information gathered by other means. We are using the FG method to optimize the preparation to the drawing of a questionnaire by identifying : issues at stake regarding halal and kosher consumption and opinions and concerns on religious slaughter; their agenda and terminology. Indeed, during the FG discussion, the participants have generated their own questions, frames and concepts, using their own vocabulary and according to their own priorities. The optimal use of FG also depends on the researcher‟s aim. We have choosen the FG method because it is appropriate to observe the “construction” of viewpoints. When the collective situation of communication is taken into account, (and not just as a way to mimise the cost/time of the research) it allows to analyse how “accounts are articulated, censured, opposed and changed through social interaction and how this relates to peer communication and group norms”3. Different methods lead to different kind of results. Investigations often use a combination of several methods, FG and in-depth interview, FG and large quantitative survey depending on the topic and the sought demonstration. Here, the choice of Focus Group is mainly explained by the exploratory character of this study (in the frame of a Specific Support Action that does only fund synthesis and /or exploratory research). Kosher and Halal market and consumer studies have been investigated mainly by market players, a few have been done by sociologists and anthropologist in the US, France, Belgium, Israel and in Malaysia4. Amongst them, a few studies are devoted to consumer attitudes, practices and determinants and within these issues addressed, some have been related to consumer opinion regarding religious slaughter while this is a cornerstone of the production process of kosher and halal and a highly controversial social issue. For Morgan5, the Focus Group method is the predilection method to building a survey. It offers “a rupture” in the tendency of replicating existing items from existing questionnaires because of their assumed reliability and validity. “To the extent that the borrowed items were generated in “armchair” fashion, rather than through contact with the potential survey participants they may yield a thoroughly reliable replication o: an essentialIy invalid measure.”. FG can indeed enrich the initial researcher plan by bringing up a new set of relevant dimensions in the domain, with the respondent words that better describe their worlds and references. This reduces misinterpreting the survey questions.
3
ibid
4
See bibliography.
5
Morgan D.L. (1997, 2nd Edition) Focus groups as qualitative research. London: Sage., p25 7