Dr Whelan served as a lecturer in marketing at the Belk College of Business, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research interests include branding, consumer behaviour, blockchain, artificial intelligence and social media, and his research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals.
