Reflexivity and the quality of foresight methods

Group discussion in panels of experts and stakeholders is widely used in foresight both to produce future visions and images, and to elaborate present-day decisions and action plans. However, in assessing these panel-based methods, little attention has been dedicated to the social and communicative processes occurring in group discussion and to the biases they may generate. Relying on literature on focus group in social research, a framework for assessing these processes and their potential biasing effect can be outlined