Discount Focus Subgroup Method: An innovative focus group method used for researching an emerging technology

This paper develops an innovative form of focus group method –named “discount focus subgroups” (DFSG) – through its application to a research aimed at identifying the ethical and social concerns of using a new emerging technology, called “near field communication” (NFC), for mobile payments. The developed form of focus group method was needed to address challenges encountered when this research was conducted. These include the limited financial research resources, the emergent nature of the research topic, and the challenges of gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The current paper shows when to use the DFSG method, and how. It provides methodological steps for its application, which can be followed in researching emerging topics in Information Systems (IS). This followed by section which discusses why DFSG is an innovative method, and provides reflections on its application.