Traffic is not only a technical, but also a socio-technical system. Traffic mainly consists of social interaction. If you want to assess safety or other quality aspects of a transport system like comfort, usability, accessibility or equality, you have to use appropriate social scientific methods. The Focus Group Interview is one method to get more information about the socio-technical aspects of any traffic system, about the motivation why people behave in traffic in a certain way, etc. Looking back into history, market researchers have used focus group interviews since the 1950s. They realised that many consumer decisions are made in a social context and that the decisions are growing out of discussions with other people. They made use of this knowledge by carrying out focus group interviews. By doing this they gathered accurate information about consumers` product preferences. Since the early 1980s the method was also used in the traffic area to collect more information about the human aspects of the transport system, and mainly so with respect to strategic and tactical aspects of traffic participation. In the presentation the structure of focus group interviews, the advantages and weaknesses, the scopes of application, and the character of data gathered with this method will be illustrated. It will be discussed where this method has been applied in the traffic area in the last twenty years, how the method could be optimised, and how it should/could best be used in the future. Practical examples of projects, where this method has been used will be presented. (Author/publisher) This publication may be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.ictct.org/workshop.php?workshop_nr=25
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