Group discussion research must analyze group dynamics and character structures to interpret expressed opinions

Evidence

A central idea here was to put the mechanisms of self-censorship out of action, although by means different from those used in the Berkeley study. However, in the discussions held in the pre-structured groups which the research went over to, it became clear that the more it was possible to bring out dominant opinions through the group discussion, the more it proved necessary to analyse the group dynamics and individual character structures, which were by no means easily penetrable, if anything conclusive was to be said about the role played by public opinion in the individual participants’ states of mind or about the real communicative situations for which the opinions expressed would be valid. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1878

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Group interviews can surface opinions suppressed in individual questioning — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1869; The group-study method remained theoretically confused in practice — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1884; The Frankfurt group pioneered Germany’s group discussion technique for social research — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1872